A Harpenden preacher has reached the finals of the Sermon of the Year competition.

Organised by Preach magazine, the competition aims to promote the art of sermon writing and preaching, and this year's entries were based on the theme of 'Welcome the Stranger'.

The local finalist was Katharine Crew, 30, who works at Union Chapel Church as their social justice and community outreach worker.

Katharine was recently accredited as a methodist local preacher in the West Hertfordshire and Borders circuit, which includes her home church, High Street Methodist Church, Harpenden.

Katharine began preaching as a teenager in her circuit’s Youth Worship Team, where she loved the encouragement of knowing her perspective was valued.

After not preaching while at university, she felt its absence from her life and began to explore her call to preach.

She said: "I am particularly keen to bring under-represented voices into her services, and to encourage other people to explore a call to preach so that a broad range of perspectives are heard."