A church has appointed a new minister after the position was vacant for two years.

Reverend Shahbaz Javed was appointed this week at the United Reformed Church in Nightingale Lane, Wanstead.

He was ordained into the Presbyterian Church in 1997 when he started getting involved with the church in Pakistan.

He will retain pastoral oversight of Walthamstow United Reformed Asian Christian Church, in Orford Road, Walthamstow, where he has been a minister since 2006.

Reverend Jim Gascoigne was helping at the church and he will be staying to assist with the 150th anniversary celebration of the church.

Rev Javed said: “I am looking forward very much to being connected with the congregation and community in Wanstead. 

“As well as taking his turn to lead worship and offering crisis care, I hope that the church in Nightingale Lane will be recognised increasingly by neighbours as their immediately local hub for spiritual direction and community activity.   

“Along with leadership of the church, I would like to promote peace, harmony and love of Christ.”

A service will be held to welcome the new minister this Sunday at 10.30am, with light refreshments available afterwards. 

Last month the church held a two-week exhibition telling the lives and deaths of 15 of its congregation who did not survive the Great War.

The exhibition, with £10,000 Heritage Lottery funding and entitled Our 15: Remembered Lives, told the story of the 15 names engraved on a stone plaque in the north aisle unveiled in 1921.