The Rev Anthony Orr, 51, took his first service at the Chandos Street building with a 170-strong congregation on Sunday and will be formally inducted on January 19.

For the past ten years he was the minister of Rugby Baptist church where he chaired the Churches Together forum and set up a movement called Revive.

He moved with his wife Marianne and their three children Charys, 13, Megan, 11, and nine-year-old Joshua to Leamington two weeks ago.

He said: "I am feeling very positive about it, but it is an enormous change for us as we were very much part of the community in Rugby. We were very happy there, but we just felt that it was time to move on.

"The pattern of my ministries in the past is to go to traditional churches and bring some gentle renewal and ideas to them. In Rugby I brought the church forward into the life of the community and we held special community Christmas and Easter events in the town."

Mr Orr met his wife when they were studying theology and pastoral studies at Spurgeon's College in London.

In 1991, when the couple were living in Worthing in Sussex and ministering at the Baptist church they adopted a severely disabled Romanian orphan called Nicoleta.

Mr Orr said: "Nicoleta was being sponsored by a Christian organisation to have medical treatment here. We said she could stay with us if there was nowhere for her to go. She was four-and-a-half but still the size of a baby and being fed from a bottle with milk.

"Her Romanian care assistant left after two weeks and we offered to foster and then adopt her.

"We were told that her parents has taken her to a home for the incurables. But they wouldn't accept her - she was later returned with horrific injuries."

Nicoleta was treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital, but died in 2000 after contracting a form of pneumonia.

Mr Orr said: "She had a wheelchair and spoke in a limited way. She was a bundle of fun and a real character who was well known in the community."

Nicoleta is buried in Rugby and Mr Orr said it had been a wrench to leave her, but is pleased they will be able to visit her grave easily.

This week, the couple's children started new schools - Joshua going to Telford and Charys and Megan attedning Myton, where Marianne is working as a teacher.

As well as his ministry, Mr Orr has a keen interest in sport, enjoys running and was a football coach at a Rugby primary school.

Mr Orr will officially commence his ministry on January 20 at the 10.30am family worship service followed by a communion service at 6.30pm.