Charles and Julie Parker

Charles & Julie leading worship at a Maranatha weekend away.

Charles and Julie leading worship at a Maranatha Community weekend in 2004.

We are Charles and Julie Parker and we are Christians, and musicians.

Charles is a Clarinet player and Julie is a Singer, and as you can see here we are also both keyboard players.

Both Charles and Julie are members of the Maranatha Community - a scattered community of Christians from all church traditions in Britain and abroad who come together in worship and are committed to unity, prayer for the nation, healing and renewal. Charles works full time for the community as their Office Manager looking after finance and administration, and the team of volunteers. Charles and Julie also lead the music at a number of Maranatha weekend retreats/conferences each year (see photo).

From 1991 to 2003 Charles was the Director of Music at All Hallows Church, Cheadle, Cheshire, where he had overall responsibility for music and ran one of the two music groups. Since our wedding in April 2004 we both now worship at St. Edmund's Church in Whalley Range, Manchester, where Charles is the organist, keyboard player in the music group and treasurer, and Julie is the lead singer in the music group, and church council secretary.

Charles is a supporter of the music and worship foundation, a charity which provides training and practical support for Christian musicians across all denominations and music styles throughout the UK. He served as Northwest Network Secretary from 1993 to 2003 and Northwest Regional Coordinator from 2003 to 2010 involved with organising 71 church music training events all over the Northwest of England. mwf's aim is to envision, resource and train worshipping communities to use a breadth of worship expressions and musical styles, combining creative skill and integrity of heart. From Sept 2011 this has been realised through the ministry of EngageWorship.org

Prior to moving into full time Christian Service with Maranatha Charles worked in the electronics industry as a Project Manager, having graduated from Lancaster University in Electronic Engineering.

Julie studied singing at the Royal Northern College of Music and trained as a teacher at Manchester Metropolitan University. Since then she has pursued both a teaching and a musical career, as a primary school teacher in Gorton, Manchester, and as a singer giving recitals in England, France and Japan. She now combines the two working for Salford Music and Performing Arts Service (MAPAS) travelling round different schools teaching singing and taking classroom music lessons, and also teaching singing privately at our home. Julie also works as a professional wedding singer who will sing solo songs and lead the congregational singing at weddings.

Julie is a member of the Association of British Choral Directors (ABCD) and is the conductor of Urmston Choral Society. From 1994 to 2009 she was the conductor of Manchester Girls Choir Junior Singers, and subsequently conductor of Salford Youth Choir.

Both Julie and Charles play clarinet in the Werneth Concert Band.