Trustees of CTE

Our Trustees are drawn from across CTE’s Member Churches and oversee legal and governance issues, including the submission of CTE’s Annual Reports and Accounts to the Charity Commission. Trustees also monitor our strategic plan and uphold the values and reputation of the organisation. CTE’s Articles of Association govern its Trustees, and CTE’s General Secretary Bishop Mike Royal also attends Trustee meetings. 

Trustees are appointed by the AGM for a term of three years (renewable). The AGM takes place during the autumn meeting of CTE’s Enabling Group. The date in italics below indicates when each Trustee’s current term of office began.

CTE’s Trustees

(Please scroll down to read more about each of our Trustees)

Chair: Rowena Loverance (Religious Society of Friends) autumn 2021
Vice-Chair: Rev Dr Lurliene Miller (Joint Council of Churches for All Nations) autumn 2020
Honorary Treasurer: Pastor Rasaq Ibrahim (Redeemed Christian Church of God) spring 2023
Company Secretary: Richard Bradbury (Ground Level) autumn 2023

Trustee members:

Rev Stephen Fowler (Elim Pentecostal Church) autumn 2020
Dr Elizabeth Joy (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church) autumn 2020
Rev Dr Callan Slipper (Church of England) autumn 2020
Maddy Thomson (Pioneer) autumn 2020
Victoria Turner (United Reformed Church) autumn 2020
Rt Rev Paul Hendricks (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales) autumn 2021
Bishop Moses Owusu-Sekyere (Apostolic Pastoral Congress) autumn 2022
Dr Lisa Adjei (Baptist Union of Great Britain) autumn 2022
Fr Alexander Fostiropoulos (Oecumenical Patriarchate) autumn 2022

The appointment and retirement of Trustees: Article 30: At each annual general meeting one third of the Trustees shall retire from office by rotation or, if their number is not three or a multiple of three, the number nearest to one third shall retire from office; but, if there is only one Trustee who is subject to retirement by rotation, he shall retire.

Rowena Loverance

Chair of CTE Trustees. Religious Society of Friends (autumn 2021)

Rowena Loverance is chair of CTE’s Trustees and convenor of the Enabling Group, and previously served as a President of Churches Together in England, from 1998-2001.

A life-long Quaker, Rowena studied History and Archaeology at Oxford and was Head of e-learning at the British Museum and a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College, London.

She is a freelance writer and e-learning consultant and has written several books on the relationship between religion and the visual arts, including Byzantium and Christian Art and The British Museum Christ (British Museum Press, 2004). She has also written for the National Museums Online Learning Project, and has served as a trustee of Culture 24, the UK’s principal online cultural publisher.

Lurliene Miller

Vice-Chair of CTE Trustees. Joint Council of Churches for All Nations (autumn 2020)

Rev Dr Lurliene Miller is a Trustee and Vice Chair of CTE, as well as joint Chair of CTE’s Racial Justice Working Group. She is a member of the Joint Council of Churches for All Nations (JCCAN), a non-denominational international organisation set up to serve a wide community of churches and church leaders.

She also serves as a trustee with Westminster Theological College and is the founder of a London-based Pastors Forum, providing pastors with a safe space to share and support each other.

For numerous years Dr Miller has served as Dean, Director of programmes and lecturer with an international theological seminary, teaching counselling, chaplaincy and various theological diplomas and degrees.

She is the senior pastor of Sozo House of Praise International and with her husband, Bishop Dr O Miller, they oversee several churches here and abroad. She continues to be engaged in developing and delivering several local community outreach projects and services.

Dr Lurliene has also established some ministry-focused initiatives; 4Women2Women, Prayer for Men, Miller’s Counselling & Training Services, The Pastors Forum and theological training provisions. As a counsellor, she has been providing counselling services for over 25 years, as well as lecturing in counselling and psychotherapy.

With a background in pastoring, church planting, leadership development, counselling, education, training and ministry development, her ministry motto is ‘Helping Other People Excel’ (H.O.P.E). Dr Lurliene is a preacher and conference speaker who expresses a sincere commitment to ecumenism as a true expression of unity, tolerance and love within the body of Christ. She expresses a strong belief in the principle that ‘two heads are always better than one’.

Pastor Rasaq Ibrahim

Honorary Treasurer of CTE. Redeemed Christian Church of God (spring 2023)

Rasaq is a trained, qualified cccountant by background, with a first degree and Masters of Science degree in Accountancy and Finance. He has attended various courses within and outside the country, including Strategic frameworks for non-profit organisations at Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education and the Senior Management programme at Lagos Business School.

He is an ordained Full Pastor in Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). He leads the RCCG Erdington Birmingham and is currently an Area Pastor within RCCG UK. He has been with the mission for many decades but started pastoring about 15 years ago.

Rasaq's prayers have always been for the Body of Christ to be one without walls, just like Jesus prayed that 'all of them may be one'. John 17:21. He loves the Lord and his heartbeat is for many to come to Jesus to be saved, discipled and living an exemplary Christ-focused life centred on holiness, righteousness and sanctification.

Rasaq is also on the Council of Reference for the huge and exciting ‘Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer’ in Birmingham. He is married and blessed with two sons, both of whom are married and are still serving in RCCG parishes in the UK along with their spouses.

Richard Bradbury

Company Secretary of CTE. Ground Level (autumn 2023)

Richard lives in Beverley in East Yorkshire, after moving there from Essex in 1996. After spending many years in the business world, holding various roles, he became a full time pastor in 2008, having led the Beverley Community Church since 2001. He is a senior leader within the Ground Level Network of Churches and shares responsibility for training new and emerging leaders for the network. He also runs a Bible School for those who wish to deepen their theological knowledge and understanding.

In addition, Richard has worked as a civilian chaplain to the military and as a racecourse chaplain. He travels regularly to India to support the work of indigenous churches. He has also authored a number of books on various Christian subjects.

Married, with four grown up children and nine grandchildren, Richard is passionately concerned for the church to understand its role as the agent of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Dr Lisa Adjei

Baptist Union of Great Britain (autumn 2022)

Dr. Lisa Adjei holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Physiology from the University of Surrey in Guildford, where she was also a church leader.

Lisa is the founder of Sankofa Collective, an ecumenical racial justice and reconciliation community for Christians. She currently works for Christian Aid as a British Church Relations Manager, her role seeks to support denominational leaders across the United Kingdom in justice & mission.

Dr Lisa sits on Churches Together in England’s Racial Justice Working Group as the chair of their Theology sub-group. Dr Lisa is also a member of Emerge - the millennial leader's forum for the Pentecostal and Charismatic Forum – whose work seeks to look at intergenerational reconciliation and legacy. Lisa is currently an active member of Trinity Baptist Church and is based at their West Norwood congregation.

Fr Alexander Fostiropoulos

Oecumenical Patriarchate (autumn 2022)

Fr Alexander came to England from Greece in 1971 and trained as an architect in London. He was ordained by the late Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh in 1985.

Since his ordination, he has been Orthodox chaplain to the University of London, based at King’s College London and the London School of Economics, and the Orthodox representative on the UK Churches Higher Education Liaison Group’s (CHELG).

Fr Alexander is the rector of the Orthodox parish of St Peter and St Paul in Clapham, south London engaged in ecumenical work with the Churches Together in Clapham (CTiC) and the priest-in-charge of Orthodox communities in Canterbury and Lamberhurst, Kent.

He is married to Patricia, an Icon painter, and they have four grownup children - Anna, Eleni, Michael and Mary - and, so far, four grandchildren.

Stephen Fowler

Elim Pentecostal Church (autumn 2020)

Stephen lives near the City of Wells and loves Somerset. He was ordained as a minister more than twenty years ago, and in addition to leading an Elim congregation, he also oversees the Connect Centre Charity in Wells.

Stephen is a trained addictions counsellor who oversees a team of twenty therapists, as well as a homeless hostel team and professional outreach staff. He is also the Director of a Mendip-based social enterprise letting agency, a consultant trainer and serves as an NHS Governor.

Stephen believes that everyone has the right to a home and ease of access to health care, particularly in the areas of mental health, multiple, and complex needs. He is a passionate advocate and speaker for those who ‘fall though the net’ of support services. He also believes in church unity, hates injustice, and embraces diversity. Faith is his driver.

Paul Hendricks

Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales (autumn 2021)

Paul Hendricks is Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark. When asked what he would like to specialise in nationally, he responded, "preferably something ecumenical." This led him to Churches Together in England, first on the Enabling Group, and later as a Trustee.

Paul has also been involved with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. Engaging in national ecumenical dialogues (Anglican, United Reformed, Oriental Orthodox) and local ecumenism (mostly Evangelical and Pentecostal) has taught him a great deal and deepened his own faith.

He is very committed to receptive ecumenism, believing that religious discourse can only be fruitful if we can respect and even love the unique gifts that God has bestowed on other Christian traditions. He is also convinced that we must not be content with our divisions, but continue to seek the fullness of unity in Christ.

Elizabeth Joy

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (autumn 2020)

Dr Elizabeth Joy is a member of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. She is originally from India, but is now based in the United Kingdom.

Her research focuses on the identities of the marginalised and their relevance to liberation and transformation in communities. She is a member of the Student Christian Movement’s Council of Reference (an advisory body to the board of trustees). She was the first female candidate to be nominated for the role of General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

She believes that as Christians who believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Liberator, we should participate in God’s mission of crossing boundaries of caste, class, colour, gender, region and religion. This will allow us to meet and work with people in both own communities as well as beyond.

Moses Owusu-Sekyere

Apostolic Pastoral Congress (autumn 2022)

Rt Rev Moses Owusu-Sekyere is the Deputy Director of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress in the United Kingdom, a collegiate collective of Christian Bishops, Pastors and other Clergy. He is also the Presiding Bishop of the Word of Faith Mission Churches in the United Kingdom, Ghana, and the United States of America.

He is currently working on a PhD project that seeks to explore Theological Education and Biblical Hermeneutics within African Pentecostal Churches in the UK.

In recognition of Pentecostalism’s ecumenical nature, Bishop Moses believes that Pentecostal Churches can contribute to and learn a lot from mainstream Christian Churches. He has served as a member of the Enabling Groups of both Churches Together in England (CTE) and Churches Together in South London (CTSL) for a number of years. He also serves as co-chair of CTE’s Racial Justice Working Group (RJWG).

Callan Slipper

Church of England (autumn 2020)

Callan was the National Ecumenical Officer for the Church of England until Spring 2022. For almost his entire life, he has worked to fulfil Jesus' last will and testament which he prayed on the eve of his death: "May they all be one."

Callan is a Church of England priest who lives in a community of the Focolare Movement, experiencing its spirituality of unity. Unity is bigger than ecumenism, but Callan believes that Christian unity is central to God's plan for the world. So he values deeply his relationships with colleagues from other churches, and feels privileged to be able to promote Christian unity at every level: national, regional, and local.

Maddy Thomson

Pioneer (autumn 2020)

As a member of the Pioneer Network of new churches for 40 years, Maddy is currently part of Bless Community Church in Ealing where she is chair of trustees and a church adviser. Maddy has a history of engaging with other churches and is appreciative and passionate about the contributions and expressions of Christians of all denominations.

Maddy chaired Churches Together in Ealing for four years to 2020, and has recently become a trustee of the Keychange Charity, which creates caring communities for older people and young women, drawing from diverse church expressions in its senior team and board. Previously Maddy was Vice-Chair of Walsingham Support, a charity with Catholic roots which supports individuals with Learning Disabilities.

Having worked in workforce development in the social care and community sectors, Maddy is passionate about diversity, inclusion and lifelong learning. She is currently studying Theology at WTC (Westminster Theological Centre).

Victoria Turner

United Reformed Church (autumn 2020)

Victoria is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, with her research investigating conceptions of ecumenism and mission through the eyes of young people. She is using the Iona Community (1938) and the Council for World Mission (formerly the London Missionary Society, 1795) as case studies, and ethnography, history and practical theology as methodologies.

Outside of academia, Victoria has been Membership Secretary for the Society for Ecumenical Studies for two years, has been working with the World Communion of Reformed Churches to plan their 2021 Youth Summit in Indonesia, and has worked extensively with the Council for World Mission.

Having personally benefitted from the transformative power that ecumenism brings, she hopes to help spread the renewing energy apparent in its exchange.

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