About Me

Life, glimpsed through a lens of reconciliation!

I am a Christian called to peacemaking and reconciliation. I live in Luton and my work is based at St Mary's, the town centre Parish Church of Luton where I lead the work of St Marys Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. I post some things there, but more edgy and personal stuff here. There will also be a growing number of blog pieces from before the Centre existed that I hope to export from another now rather messy site, ReconciliationTalk.com.

In addition to my core work I am involved in lay leadership in the Church of England, in Luton, the Diocese of St Albans and as a member of General Synod, the governing body of the Church of England. A number of my blog posts relate to that, especially my work on sexual abuse in the church.

I studied Botany at university, and later a Masters in the History and Philosophy of Science. A fascination with the way western ideas, worldview and culture impacted different nations led to me spending many years teaching on the impact of Colonialism and Mission around the world. It was encountering the impact of this which led to my involvement in a number of Christian led Reconciliation Projects, internationally and especially in China, and ultimately to my current work in peacebuilding.

I work with a coalition of Christian and Muslim leaders in opposing sexual exploitation, and post some stuff on our FACES blog. And I am on the board of the charity, Hope not Hate, who work to challenge and defeat hatred and extremism, and occasionally write pieces for them.

Working for peace in the midst of Difference: Luton and the World.

In 2009 i found myself at the heart of an outbreak of street based anti-Muslim hatred in Luton, and i have been chasing that ever since. That has taken me into the world of understanding extremism, especially on the far right; into extensive engagement with our towns Muslim community; and work with the police and local government. That has led to my having close working relationships, friendships and goodwill, and a voice in our community I could never have dreamed of.

The peace of our town, Luton, had been challenged by the views of a few that sought to polarise the rest of us. At the heart of the extremes was and still remains, the narrative of a clash of civilisations between the Christian West and the Muslim World.  As Christians and Muslims our commitment early on in this journey in May 2009 was this:  “in the face of extremist minorities that seek to separate us, we are united in the teaching of both our faiths, to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves.” In a very full two months we'd had a British Army Regiment Homecoming Parade in the town disrupted by Muslim extremists which provoked a near riot; we'd had two demonstration in response by angry Lutonians; and we'd had a mosque firebombed. A European election was to be held in early June, and we made up our minds we needed to do something. The commitment of which these words are part was made by Christian and Muslim leaders at a press conference and in the heated environment made national TV.  You can read it here.

That commitment has been an anchor for our work since that time. My work is about applying it, extending and deepening the commitment.

Many of the challenges Luton has faced over recent years are recorded and pondered over in blog posts that you can access here.  (The blog is in pretty bad shape currently but most of the content is there. hope to set that to rights in time. I have resurrected that blog recently and started a new blog -here.)