I’m a minister in the CofE, based in Poole, Dorset. My official title is ‘pioneer minister’ – kind of minister without portfolio i.e. without a parish and a building and all that sort of thing! We’ve established something called Poole Missional Communities (www.poolemc.org.uk ) which now oversees a number of projects and small communities that serve local people and offer a journey of faith to those wanting to explore Christianity. I also teach and train other pioneers as an associate tutor with Sarum College, CMS and Cuddesdon.
I have published two books with BRF; Stepping into Grace (2016) and Home By Another Route (2019). A new book ‘In the Fullness of Time’ will be published with Canterbury Press some time in 2024.
I walk, birdwatch, forage, swim in the sea and revel in the beauty of the world around me. I’m married to Emily with 2 children.
The title of the blog comes from a poem I wrote some years ago just before I got ordained. It tried to express something of the basis of what I believe ministry, and for that matter life is about, offering the little that we have in the service of God and his creation, trusting that he will make something beautiful and fulfilling of it, for us and for others. Thanks for reading…
His Light Material
He always starts wondering what to work with,
open hands, empty sky,
nothing but the song of a wren in the trees.
And then the crowd comes,
upturned faces, drab eyes, shuffling feet,
wondering what he has to work with.
And he always asks us what to do,
us with empty heads and open mouths,
wondering what we have to work with.
This is all we have to work with,
five loaves and two small fish,
nothing but a split beechnut on the ground,
the song of a wren in the trees.
His Light Material 