Meet the Team

Leadership Team

The Community of the Tree of Life is a Diocesan project with the Bishop of Leicester as its Abbot. The Abbot has appointed a leadership team comprising of a Prior, Community Warden, Sub-Prior and House Manager to share in the life of the Community and live by its common rule.

Rachel Bennetts, Prior

Rachel lives in the Community House with Josie her very bouncy Golden Retriever. She came to Leicester in 2017 to start the work of building the Community. Before this, Rachel was Vicar of the Good Shepherd Church in Farnborough, Hampshire for eleven years where her priorities were discipleship, prayer and mission. Rachel’s first call in life was to teaching; her passion is to help people grow. After a few years in the classroom, she sensed God calling her to ordained ministry. She trained for four years at Trinity College, Bristol.

Rachel likes to describe herself as a ‘charis-mystic’ since she experienced the charismatic movement and contemplative retreats in her teens and both form a deep part of her spirituality.

Rachel trained as a Spiritual Director on the Encounter Course at the London Centre for Spiritual Direction 2016-2019. She writes and speaks about the exploration of new monasticism in the church today.

Rachel’s true homeland is Cornwall. She loves walking by the sea and exploring wild places on the Celtic fringes. She enjoys camping, reading, cooking and spending time with friends and family.

Alan Humphrey, Community Warden

Alan is the proud husband of Lesley, and father, grandfather and great grandfather to a family that is the love of his life. Alan spent most of his working life in the IT sector working with some of the industry’s major equipment and software providers, specialising in contract negotiation and relationship management.

When deciding what his final few years of traditional working life might look like, Alan turned to prayer. It was then that he heard God calling him into ministry. Alan followed that call and was ordained as a parish priest in 2010. Alan led a missional congregation in Leicester Forest East. Alan became Warden to this Community of the Tree of Life in 2017 after responding to Gods call to spend more time in prayer.

Alan interests include playing the guitar, theatre going and anything that involves his expanding family getting together.

Lesley Humphrey, House Manager

Lesley was a maths teacher! She loved seeing students get the hang of equations, trigonometry and other stuff and realise that maths could be enjoyable! For the last 10 years, since her husband, Alan, was ordained, she has served on the New Wine Welcome Team and developed a children’s ministry, including, Messy Church, Godly Play and Open the Book.

Lesley loves elephants! For a recent significant birthday, Lesley spent the day with the elephants at Woburn. She cleaned them out, fed them and was allowed to ride one. She claims it was the best birthday present ever.

Lesley has 2 children, 4 grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren called Micah and Thea; although it’s getting harder as the family grows, Lesley loves having the family gathered together.

Lesley joined the Community of the Tree of Life because she felt it was how God wanted her to use all the life experience she has acquired. She is really excited by the potential of all that the Community has to offer and seeing how God is calling younger people to a life guided by prayer.

Matt Long, Sub-Prior

Matt lives near Western Park, Leicester, with his wife Rebekah and their three kids; Pixie, Olive and Otto. Matt and his family moved to Leicester in August 2017 to join the Community.

Matt served for three years as a Youth Minister at an Anglican church in Birmingham before ‘selling everything’ and following God’s call to move to France to work as a missionary with The Bless Network. Matt lived in Christian Community for five years, near Lisieux, where he helped establish and develop a shared rhythm of life.

Since returning to the UK in 2015, Matt has pioneered a Community Garden project for the homeless and vulnerable, co-founded a popup food waste cafe and trained as a Forest School Practitioner. Matt is passionate about prayer and seeing young adults fulfil their God-given potential.

Matt is a fantasy football fanatic and an avid Philadelphia Eagles fan. Matt loves craft beer, cooking outdoors and single origin coffee.