About Me

Photograph of the author relaxing on a recliner in the sun, possibly praying?

I was ordained into the Church of England in 1970 and served for over 20 years in the Diocese of Southwark, in both inner-city and suburban parishes. I was Chair of the Southwark spiritual direction network, SPIDIR [1988-93], edited ‘Approaches to Prayer’ [1991], ‘A Time to Reflect’ [1998], and co-edited ‘The God you already know’ [2009] with Roy Gregory, the latter mainly as a consequence of our experience together in Soul Space at Greenbelt. The full text of both ‘Approaches to Prayer’ and ‘The God you already know’ are available on The Annunciation Trust website. http://www.annunciationtrust.org.uk

I have been a member of Spiritual Directors in Europe since its inception in 2000, was its Secretary [2002-2008] and its Chair [2009-2012], and have ministered extensively in Finland, and to a lesser degree in Lithuania and Norway.

I left parish ministry in 1993 and set up The Annunciation Trust, as a means of supporting myself as I responded to a call from God to a ministry outside the structures of the Church. Initially I was based in south London, before moving to Doncaster, in 2003. I started collecting my pension in the summer of 2010, and we moved to just outside Worcester. My wife Sylvia says that nothing much has changed for me on retirement, and she is largely correct!

I have from time to time wondered what it is that God is calling me to be/do? Over the years different answers have suggested themselves, but I’ve never felt clear. I’ve learnt to welcome that this not knowing has meant that I’ve had to wait and see where I was led rather than try to control where I was going.

I stood back from the day-to-day business of The Annunciation Trust in 2021, while remaining a Beneficiary. In the autumn of 2022 my friend Hugh Valentine and I set up a web-site https://www.feralspirituality.uk Feral spirituality is concerned with life under God beyond an institutional religious framework.

I value time to be still & reflect, and space to ‘be’ in the natural world, just as I value success for the Spurs football team. I love the Bible, reckon that some of the best theology is found in novels and poetry, and that there is a rich tradition of spirituality expressed through art and music.

My ministry now is mainly one of spiritual conversations with individuals, of any religious tradition or none, at home and at a number of centres in England. I began writing posts on The Annunciation Trust website in 2014 and have done so regularly since 2016 when I found myself no longer involved in parochial ministry yet needing to continue sharing something of what I was learning on my own spiritual journey.

I’m grateful to my friend Hugh Valentine who suggested publishing them in a blog and encouraged me when I was doubtful about doing so. As a first step I re-read them all and was encouraged to find that there were consistent threads that seemed to build on ideas first expressed in ‘The God you already know’. Maybe sharing them in a blog is a good idea.

I’m also grateful to my daughters Lizzie and Hannah for their technical skills in creating this site for me, to my daughter Naomi and wife Sylvia for their words of encouragement, and to numerous people who have commented on what I’ve written over the years.