Andy Stilwell
Position: Curate
Phone: 07971 170622
Email: curate@tdichurches.co.uk
Andy was born in Suffolk but spent much of his youth in and around Peterborough. After finishing school, he held various roles in the travel and financial sectors. He wasn’t a regular churchgoer until he became a Christian at around 19, when he joined a Baptist church in Peterborough city centre.
Soon after his conversion, Andy enrolled in training to become an outdoor activities instructor at the Frontier Centre in Irthlingborough. Just before moving there, he met his wife, Lucy, and they enjoyed getting to know each other while he trained to teach a range of outdoor activities—many of which he still enjoys whenever time allows.
A couple of years after they married, Andy took a role working with young offenders in Northampton while maintaining his passion for the outdoors by being part of an inland search and rescue and training company. When their first son was born, he transitioned to part-time work to care for him and explore what God might be calling him toward.
This led him to become a youth worker, splitting his time between a church in Kettering and local schools. That role later evolved into a full-time position at Christ the King, where he led the youth ministry and took on various operational responsibilities within the church.
Andy continued discerning a call to ordained ministry, and in God’s timing, he went on to train for ordination at Trinity College, Bristol, through their excellent dispersed learning stream. As an ordinand, he spent time on placement in two local churches before taking up the position of Assistant Curate for Thrapston, Denford, and Islip in the summer of 2023.
Andy, Lucy, and their three children love living in Thrapston. Andy has accepted that it’s a town, not a village, and that "Nene" isn’t pronounced with an "e"! They all enjoy spending time in the beautiful countryside surrounding the town, especially out on the water—whether on a paddleboard, canoe, or kayak.