A number of people are probably a bit confused about who I am, how I come to be in the Circuit, and maybe wondering how the Circuit manages to have an ever-growing list of ordained people at a time when ministers are scarce. So I'll try and fill in some of the gaps.
But let's start at the beginning. Some of you still remember me growing up in what was originally the Ampthill Circuit, when we lived in Silsoe. That was back in the 60s and 70s. After I graduated and married Margaret, we went to work with the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone in 1978, and that was the beginning of a long love affair with Africa - an amazing continent with so many problems but from which there is also so much to learn.
We were back in Clophill for a while after my father died, but were lured back to Africa in the mid-80s, this time with the Medical Research Council, until we returned to the UK in 1990. I was then working at Nottingham University, but still very much concerned with international health issues and the problems of developing countries. Our three children then needed a stable base for schooling, and they and Margaret often unfortunately had to stay at home when I was travelling overseas.
Around that time I also became interested in what was then the relatively new idea that ordained ministers could exercise ministry in more diverse ways than just within the conventional full-time Circuit appointments with which we are familiar. There are good precedents for this - for example Paul's work as a tent-maker. I felt God wanted me to respond to this opportunity - and when I did so by offering formally to the Methodist Church, I was accepted. I was trained in the same way as other ministers, and eventually ordained at the Methodist Conference. I worked part-time for a number of years in the Nottinghamshire circuit where we lived, and was subsequently appointed to chair the Methodist Relief and Development Fund (MRDF) at Church House in London, a responsibility I still hold.
My academic base gradually moved away from Nottingham, and I now hold professorships both at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and the University of Umeå in northern Sweden, both concerned with health issues in the developing world.
After my mother died, it made sense for us to come back to Clophill, and hence I'm back in this Circuit (at least when I'm around!). Obviously there's a practical limit to how much ministry I can exercise in terms of leading worship and other things around the Circuit, but hopefully you will see me from time to time. I still travel a lot - sometimes with Margaret too, now that our family are independent - and I certainly value your prayers and support as I travel and work with all sorts of God's people around the world.
Pages compiled by Peter Fletcher
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