THE REV Stuart Penny looks alarmed when I suggest that he might be winning souls for Christ on the ski slopes of Switzerland this winter. He leans across the table where we are having lunch in the Cumbrian town of Penrith, his blue eyes smiling at the thought that he could be a modern-day John the Baptist on skis.

Mr Penny, 51, is a volunteer chaplain for the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS), an independent Anglican mission society which ministers to English-speaking holidaymakers throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. He is one of 100 seasonal chaplains sent into mountain resorts and campsites by the Church of England agency each year. In ten days’ time he will head for Wengen in the heart of the Swiss Alps for the second year running. The car-free village at the foot of the imposing Eiger-Monch Jungfrau mountain range will provide the backdrop for the vicar’s work.

Wengen is home to the “Downhill Only Club” started by a group of bored aristocrats long before the age of package holidays. In 1928 the Anglican Church of St Bernard’s was opened in the village. Since then, tens of thousands of English-speaking tourists have worshipped at what is known locally as “the English Church”. The church, maintained by the ICS, celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2003 by launching an appeal for urgent repairs. Penny is responsible for opening the church each day to visitors for quiet prayer and reflection. For two weeks, he will lead services, befriend tourists in the hotel bars and ski club hut and make hospital visits.

“I’m there to meet the spiritual needs of the holidaymakers,” says Penny. “This seasonal ministry is particularly effective because when people are away from their normal routine, they have time for reflection. They’re encountering people of other cultures. This makes them think about life and the Universe. I believe that God gives people opportunities to respond to him. A holiday resort is as good as anywhere else for discovering a faith. People aren’t in the churches and the chapels, they’re on the ski slopes or on a package holiday in Benidorm.”

His philosophy is underpinned by personal experience. In 1972, Mr Penny, then aged 20, was hitchhiking through Europe when he found God. He underwent a profound conversion experience in Munich after meeting a group of Christians. The spiritual encounter completely changed his outlook and the direction of his life.

“I was more open and ready to listen because I was away from my home environment,” he adds. “I had never imagined that all the answers I was looking for would be found in Jesus Christ. I was quite a thinker and I had my own versions of what made the world tick. Yet meeting people who really believed challenged my rather flimsy views.”

As a child, Mr Penny had been baptised into the Methodist Church and attended services with his grandfather. He was not a keen churchgoer and was relieved when he was no longer compelled to go to church around the age of 12. After turning to God in his twenties, he came back to England, took up a place at Art College and joined the Christian Union. He also started attending his local church.

For most of his life, Penny, who was born in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, worked as a singer/songwriter and Christian communicator. His work took him to the United States, Canada, the Middle East, Africa and all over Europe. He is married with four children and the birth of his youngest child, now 6, coincided with his decision to train for ordained ministry. The experience of having a new baby during a period when he had no income was a challenging but rewarding time. He was a curate in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, for three years and was appointed Vicar of Crosthwaite St Kentigern’s, Keswick, last September.

Today Penny has driven 17 miles to Penrith to meet me at the railway station. In the mad dash to find lunch, he forgets to put a parking permit on the car and remembers just before the traffic wardens reach the car park. Dressed in a black fleece and green cords, he has an easy manner and calming effect despite the time pressure now on our meeting. With a smile that seems to stretch from ear to ear, he would undoubtedly succeed in charming me into the fold — if I was not already a believer.

He describes how, on the ski slopes of Wengen, holidaymakers are often genuinely surprised to find a vicar in their midst. “If someone is showing a real interest I put them in contact with people near to where they live,” he says. “Some chaplains enter into correspondence.”

In Wengen, Mr Penny will minister to a wide range of holidaymakers from wealthy, retired people to families and chalet girls. People of at least a dozen nationalities will attend church services and some chaplains will hold mid-week supper and drinks parties.

While downhill skiing is the most popular winter sport, visitors also come to Wengen for snowboarding, cross-country skiing, paragliding, climbing and walking. As with all potentially dangerous sports, some people will sustain injuries and may wind up in hospital for the duration of their holiday.

“A chaplain can offer sympathy to those who are stuck in a hospital or on site while their mates are having a great time on the piste,” says Mr Penny. “A chaplain is a friendly face and can help with making contact with relatives back home. Some chaplains have had to deal with bereaved families when someone has suddenly dropped dead.”

Last year he befriended a young man who had broken his ankle. “He came to the services because he’d been chatting to me and not been able to ski. I’ve had one or two other experiences with people who’ve felt lonely and far from home and have been very touched to find a place of Christian fellowship.”