Bringing Churches and Government Together for Social Good

Zubir Ahmed is a British Labour politician and surgeon, serving as MP for Glasgow South West since 2024 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety since 2025. A former transplant and vascular surgeon, he has advanced degrees in medicine, healthcare, transplantation, and business, and continues limited NHS practice.

Sam has been a GP in East London, England since 1989 at the Bromley By Bow Centre. The centre has over 100 projects under its roof ranging from art and garden therapy and financial and jobs advice, all supporting the wider determinants of health. The social prescribing delivered at the centre, is now part of a network of thousands across the country and a growing movement across the world. Its focus is on what matters to patients rather than what is the matter with them. East London is a poor community but rich in diversity with over 150 different ethnic group. We are proud to say we have the world in our East End. 

Sam is an Honorary Vice President of the British Medical Association. In 1999 he received an OBE for services to inner city primary care in 2006, The International Award of Excellence in Health Care and in 2015 a Knighthood for services to primary care. In 2022 he received the Albert Medal from the Royal Society of Arts (Previous recipients include Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking, Winston Churchill). He is a member of the East London foundation Trust board (mental Health Hospital), an Associate Director of NHS Resolution and is a Fellow and Honorary Professor of Queen Mary University of London and Honorary Vice President of the Queen's Institute of Community Nursing. He is a member of the Royal College of GPs Council and the Knight’s Society and is co-chair of the Charity, the College of Medicine. He is a non-executive board member of NHS England and is the President of the RCGP. He is a trained woodcarver, day skipper, and speaks Norwegian. He trained originally as a cadet pilot in the RAF and lives with his wife and children in the East End of London in the heart of his community. 

We can’t wait for Olivia to join us on our Wellbeing panel at the ChurchWork’s Summit. 

Olivia is a ChurchWork’s Commissioner and has served as Executive Director of Elim Churches UK since 2018, guiding the charity’s strategic and operational work to strengthen Elim’s mission across the nation.

An ordained Elim Minister, she brings senior leadership experience from the NHS, the Anglican Church, and the wider third sector. Olivia has also led consultancy projects and launched community initiatives supporting the wellbeing of women and families through partnerships with churches, the NHS and local organisations.Before joining Elim’s National Leadership Team, she was Deputy Chief Officer for Operations at Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG, where she oversaw commissioning for mental health, disabilities, and long-term conditions.

Driven by her faith and passion for the local church, Olivia is committed to enabling Spirit-empowered communities to thrive and impact their communities.

Siân will be joining our Wellbeing Panel and has been an Assemblies of God Minister for the past 20 years. Based in the City of Lincoln, she has had a passion for the whole Church to work together to serve the city, establishing partnerships and networks between denominations. The fruit of this has been significant partnerships and contracts between the Church and the NHS as well as the Local Authority. She is a senior leader at Bridge Church Lincoln, a trustee of Gather UK, an Ecumenical Canon at Lincoln Cathedral, and works for Safe Families and Home for Good as the Director of Engagement and Church Relationships. She has a passion to see the Church in the UK work together to bring transformation and hope into every village, town and city.

Charles Kwaku-Odoi DL is Chief Executive of the Caribbean & African Health Network (CAHN), a leading national Black health organisation at the forefront of reducing health Inequalities and wider disparities. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Greater Manchester, an honorary member of the esteemed Faculty of Public Health (FPH), and the honorary Ecumenical Canon at Manchester Cathedral.

He has board roles including the NHS Race and Health Observatory; Manchester Foundation Trust Council of Governors; and Government SAGE Ethnicity Subgroup.

Charles was named in the Health Service Journal 50 most influential Black Asian and Minority Ethnic people in health in the UK for two years running (2022 & 2023).  Charles is a great advocate for equity and fairness across a range of important health and wellbeing issues for people of the Caribbean and African Diaspora. He is involved in work that influences the research, policy, and practice at regional and national levels. 

His special interest includes civic and democratic participation, blood & organ donation HIV, domestic violence, modern slavery and hate crime. Reading, walking, and football are his hobbies.

Jane Moffat is the Operational Lead for Early Help for Coventry City Council, leading children and family services including the Family Hub offer, targeted early help, young carers and community partnerships. She was originally trained as a Speech and Language Therapist and worked in the NHS for 15 years, whilst raising her own family of 2 daughters and a son. She has worked for Local Government for 15 years and has enjoyed many roles within children and family practice, championing multiagency partnership working and supporting those experiencing inequalities. Jane’s own faith is a driving force in her public sector work and believes that we should all be able to bring our whole authentic self to work and is reminded daily of the privilege and responsibility is us to serve the residents of her city.

We are thrilled that Rev’d Yinka will be part of our Children & Families Panel.

Yinka is part of the ChurchWork’s Commission and has been supporting our Children & Families work for several years. He has been the Senior Minister of The Gate, Reading, since 2005. With a breadth of experience nationally and internationally and as one of the founders of Barnabas Fellowship of Churches, a network with churches and projects in several nations, Yinka brings apostolic leadership to the church. During his ministry at The Gate, Yinka has spearheaded The Turning, the evangelistic street mission which began in 2016 and has now taken place in dozens of UK towns and cities, as well as further afield. In his profile Yinka explained he has a long history in equipping and training individuals in evangelism and mission, and a particular interest in the third part of our Union's Declaration of Principle.

Yinka served as President of the Baptist Union from 2020-21 and has been part of the Baptist Union Core Leadership Group.

Emma Malcolm is the Children and Family Lead at Bridge Community Church in Suffolk, with over 20 years’ experience supporting children and families. With a professional background as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist, Emma has played a key role in developing the Bridge Family Hub in partnership with Suffolk County Council. She is also the founder of Bridge the Gap, a church-based provision supporting children and families who are struggling with school attendance, with the aim of bridging the gap between home and education.

Emma is passionate about seeing the local church become an open and welcoming presence for marginalised families, working in partnership with statutory services to bring lasting change. She regularly shares this vision at Churchworks events, parliamentary meetings and within local government, encouraging churches to be embedded in their communities and see lives transformed.

Ian Soars is the Chief Executive of Spurgeons, bringing a blend of professional
expertise, lived experience and deep personal faith to his leadership. Formerly CEO of Fegans before its acquisition by Spurgeons, Ian has long been driven by a desire
to ensure that vulnerable children receive the support he lacked in his own early
years. His journey of resilience and renewed hope profoundly shapes his
commitment to strengthening families and equipping communities.
Before entering the charity sector, Ian spent 18 years at Hays plc, ultimately leading
their large bid and contracts team. A period of ill health in his thirties became a
turning point, prompting him to follow a calling into work that places children’s
wellbeing at the centre. He later became CEO of Fegans, where he championed
joinedup support between statutory services, schools and churches.
Alongside his leadership roles, Ian has trained and volunteered as a parent support
worker and delivered workshops for recently separated parents - experiences that
have deepened his appreciation for the dedication shown by those working directly
with children and families.
Ian is passionate about seeing every child flourish and remains committed to building
a future where families across the UK can access timely, relational and holistic
support through the partnership of professionals, churches and communities.

The Right Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP has served as Labour MP for East Ham since 1994 and is currently Minister for Social Security and Disability. A long-standing advocate for tackling poverty and inequality, he has held senior Treasury roles and chaired the Work and Pensions Select Committee. Guided by his Christian faith, Sir Stephen has been a leading voice on the positive role faith communities can play in public life, social justice, and supporting those most affected by poverty.

Joining our Tackling Poverty is Bishop Lynne has been Bishop of Barking in the Anglican Diocese of Chelmsford since 2022. Before her consecration as bishop, she served as Rector of Stockport and Brinnington in the Diocese of Chester. She has also been a ChurchWorks Commissioner and supporter of our work. She is a trustee and the Chair of the Church of England’s National Estate Churches Network and acts as the Church of England Lead Bishop for Estates Evangelism. She was a member of the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Local Community. Before ordination, she was Chief Executive of a community charity in the North West.

Nick Mottershead FCA is Rector (Self-Supporting) of Holy Sepulchre, The National Musicians’ Church in London, and CFO & Head of Compliance at dopay, an international Fintech serving the employed unbanked across the Middle East. He also founded and coordinates the GenerosCity initiative (including the City of London Hygiene Bank), supporting over 20,000 families through schools, agencies, and charities.

Nick has previously served as CEO, CFO, and COO of various businesses, and spent 15 years at EY, culiminating in building and leading their global risk and governance practice. He also holds trustee and chaplaincy roles in civic and institutional settings and has published and spoken widely on risk, governance, ethics, wellbeing, community belonging, and stewardship. He has a particular passion for exploring what it means to live and work with faith in the City, drawing on Scripture to speak into leadership, culture, and community flourishing

We are delighted to announce that Stewart will be joining us on our Tackling Poverty Panel. Stewart is the CEO of CAP, a church based movement where a team of 350 specialists based in Bradford support nearly 3,000 mission workers across over 250 debt centres andnearly 900 affiliated churches. This movement helps tens of thousands of people on verylow incomes each year who are in financial vulnerability or distress to become resilient,debt free and to find Jesus.
Stewart joined CAP in January 2024, following five years as CEO at Stewardship, where hebrought the organisation through a time of significant transformation and developmentincluding creating an award-winning philanthropy team and seeing annual giving increaseby 40%. He is also a council member of the Evangelical Alliance.