HE has served as a chaplain on the frontline in Iraq and Afghanistan – now he hopes to use some of those skills in a Hampshire parish.

The Rev Dave Crees has been appointed as the new priest-in-charge of St Paul’s Church in Sarisbury Green after 20 years as an Army chaplain. Bishop Jonathan has announced that Dave will take charge of this parish from November.

And Dave believes that the skills he’s honed in the Army – standing alongside people and sharing their joys and sorrows – will help him in his new role.

“As an Army chaplain, if you walk where soldiers walk and live as they live, then they’ll talk to you,” he said. “If you’ve got your hands dirty on the frontline, they will ask you questions about life and faith.

“Those who are heading out on tour for the first time might talk to you because they don’t know what to expect. Those senior officers who have had to take difficult decisions on the frontline might want to talk to you afterwards about the consequences of those decisions.

“Ministering to a military unit is not that different to ministering to a congregation. I think St Paul’s is a fantastic church where people are committed and have vision. I want to be available to them in exactly the same way as I have been as a chaplain, living and walking alongside them and sharing in the church’s mission.

“I’m also looking forward to using some of my experience at working with young people and in schools as I liaise with the schools in the parish.”

Dave was born in Chichester, went to Sunday School and church youth group, and studied Geography at university in Southampton. He applied to be a policeman and was measured for a uniform, but ended up working in youth work on a gap year instead. He then joined the staff at St Pancras Church in Chichester from 1990-97, leading a church plant on a local council estate for four of those years.

He felt called to ordained ministry, studied at Trinity College, Bristol, and served his curacy at All Saints, Patcham in Brighton. He was there from 2000-04, staying an extra year because he enjoyed it.

He switched to Army chaplaincy, starting as chaplain to 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, moving to 1 Armoured Brigade and 1 Artillery Brigade. He rose to the rank of Rev Lt Colonel, and then was chaplain at Sandhurst, then to the Household Division and to the London district.

Dave went to Iraq in 2006 and then to Afghanistan in 2008-09, working in a team with chaplains from other denominations.

“You go where the soldiers go, but there’s no clear frontline,” he said. “The enemy might attack you when you leave your base, or even attack your base. As chaplains we don’t carry weapons, but you are there as fighting happens.

“There’s actually quite a lot of downtime in those situations, so if you’ve had quite an intense time together, there is usually then some spare time to talk about it. I remember on another tour in Belize, one soldier poured out his heart to me for hours in a jungle clearing, He was later baptised.”

As Rev Colonel, he then became Assistant Chaplain General, part of the General Staff of the British Army. He has taught Applied Ethics via the Royal Army Chaplains Department and is associate tutor at St Padarn’s Institute, Cardiff. He helps to train Army chaplains and recently has helped to train chaplains for the Ukrainian Army, alongside colleagues from the USA.

He is married to Adele and they have three adult daughters, Beth, Ellie and Issy. Bishop Jonathan expects to license him on November 21.