Wanted: An inspirational priest who can take charge of two churches serving very different areas, who is equally at ease with the highest and the humblest, who values fine church music and who is willing to take on a crumbling Grade 1 listed building with a £2million restoration appeal to it.

Those are the qualities required of the incumbent of Kingston's All Saints and St John's, Spring Grove a combined parish in which both churches have equal status.

They have been found at last in the Reverend Jonathan Wilkes who will be licensed as temporary priest-in-charge of both churches on June 13 and as team rector next year.

He is currently priest-in-charge of the Paddington churches St Peter and St Mary Magdalene, a Grade 1 listed building that not only needs £2.5million for restoration but serves the second most deprived parish in the London diocese.

Mr Wilkes, 39, spent his first childhood years in Barnes before his family moved to Hampshire.

He was educated at Wellington College then Leicester Polytechnic.

Initially he worked in a hostel for the homeless, then as a fundraiser for the Leukaemia Research Fund.

He trained for the ministry at Cuddesdon College, Oxford, was ordained in St Paul's Cathedral in 1996 and served his title in the Hackney Team, based principally in St John's church.

In 2000 he moved to Paddington to become priest-in-charge of St Peter's, Elgin Avenue.

In 2004 he also became priest-in-charge of St Mary Magdalene.

He is noted for his work in making the church relevant and accessible and his enthusiasm for the open and creative use of church buildings.

He is also committed to the importance of children within the church.

The Kingston post will be a challenging one. After the Rev Jim Bates left in April last year, it was revealed he would be the last in a line of vicars stretching back more than 800 years.

Instead Mr Wilkes will play a key role in setting up a team ministry of which he will be the team rector with "team vicars" serving under him in the combined parish.

It could be a contentious move at All Saints, which has been at the core of local life since Saxon times.

Civic and Crown Court services are held there, it is the Royal borough's principal concert venue and has an open-door policy for town centre workers and users.

Mr Wilkes is undeterred. "I will listen to what the people of All Saints tell me and what best enhances worship for them. It's not my job to tell people what to do but to identify the strengths of both churches," he said. "Clearly the musical tradition is central to All Saints, and one of the factors that brings its people together."

And the onerous building appeal? "Great lumps of determination are required here, and that's something I can provide," he said.

jsampson@london.newsquest.co.uk