12. St Andrew's, Oxford

St. Andrew's had been built in the early part of the century by influential lay people, with backing from Wycliffe Hall, because there was no parish of C.M.S. traditions in the area. It had stormy beginnings but settled down into a fairly broad evangelical tradition. The only Vicar to stay over ten years was the Rev. G. Foster-Carter who, after outstanding ministries in large parishes, came to Oxford for the last sixteen years before he retired. My predecessor, Gordon Hewitt, remained six years. He was greatly beloved, a most devoted pastor. I had no desire to make great changes, or to enter into competition with the big evangelical work going on in St. Aldate's and St. Ebbe's. St. Andrew's had a fair size congregation to minister to (though the actual parish was minute) and I felt that to continue my Bible-based evangelical preaching would contribute to the building up of church life.

I was instituted by the Bishop of Oxford, Dr. Harry Carpenter, who was always most kind and gracious, and inducted by Archdeacon Witton Davies, a good friend who shared my interest in all things Jewish. A big crowd came from Emmanuel to give us a send-off, and were entertain- ed afterwards in the room at the back of the church, and at the Vicarage. Some of the ladies were shocked by the old-fashioned kitchen, such a contrast with our new house at Northwood. But it was a nice Vicarage on the whole, and a lovely garden of manageable size. We later had the kitchen modernized, and put in night storage heaters. As we always had 'lodgers' on the top floor, we also put in an extra bath.

Many of the large houses which originally made up the parish were already turned into flats, or even bed-sitters. But there were the remnants of the old days too. When I asked the churchwarden, Mr. White, for a list of house-bound people I should visit immediately, the first three names were all titled! We had many such, often with close connection with the University. In fact I was the only non-Oxford incumbent the parish has ever had, and I think it may have been a disadvantage.

My first Sunday showed me the kind of job it was going to be. There were good congregations at 8 and 11, but at 6.30 there was a tiny handful, and I resolved that this was what we would try to build up as an evangelistic effort. There was no prayer meeting, so we started one almost at once, and it always had support. There was a good mid-week communion attended by some notable saints. St. Luke's Nursing Home was in the parish and I had a regular ministry there. The Dragon School, Greycotes School, and the Oxford High School for Girls were all in the parish, and we had links with them all. There was a youth club which met on Sunday evenings, attended mostly by young people who had no connection with the church. I found it hard to adjust to this after the lively Christian youth work in all my other parishes, and eventually it petered out. I must bear my share of the blame.

Although Wycliffe Hall were our patrons, I had little contact there, apart from being invited to give occasional talks. I was closer to the Oxford Pastorate, that unofficial evangelical chaplaincy to the University which has been so greatly blessed over the years. I did not feel it right to intrude on the O.I.C.C.U. unless invited to do so. Latimer House was just outside the parish, and I developed close relations with Dr. Jim Packer and Roger Beckwith and their families. They were very loyal backers of St. Andrew's. St. Michael's House, the women's training college, was also just across the Banbury Road. Staff and students mostly went to St. Ebbe's, but a few came to us, notably Miss Emily Jackson, the housekeeper, who was regular at our prayer meeting from the first.

We had some extremely interesting people. Mr. Foster-Carter came with his daughter when he was not away preaching. John and Norma Emerton and their children attended regularly. He was Professor Driver's assistant and later went to Cambridge as Professor. Professor (later Sir Godfrey) Driver himself came when he was not in Magdalen College Chapel where, he told me, he was one of the very few dons who attended. His great scholarship underlies the Old Testament section of the New English Bible. The Rev. L. B. Cross, one time vice- principal of Ripon Hall, and a fellow of Jesus College, used to read lessons—always from the Revised Version. Mrs. Taylor, widow of the former Bishop of Sodor and Man, was a tower of strength and a great support in prayer. From a lovely old people's residence nearby came Miss Somervell who as a young woman was turned down on health grounds by C.M.S., and went out to Japan as a voluntary worker—a woman of great character; and Miss Maclagan, daughter of a former Archbishop of York who died in 1910. The last were of a great age, and could reminisce entertainingly of past years.

Not all the congregation was old. Michael Cooke, a churchwarden, and his wife, gave great help. Sir Michael and Lady Oppenheimer were staunch supporters: her work in moral theology is well-known. Another theologian. Miss Violet Wilkinson, was tragically killed in a road accident. She was devoted to the work of St. Luke's Home, and was greatly missed there. Another good supporter for most of our time was Murray Walton, who had visited us for the C.M.S. in Dublin. His wife's brother. Colonel Hebbert, was my churchwarden for a time.

We had a good deal of co-operation among the churches of north Oxford. On the Anglican side this meant St. Giles, St. Barnabas, St. Philip and St. James, St. Margaret, Wolvercote, and Summertown. We tried combining for mid-week meetings in Lent, but not with great success. We got on well together, but theological differences were plain to see. As so often happens, we as evangelicals seemed to be closer to the more advanced high churchman than either of us were to those in the middle of the road. I greatly enjoyed taking a Lent course for women on weekday afternoons in St. Barnabas, that well-known stronghold of anglo-catholicism.

When we moved to Oxford I resigned from C.M.S. Men Candidates Committee (of which I had at one time been chairman for four years) but stayed on the Executive. I also resigned from C.M.J. General Committee, but stayed on the Candidates Committee, which met only as required. I was very fully occupied with Simeon Trustee work— correspondence, travel, and meetings. Though St. Andrew's was a small parish, I had to manage without a curate, without a verger, and especially without a secretary. As I do not type, it was hard work, and I was most grateful for a volunteer. Lily Dear, who helped me out as occasion allowed. Her knowledge of the clergy, gained from her time as secretary at Lee Abbey, was phenomenal, and almost made Crockford's Clerical Directory unnecessary! I do believe that the careful management of patronage is an important contribution to the Church's ministry, and I do not regret the long hours I gave to this work. I also think that Charles Simeon himself would have approved of most, if not all, the appointments we made.

One or two of the parishes we dealt with were shared with other patrons. Sheffield Cathedral, for instance, is alternately in the gift of the City Church Burgesses and Simeon. When it was their turn to appoint, they very kindly invited me to join them. I attended two out of the three meetings, and it was interesting to see the way they set to work. That was the occasion when Ivan Neill was appointed Provost, and I felt all along that he was going to be their man. They were very thorough in their questioning and subsequent discussion, and I am sure that on that occasion they were guided by God. Whatever changes may ultimately come in the method of appointment—and we are already seeing modifications through the working of the Pastoral Measure—I hope the appointing body will be as efficient and painstaking as many private and trustee patrons have been.

David and family visited us from time to time, and we also took holidays in their direction. They had now moved from Ormskirk (his first curacy) to Beccles in Suffolk where he had charge of a daughter church in Rigbourne Hill. The move to his living was within the diocese as he became Vicar of St. John's, Woodbridge. Dorothy and David were in Cockfosters, where he was curate to my old friend Kenneth Hooker. They stayed there till they went out with S.A.M.S. to Buenos Aires. Robert was still at L.C.D. where he greatly admired Hugh Jordan's example to all the men as a truly humble Christian leader. Although I had dropped some of the commitments which entailed journeys to London, I found myself involved in others in Oxford and further afield. I did a good deal of speaking to Ruri-decanal Conferences and Evangelical Fellowships about the deployment of the clergy, and patronage in general. I was involved in our own Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship and became its chairman, as I had been in London and before that in Southwark. I do not believe that I have any special gifts of leadership, but perhaps I was able to conduct meetings in a fairly harmonious way, and this is what is required in a chairman. I have never been one of those clergymen who 'dreads' his own Parochial Church Council! I have found them rather fun!

I served on some diocesan committees: the Board of Women's Work, as I had done in London; the Readers Board (I helped in the examination of readers); the Pastoral Committee; and a study group on Christian initiation set up to give some guidance to the diocese. On this last I found myself as the only evangelical putting up a stronger defence of infant baptism than some of the others. I also attended a conference of the Evangelical Fellowship of Theological Literature, a body which had been started largely by Max Warren years before. They actually made me a member, though my writings hardly qualify as theological literature. The membership covered a wide range of evangelical opinion. I am bound to say that the kind of radical Christianity one came across in Oxford had the effect of strengthening my own conservative position.

I have never felt that to be a conservative evangelical should cut one off from others. The Bishop asked me to conduct an ordination retreat, which I was very pleased to do. I was invited to lecture on marriage preparation at St. Stephen's House, and in the process 'prepared' a student and his fiancee for their approaching wedding. When I asked them which service they wanted used, 1662 or 1928, I was a bit non- plussed by the answer. The man was quite sure: 'Nuptial Mass!' Greatest privilege of all, I was asked to take a Quiet Day at Cuddesdon, and I spoke on Charles Simeon's three aims in preaching: to humble the sinner, to exalt the Saviour, and to promote holiness. I am not aware that my simple way of conducting the holy communion was in any way offensive to those who prefer something more ornate. In these matters we are drawing closer together. The principal of Cuddesdon at the time was the present Archbishop of Canterbury.

There was a Billy Graham Relay Crusade in a cinema in Cowley, and I encouraged people to go, and acted as an 'Advisor'. I cannot say that it touched our parish very much, perhaps for geographical reasons. I admire Dr. Graham's preaching immensely, and acknowledge the good results there have been in many cases. I suppose it is inevitable that there should also be casualties. After all, our own registers of those we have prepared and presented for confirmation are not always very encouraging reading. Jesus himself experienced the sorrow of some going back and walking no more with him.

Half-way through our time in Oxford it was suggested to me by the secretary of the Board of Women's Work, Miss Mary Turner, that St. Andrew's should take on to its staff a gifted graduate woman worker, Ruth Wintle, and give her freedom to develop a ministry among students. The P.C.C. agreed to this and so for two years we had a second member of staff. For although she had a wider ministry, she gave herself ungrudgingly to the work of the parish as well. She visited and organized, helped in services and preached most helpfully, and was in fact every bit as useful as any curate. Obviously we were not going to keep her when the call came to bigger spheres, first to the staff of Cranmer Hall, Durham, and then to the highest administrative post in the Church's Women's Work. I have worked with her predecessors on Selection Boards for Women's Work, and know what a great responsibility rests upon the Secretary.

I said earlier that I felt that Sunday evenings were a challenge to a ministry of outreach. Congregations began to grow and we started an after-church fellowship at the Vicarage. There was no age limit, and it quickly became a place where all sorts of people gathered and mixed freely. At its highest there would be over forty for a simple supper, talk and some kind of programme. Once the Bishop came and preached at the evening holy communion (the new Series 2 service) and then answered questions about all kinds of things at the Fellowship. If I remember there were over fifty communicants, and about forty stayed on afterwards. Those Sunday evenings were a great encouragement. It meant a long day, with four services before lunch and evensong and Fellowship occupying us from 6,30 till 10. But it was worth it.

Another real landmark in our life as a parish was preparing for the great 'Bible Comes to Life' exhibition which was put on by the C.M.J. in our church. The setting was ideal and we had great crowds coming throughout the week. Of course we enlisted the help of neighbouring parishes to train as stewards, and in this Ruth Wintle's persuasiveness came into its own. She virtually organized it all, leaving me to concentrate on the school visits in the mornings. I reckon that about 1200 children saw the exhibition, and many came back with their parents later. The costume lectures were superb and the exhibition itself of a very high standard. Its value to C.M.J. is enormous, and Bill Metcalf's work in building it up and running it has been outstanding. He is now retired.

I had been thinking for some time that before I retired I might be able to do some final job for the C.M.J., to which Emily and I had both been called originally. I had in mind that I might be able, as a kind of ambassador at large, to widen the interest around the country, making use of the many contacts I had already with clergy and parishes. I shared this with Bill Metcalf, and later laid my ideas before the General Secretary and Home Secretary. It happened after a Candidates Committee at which we had recomended the acceptance of David and Rosemary Harley who became missionaries to the Jews in Ethiopia and in England. But on that occasion it was said that there might not be money enough to take them on. I saw red. The idea that first-class young people might not be able to go out to fulfil their mission because the money was locked up in some Christian's pocket! I felt impelled to offer myself to try to raise interest in the church, knowing as I did that C.M.J. was short of people for deputation work. To make a long story short, my offer was in time accepted.

The decision was by no means a sudden one. It meant facing up to considerable financial sacrifice, but we felt that if God was calling, all would be well. At some stage I saw the Bishop of Oxford who was a little mystified. I was in a lovely parish, with a great many other interests as well. It meant that at 62 I should be embarking on a job which involved much travel, and leaving Emily alone quite often. But it would bring us back into the work we both loved, and we really did believe it was what God wanted us to do. I felt also that it would not be difficult to combine it with what I was doing for Simeon's Trustees (and incidentally the work of C.M.J. was the greatest passion of Charles Simeon's life in the end).

I was naturally concerned with who my successor at St. Andrew's would be. A C.M.S. missionary, Arnold Lee, was home and looking for a parish, and he seemed to me the ideal man; an Oxford man, a firm evangelical, and strongly C.M.S. I ventured to send his name to one of the trustees and when Arnold was interviewed I am sure he must have impressed. I was delighted when we were able to announce my successor, and when it came to the point the Bishop broke all the rules and instituted him only ten days after we had left. So there was no trying interregnum.

For me it was business as usual for the last weeks until we left on 1 September 1 969. We just took one week's holiday to go to the C.M.J. conference at High Leigh, which we have tried to go to most years to keep in touch. Then a closing week at home to get ready for the move. As we were going into a much smaller house than we had ever lived in before, we sold quite a lot of furniture to the Lees, who were glad to take it over. I preached my farewell sermons on 31 August. The next day the van came to pack up, and we motored to Sheffield on the Tuesday to find the furniture there first. We had bought the little semi- detached house for the C.M.J. when we were up in Sheffield for Robert's ordination as priest. He was there to meet us and help with moving in, for his parish was only a few miles away at Chapeltown. I think some people thought we left Oxford because we were not happy there, but this was emphatically not the case. We had our difficulties, like every parish, but these were overcome, and we found we had great backing from increasing numbers of people. The fact is we were enjoying the work at St. Andrew's, and it was a wrench to leave the parish, and all the other interests I had in the diocese. Our move was definitely to the C.M.J. and not from Oxford. My successor was able to go forward at an increased pace and much was accomplished in his nine years there. Now, under Colin Bennetts, there is even more growth and, from all one hears, it is one of the really flourishing parishes in Oxford. In all these later developments lay people have had a big part. I look back with thankfulness to many loyal supporters, men and women, but to none more than Donald and Elizabeth Hay who are still to the fore in every good work. Their coming to Oxford and identifying themselves with St. Andrew's was a tremendous encouragement to us. And there were others who helped to make this part of our pilgrimage a real partnership.

Robert's ordination now completed the family, and I was glad to be privileged to join in the laying on of hands, as I had done at David's ordination in Liverpool Cathedral. In London diocese only fathers are invited to join in the ordination so I had had to be content to observe the laying on of hands on son-in-law David from the congregation. We are a very clerical family, and I have had the joy of watching children and grandchildren develop, and of praying for them at every step.

My mother had died in 1 964 at the age of 93, after being a widow for 27 years. My brother Howard and his wife Margaret, a nurse, had looked after her in her latter years. Then Howard was taken ill suddenly, and died in hospital, leaving a widow and one daughter. Emily's mother died in 1 965 at the age of 92, having been a widow for 42 years. Her son Charlie was with her at the end, and Emily arrived a few hours later. David, who had been great friends with his grandmother, joined me at the funeral and we were able to fly back together. So the generations pass on, each Christian soul contributing something unique to the kingdom of God.

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