John Merson

Outreach Pastor

John Merson was brought up in a fishing town of Portsoy in the North East of Scotland. When he left school he became a fisherman.

After two years at sea he moved to Aberdeen to work in the offshore oil industry. At 25 he left Scotland for Brazil to work in Ituiutaba and Sao Paulo. In Brazil he engaged in church planting, working with street children, running youth camps, helping drug addicts and working as a prison chaplain in the infamous Carandiru prison.

After 5 years in Brazil he returned to Scotland and studied theology at Northumbria Bible College.

For almost 20 years he has been working at DCF as the Outreach Pastor. In recent years his ministry has become much more Urban focused with a greater emphasis on helping the marginalised and spearheading inner city ministries like the Lighthouse Support Centre in Tillydrone.

John recently received his Masters from Aberdeen University in “Ministry in an urban world” through his studies at ICC.

He continues to have a huge passion for urban mission and fishing. He is married to his Danish wife Anna and they have 4 children.

email: john.merson@dcfchurch.org