History

As a doctor, David Carling, together with his wife Gwenyth, a teacher, spent 18 years in Africa, involved with Nigeria, Chad and Sudan.

Based in a leprosy institution they together added a programme of reconstructive surgery with its attendant physiotherapy. From this leprosy and medical centre they began a medico-evangelistic outreach, selecting African missionaries, training them in simple but effective diagnosis and treatment, and deploying them in clinics around the shores and on the islands of the huge inland sea which is Lake Chad. A boat built around an operating theatre added a surgical dimension to the far-flung clinics.

On their return to UK with their 2 sons in 1976 David and Gwenyth began to help others who like them, had been showing Gods love for people across the globe, some of whom arrive back in the UK worn out!

Thus in 1980, Active Service Trust was born which provided a peaceful, residential environment into which overseas workers, and those in ministry in the UK could be invited to help them regain their physical, mental and spiritual strength.

AST continues to aid David and Gwenyth's ministry all over the globe, as they provide all kinds of practical and spiritual help to many of the world's poorest countries. Their work has born fruit in different ways, including an agricultural project in South Sudan that resulted in tractors and other vital equipment being shipped from the UK in 2007/8.

The Nigeria Project began in 2009, when the AST team and their supporters responded to provide practical support to those bereaved, threatened and made homeless - all because of their faith.