The Presbytery of the North East and the Northern Isles is happy to welcome two new staff members this week.
Matt Sinar has started in the role of Youth Development Officer, which entails inspiring congregations to create a vision for mission to and with Secondary School age youth and young adults. Matt will be facilitating congregations to put their vision into practice in their parishes.
Matt grew up in Blackpool but has been living in Scotland since 2007, when he married a Scottish girl. Ever since then, he has worked in full-time church-based youth ministry – first at Wester Hailes Baptist Church in Edinburgh, then at Fetteresso Church of Scotland in Stonehaven. Matt is living in Stonehaven with his wife and two young boys, “who love being either in the woods or at the beach, so Stonehaven is perfect for them!”
Matt says, “I’m really excited to be starting in the role of Youth Development Officer for the Presbytery. I believe young people are not just the church of tomorrow but the church of today. I believe God’s intention for his church has always been intergenerational, and that if we want to hand the church over to biblically-grounded godly leaders for the future, one of our top priorities must be youth ministry today.”
Daria Oskolkova has joined us as a new Communications Officer. She came onboard to develop and implement a communications strategy for Presbytery that promotes and supports the mission and ministry of the Church of Scotland. Her role is to engage with the wider community through different forms of media and media contacts. Building connections and solid relationships is crucial to our comparatively newly-formed Presbytery, and Daria is aiming to do it in the spirit of friendship, good communication and productive collaboration.
Daria is a refugee from Ukraine. She fled her native city of Kharkiv in March 2022 and has been living in Scotland since May 2022. She worked as an interpreter in Glasgow facilitating communication between Ukrainian refugees and Scottish civil servants. Daria’s ties to Scotland go back to 2013-2014, when she was a student of an interdisciplinary humanities programme at the University of St Andrews, from which she received her Master’s degree. In June 2024, Daria relocated to Cove Bay in Aberdeen where she is starting a new chapter of her Scottish journey.
Daria says, “Ever since I came back from St Andrews, I dove into self-study of screenwriting and storytelling and wrote a full-length script. I hope I can bring my passion for storytelling to the Presbytery and use my skills in sharing Good News stories with as many people as possible.”