Some of you will know this already, but my role as Partnership Development Director with Pioneer Connexion comes to a close at the end of August 2019.  It feels like a significant watershed. This work has, in either a voluntary or professional capacity taken up much of the last ten years of my life. But it is now time for new pastures. My funding came to an end and I did not feel any great sense of calling to seek new funding.

This does not mean that my sense of calling to the church itself has changed; merely that the manner in which it is expressed will be very different in future. A number of people had once offered me a “prophetic word”, describing me as being a “bridge” – for a season this has been expressed as being involved in bringing to fruition a number of joint projects between Pioneer and the Methodist Church; I have also had some involvement in projects between Pioneer and the United Reformed Church. But a bridge is built to allow people to cross in both directions and I have frequently found it to be blocked at one end or another.

There will be plenty of time to reflect (that may be a hopelessly optimistic statement!) on what has been learned these past ten years. But, for now, I shall see to the completion of the Applied Theology degree at Moorlands College on which I am presently embarked. Having completed the first two years, I am looking forward to the next ten months during which I can concentrate on my final year’s studies.

And what “new pasture” will I be moving into? That is the BIG Question that I am presently being asked almost every day. It is also the question for which I do not yet have a clear answer. I am watching and waiting; listening with strained ears; having conversations; and mentally wrestling with ideas as they come and go. If you have any genuinely helpful suggestions or ideas, I’d love to hear them!

Some years ago I took this picture near Badbury Rings in Dorset. It reminds me that the road may be full of ups and downs and that, however clear the road may be, we can never quite see the ultimate destination. I pray that the Lord will open up the view, just a little as the coming academic year unfolds!

In the meantime, I should like to thank all of those who have travelled with me these past ten years in the work of Pioneer Connexion, and in the projects with which I have been involved. You will know who you are. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If you would like to get in touch, please use the contact form on the “About” page of this site and I will get back to you.