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 Rev Dr Paul Goodliff 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 2018
Vice-Chair: Rev Dr Lurliene Miller (Joint Council of Churches for All Nations) autumn 2020
Honorary Treasurer: Mr James Laing (Church of England) autumn 2018
Company Secretary: Rev David Lavender (Methodist Church) autumn 2019

Trustee members:

Mrs Amanda Allchorn (Baptist Union of Great Britain) autumn 2018
Rt Rev Michael Beasley (Church of England) autumn 2018
Rt Rev Paul Hendricks (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales) autumn 2018
Mrs Doral Hayes (Church of England) autumn 2019
Bishop Moses Owusu-Sekyere (Apostolic Pastoral Congress) autumn 2019
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
Archimandrite Nephon Tsimalis (Oecumenical Patriarchate) autumn 2020
Victoria Turner (United Reformed Church) autumn 2020

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 2018)

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)

Lurliene is the Vice-Chair of CTE’s Trustees, as well as joint Chair of CTE’s Racial Justice Working Group. As a CTE trustee, she represents the Joint Council of Churches for All Nations (JCCAN), a non-denominational international organisation and charity setup to serve a wide community of churches and leaders.

Lurliene is also a trustee for Downham Celebrates, a diverse group of local church leaders who plan and host annual events to celebrate and unify the local community. Lurliene co-pastor Sozo House of Praise International with her husband. Having been a counsellor for over 25 years, Lurliene is also the founder of a London-based Pastor’s support forum, and a lecturer with an international theological institute, teaching counselling, chaplaincy and various theological courses.

Lurliene says “I am truly an ecumenist at heart. As a young Christian I was part of something that truly inspired and never left me. It was the partnership that was forged between a Catholic, a Pentecostal and a Baptist church; joyfully participating in each other’s services, planning and sharing in special events, sharing pulpits, resources and truly working together. That experience spoke more to me at the time than any sermon.”

James Laing

Honorary Treasurer of CTE. Church of England (autumn 2018)

James is Diocesan Secretary for the Llandaff diocese, Church in Wales.

He lived in the Middle East, Africa and England before moving to Cardiff in 2019, where he enjoys worship in Llandaff Cathedral and his children love the local church schools.

With experience in business, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches James is excited by the diversity of God’s people and the energy of the Holy Spirit in active loving service and growing the Kingdom of God.

David Lavender

Company Secretary of CTE. Methodist Church (autumn 2019)

David is the recently-retired Methodist Superintendent of the Wolverhampton Circuit of the Methodist Church. Almost all his ministry has included ecumenical involvement, including as a University Chaplain working in a large Local Ecumenical Partnership group, and 13 years as Ecumenical Dean of Telford. He continues in retirement as part-time minister of an URC-Methodist LEP in Newport.

David has been involved with CTE since the ‘Called to be One’ Forum in 1997, including four years as Moderator of the CTE Forum and a number of years as a Board member.

Amanda Allchorn

Baptist Union of Great Britain (autumn 2018)

Amanda Allchorn was recruited to the CTE Trustee Board in 2018 due to her specialist experience and knowledge of national strategic church communications and media.

From 2005-13, Amanda was part of Senior Leadership Team for the Baptist Union of Great Britain, serving as Head of Communications at their National Centre in Oxfordshire. In the last 8 years she has also held Governor and Trusteeships with Spurgeon’s College, Church Conferences Trust (CCT), and from 2016-19 was a Trustee then National Chair of Girls Brigade England and Wales (GBEW).

Amanda is also Granny to three adorable grandchildren. She is semi-retired from professional corporate and church senior leadership roles – mainly in the City of London and Oxfordshire.

Callan Slipper

Church of England (autumn 2020)

Callan is currently the National Ecumenical Officer for the Church of England. 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.

Doral Hayes

Church of England (autumn 2019)

Doral Hayes is the Ecumenical Facilitator for Churches Together in Hertfordshire (a County Ecumenical Officer role), as well as Executive Development Officer for the Association of Interchurch Families (one of CTE’s Bodies in Association).

Doral is a member of the English and Welsh Anglican Roman Catholic Committee, as well as the CTBI Writers Group for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Doral is a Licenced Lay Minister and Associate Lay Chair for the Wycombe Deanery in the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England.

Doral supports CTE’s work with local and intermediate ecumenism, as well as sitting on the Racial Justice Working Group. Doral is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Practical Theology at Roehampton University, is married to Declan, a musician, and has two children Amelia and Dylan.

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 is also one of the two candidates 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.

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).

Michael Beasley

Church of England (autumn 2018)

Michael Beasley has worked extensively in both Christian ministry and scientific research. After study at Imperial, Oxford and Durham, he was ordained in 1999 and went on to work at Westcott House theological college in Cambridge and also at Imperial’s Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. He describes both roles as “a calling to put at God’s service the gifts that he has given me”.

Following his appointment in 2010 as director of mission for the Diocese of Oxford, Michael worked with churches across the spectrum of Anglican churchmanship. In 2015 he was consecrated as Bishop of Hertford in the Diocese of St Albans (Church of England).

Moses Owusu-Sekyere

Apostolic Pastoral Congress (autumn 2019)

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).

Nephon Tsimalis

Oecumenical Patriarchate (autumn 2020)

Fr. Nephon Tsimalis was born in Chicago, Illinois, to late parents Haralampos and Triantafyllia Tsimalis the Corinthians. He has completed a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies (2006), a Master of Divinity (May 2008), and a Master of Theology in Pastoral Psychology. In November 2020, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas of the Dardanelles.

Since his appointment in 2017 by the Ecumenical Patriarch, he serves as a Commissioner of the World Council of Churches’ Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. On 25 October 2019, he was appointed by the Ecumenical Patriarch to assist the needs of the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.

On 24 November 2019, Fr. Nephon was ordained to the Holy Priesthood and elevated to the rank of Archimandrite. Currently, he serves as the Director of the Office of the Archbishop and as co-pastor at the historic Cathedral of Divine Wisdom in Bayswater, London.

Paul Hendricks

Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales (autumn 2018)

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.

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.

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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Our Trustee board are Trustees of the Charity and Directors of the Company