I have been a Moravian all my life. I was baptised as a child at the Moravian Church in Swindon and my father became a minister when I was ten years old. We moved to Baildon in West Yorkshire and then Fairfield in Manchester, and I then went to Oxford University to do a degree in Physics. After graduating, I worked for four years at Stagecoach UK Bus in Stockport in management accounts. I married Claire in Fairfield, and our two sons were born during our time there.
In 2003 I began training for ministry in the Moravian Church at Luther King House in Manchester. I was awarded a degree in Contextual Theology four years later and have since added a postgraduate diploma. I served the Baildon and Horton congregations in West Yorkshire for four years, during which time I was first ordained as a deacon and later consecrated as a presbyter. I then served the Fulneck and Gomersal congregations, also in West Yorkshire, for ten years. Four years ago, we moved to London where I serve the congregations in Hornsey and Chelsea.
The Moravian Church is a worldwide church known as the Moravian Unity of which Britain and Ireland are one Province. I have served on the Provincial Church Book Committee, Church Service Committee and Faith and Order and Ecumenical Relations Committee. I also had the task of chairing our Provincial Synod when it had to be held online due to Covid. Since 2021 I have been serving part-time on the Provincial Board, who are the trustees of the Moravian Church in Britain and Ireland.
I have always been keen on working with other churches and have been secretary or chairman of various Churches Together groups over the years. Until last year we had one Provincial Ecumenical Officer, Rev Philip Cooper. The role has now been divided so that Rev Lorraine Shorten and I have both taken on some of the responsibilities. Moravian ministry is based on the ideal of service, and so I look forward to serving God and working with the other ecumenical officers to serve the cause of Christian unity.
Learn more about the Moravian Church in Britain and Ireland.