News from Ridley - Summer 2014

Summer 2014

NEWS from

www.ridley.cam.ac.uk

In this issue: FROM START-UP TO REBIRTH Connecting faith and business: the alpha and omega of the business lifecycle p 3

TO BE A PILGRIM Four final-year students reflect on a journey of prayer and friendship p 5

A THEOLOGY OF FACEBOOK Ordinand Ben Topham investigates social media through a theological lens p 5

PRAYER CENTREFOLD PULL-OUT An invitation to pray for our leavers: The 2014 Ember List p 7

RIDLEY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914–18 Ridley’s Archives Manager Elaine Thornton on the unique WW1 artefacts in College archives p 11

THE PRIVILEGE OF SERVING Lee Gandiya on providing pastoral support to soldiers engaged in munitions disposal p 12

Special issue commemorating WWI Feature articles on pages 11–16

ECHOES ON THE SOMME Ridley tutor Paul Weston takes a sobering and personal journey around the battlefield p 16

One Hundred Years On My grandfather’s World War One helmet and bayonet are in my mother’s loft.

There is also a well-thumbed Gospel of John and a circular letter from his Senior Chaplain. ‘The life of the Church is not quite as strong and vigorous as it ought to be,’ writes the Revd Stafford Crawley. At Sunday services, ‘sometimes no officers and a mere handful of men were present’.

World War One issued a wake-up call to the Church of England. ‘The church fails to present the faith in a clear way the soldiers can understand,’ Stafford Crawley wrote to his wife from the front line, on another occasion. This realisation lay at the heart of five Committees of Enquiry set up by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1916. Military chaplains made a major contribution to these Committees and their recommendations for worship, teaching and evangelism.

Meanwhile, the chaplains went on to serve sacrificially in the war zones. In this newsletter, we are reminded that 126 Ridleians served as military chaplains between 1914 and 1919. Twenty-one Ridleians died on active service.

As we mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, we hear from Ridleians currently serving

as military chaplains. We also hear from Ridleians who exchanged a career in the armed services for ordination in the Church of England. They speak of the need for courage and for a willingness to take risks in their ministry. In doing so, they are heeding the distant call of World War One chaplains for the church to find new ways of making the gospel intelligible.

This year, eleven women and twenty-five men leave Ridley to be ordained. As they take up posts in twenty-three dioceses, let’s pray that they will play their part in ensuring that the life of our church does indeed become ‘as strong and vigorous as it ought to be.’

The words in my grandfather’s yellowing Gospel of John apply as much today as they did in the trenches: ‘I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.’ John 10.10 Andrew Norman, Principal

Information Events

New Appointment

Raising Ridley’s profile in the broader Church is an important part of our mission as we form Christian leaders for the 21st century. All kinds of Christian leaders train at Ridley, from international visiting scholars to local independent students, but at our core is the mission God has given us to train men and women for the ordained ministry.

We are delighted to announce the new appointment of a Tutor in Christian History and Spirituality and Dean of Women. Prebendary Dr Catherine Wright will join Ridley Hall staff in September.

One new activity to raise awareness is a series of ‘Information Events’ where we can ‘get the word out’ about Ridley and what’s going on more broadly in our Church. We want to develop prayer partners and financial partners who will help us meet the challenges that face us ahead.

If you are interested in attending an Information Event, or perhaps you might even consider hosting one at your home, Church or local community, please contact the Development Team on 01223 741079 or development@ridley.cam.ac.uk.

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It has been a surprise to find that obedience to God’s call brings me back to the place where I began my ordination training in 1994 – the year that women were first ordained priest in the Church of England.

I move from Somerset, where I have enjoyed encouraging the vocations of women and men as DDO, with responsibility for curate training, and also as Dean of Women Clergy. With a background in medieval studies, I am looking forward to sharing with you the ways that our Christian history and spiritual heritage inform our present and offer us possibility for the future.

Catherine Wright

The Lifecycle of Business This year’s Faith in Business conference focused around the need for God’s wisdom and timing in discerning all the key stages in organisational development: seed corn and start-up; growth and expansion; maturity and sometimes decline, which can lead either to death or rebirth. Faith in Business Director Richard Higginson looks back at a rewarding time of discussion, input and fellowship.

It’s all about people! That is an apt summary of our 2014 Spring conference. Relating well to people is crucial to the functioning of business. It also expresses the feel of the conference itself.

‘I am always looking for the connection of faith and business.

I was googling on those words and found you; what a blessing!’

Delegate, Ype Starreveld

This was a group of people who enjoyed meeting with each other and found much mutual stimulus, support, encouragement and fellowship over the weekend. Existing friendships were renewed and many new ones forged.

Insights came from a variety of sources: speakers, buzz groups and plenary discussion. Taking his inspiration from the conference title ‘Alpha and Omega’, Bjorn Mathiesen gave us a new way to imagine ourselves as business leaders – the letters in between the first and last letter of Jesus Christ. Ravi Gidoomal and David Cross suggested that, for Christians, business growth is not only about commercial differentiation, but spiritual and ‘dependent’ differentiation. Brothers Court and Matt Clarkson offered a fresh view of established companies – mature companies may actually be suffering from immaturity, and the key to their revival may be to assimilate more of the marks of personal maturity.

Turning his attention to businesses under threat, Paul Kinrade pointed to the wider resource of its

Ridley Tutor made Honorary Canon

The Bishop of Ely has appointed Dave Male, Ridley’s Tutor in Pioneer Mission Training, to the position of honorary canon of Ely Cathedral. His installation took place in a special evensong service at the Cathedral on Tuesday 13th May. We are delighted at this recognition of Dave’s contribution to the Church and society through his work with fresh expressions of church. employees – while supply of cash is crucial to saving a company in trouble, so is harnessing the wisdom and goodwill of the workforce. Sally Orwin Lee set our personal business stories in a new theological framework – shedding light on how the ups and downs of our stories make more sense in the context of God’s big story. Our closing speaker, Gillian Stamp, reminded us that we are embarked on four simultaneous journeys – self, public, private and personal. Good leaders can help to integrate these journeys, because they appreciate people’s multifaceted nature, provide the context for them to be the best they can be, and have a highly developed sense of awareness and timing.

For a visual flavour of the conference see our website gallery of photos at http://bit.ly/1skfvhs

Photos © Andrew Wilkinson

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Making Christian Marriage Possible Of the 7.6 million people who attend church regularly in the UK, 2.6 million are men.

The 2:1 ratio of women to men is widely recognised, as are the implications. There is need for far more effective evangelism and discipleship among men; for many Christian women, marriage to a Christian man seems nigh impossible; increasing numbers of our children will be spiritually fatherless.

ENGAGE, one of the ancillary projects of the Simeon Centre over the past two years, has been building a network of communities of Christians who share our aim ‘to make singleness or marriage a genuine choice for all Christian women and men, through a church which is gender-balanced and teaches about healthy Christian singleness, dating and marriage’.

Down under and uplifted What a wonderful place Australia is to spend your sabbatical, especially if it means missing our winter and enjoying an Australian summer. Although 41°C in Melbourne was a bit much!

I was privileged to visit a wide range of institutions, both as a speaker and to work alongside those developing pioneer ministry and training. My itinerary took me to national and state conferences for Anglican and Uniting Churches in Perth, Adelaide, Tasmania and Melbourne to speak on mission, evangelism and fresh expressions of church. In Adelaide I worked with colleagues at the Uniting College for Leadership and Theology, My personal helping them to develop a highlight was new online course for Piospending a day with neers. an Aboriginal church I spent time at various theological institutions including our namesake Ridley College and the Centre for Theology and Ministry in Melbourne. Perhaps the most memorable moment of my speaking tour was at Wollaston Theological College in Perth, where I found myself being evacuated in the middle of a lecture because of a nearby bush fire. I watched as helicopters dropped gallons of water on the fire.

Not a problem we encounter often in the Lecture Hall at Ridley Hall! My schedule also gave me the 4

To this end we are working closely with Relationship Central, Christian Vision for Men, The Romance Academy, Christian Connection and The Evangelical Alliance to gather statistically valid information, build awareness and hold a number of closed seminars.

A website www.engage-mcmp.org.uk has recently been launched to draw a wider Christian constituency into the conversation, and we are in the early stages of planning an autumn event for Christian leaders, to draw attention to the range of troubling issues both in the Church and in wider society which bedevil healthy Christian relationships and common life. It would be a great help if readers of News from Ridley felt able to make the website widely known among their constituency.

Adrian Chatfield is Director of the Simeon Centre for Prayer and the Spiritual Life and Tutor in Christian Life and Thought

opportunity to speak at a number of clergy gatherings and to work with various key leaders to develop regional training for pioneers.

It was wonderful to be accompanied by my wife Heather and to enjoy a very special three months together. There was also plenty of time to enjoy the delights of such a vast continent, from visiting the occasional winery to snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. The generosity of the people we met was amazing and humbled us. It has to be said, however, that watching England lose at cricket twice was not so enjoyable.

Perhaps my personal highlight was spending a day with an Aboriginal church and hearing their stories of Jesus transforming their lives in the midst of the huge problems and issues they face as an oppressed people.

Dave Male is Tutor in Pioneer Mission Training and Director of the Centre for Pioneer Learning

...To be a Pilgrim As we hobbled the last six miles of our pilgrimage, we all agreed that the most profound thing to come out of our time at Ridley would be the relationships which had formed.

The prayer quad (or prayer square) had been meeting as a trio for a year, and acquired an additional member a year ago.

We met two or more times a week for coffee, croissants, prayer, accountability, encouragement and laughter.

As our relationships grew into a lifelong prayer and accountability group, it was felt that our pre-ordination retreat should include a physical challenge. The Pilgrim’s Way was chosen, Farnham to Canterbury.

This 14-day walk was going to be impossible though, as with twelve and half children between us, we simply couldn’t give up the time, so we decided to up the ante, and complete the 114 miles in 5 days.

We trained hard, each struggled in different ways but felt immensely blessed by the time we spent as

pilgrims. The strenuous physicality of the long days (27 miles on day one, with the same gradient as climbing Snowdon) seemed to aid the spiritual reflection.

We prayed together, alone, reflected on scripture, on ourselves, on the journey ahead as we start curacies. We finished at Canterbury Cathedral with evening prayer, a special pilgrim’s service and the Eucharist. Being a cathedral, there was a lot of standing up and sitting down (not an easy job after a long walk). As we sat, just the four of us, in the crypt with the Dean, who prayed for us, it was the most significant ending to a journey, yet at the same time just the beginning.

Ben Topham, Pete Wynter, Steve Burston and Sid Bridges all graduate from Ridley Hall this summer

A Theology of Facebook Final year ordinand Ben Topham tells us about his Masters dissertation, which investigates social media through a theological lens.

Over the last ten years, the way individuals and organisations have interacted with the internet has changed as social media has become part of Western life. And the ways in which we as Christians and churches have responded have also varied.

and pastorally. From the research and theological reflection I will outline a guide which can help church leaders to use Facebook healthily and with theological integrity.

In my dissertation I look at the theological assumptions that often lie beneath these reactions – taking Facebook as my focus – and seek to analyse both the benefits and the potential dangers of using the community tool.

The practical objective of the thesis is to uncover the different uses that could be made of Facebook by churches and their leaders – personally, missionally

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The Serving Heart of Ministry The Revd Dr Paul Swarup joined us on study leave for four weeks during the Lent term. Paul is Dean of the Cathedral Church of the Redemption in Delhi and joined us as part of our Overseas programme. Staff member Jason Ingalls talked with him about his visit.

How has your stay been?

Wonderful. I think the outstanding thing about Ridley is a fantastic sense of community. For me, I was working in Tyndale Library during the day, and when I came back, it was like family, particularly F Staircase where I stayed.

What gifts will you take back to your ministry?

The primary thing is one of community and how you can function as a caring community. I was really touched by Nick [a final year student], the first night I came. I came in at 10pm, and I had a terrible back. I was struggling to walk. I had one heavy suitcase, and Nick was such a God-sent angel. I didn’t say anything to him. He straightaway picked up the heavy suitcase and he said ‘Just come along’. And right up four flights of stairs to the top, he lugged it. Those kinds of serving attitudes, you know, are so important among those who are training for ministry. At the end of the day, it’s all about serving. I have found that in Nick.

How did your writing project go?

The project which I came for, I completed. This is part of a one-volume Bible commentary. I am one of the Old Testament editors. I was asked to write the Exodus commentary. It is impossible for me to write in India where I have to look after the Cathedral and teaching and administration and other things. Ridley offered me a fellowship to finish the project.

What’s your hope for the project?

The hope is huge. It is written by South Asians completely. It is for our own context and the issues we are facing. Secondly, it is going to be translated into all the regional languages. There’s a huge emerging church in North India, a grassroots-level church.

Most of them are from other faith backgrounds. This commentary is a major investment in deepening the roots of the Church.

Even though the commentary has taken a lot of time, we know it will create a lot of damage in the enemy territory. Satan has also been working really hard, you know, trying to destroy it, but it has survived so far. I’m sure God has been faithful and will continue to be.

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Steering the Federation through running streams of wisdom Professor Simon Lee was recently appointed Director of the Cambridge Theological Federation.

When I was Rector of Liverpool Hope University College, Bishop David Sheppard, a Ridley alumnus, chaired the governing body. One Pro-Rector was the theologian, Revd Canon Dr John Elford, another Ridley alumnus. The other was the church historian, Dr Susan O’Brien, a founder of the Margaret Beaufort Institute.

Ridley, Margaret Beaufort and seven other institutions are members of the Cambridge Theological Federation. So I am delighted to have been appointed to the new post of director of the Federation, with a particular brief to develop the research profile.

I would welcome views on how best to serve the church in our priorities for research. On a more personal note, my latest book is a history of the Oxford sports club, Vincent’s 1863-2013 (Third Millennium, 2014), with a preface by Sir Roger Bannister who launched the book on the 60th anniversary of his famous sub-four-minute mile.

I would value any readers’ insights about Ridley’s sporting heroes, such as Canon Noel Duckworth, and the wider history and distinctive identity of Ridley Hall.

Simon Lee can be emailed on sfl31@cam.ac.uk

You can hear Ridley’s Development Officer Elaine Thornton tell the story of Noel Duckworth in a recent BBC radio broadcast at bit.ly/1hX3eus

With this pull-out centrefold we invite you to pray for this year’s leavers as they embark on their future ministry, whether it be in the world of work, in parish ministry, or in youth and children’s ministry.

Ember list 2014 Bee Arnold (formerly Church Assistant) Parish: St Francis, Radford (Coventry)

Three years at Ridley has given me so much.

Sharing the highs and lows of life with a community of amazing people means that I have built good foundations and friendships that I know will be with me where ever I go. Radford, I am coming for you as ready as I’ll ever be!

Sarah Atkins (formerly Secondary School

Administrative Staff and Pastoral Assistant) Parish: St Mary and St Michael Trumpington, Cambridge (Ely) Please pray for us as we make connections with new residents, and as we are expecting another sort of new arrival at the end of September – baby Atkins!

Thanks be to God for the wisdom and encouragement found in the Ridley community these past two years.

Philip Averay (formerly Social Worker)

Parish: The Benefice of Drybrook, Lydbrook and Ruardean, in the Forest of Dean (Gloucester) I am very much looking forward to getting my hands dirty and serving in my new Parish. I feel ready for the next stage in my journey of serving Christ and his world. I expect another steep learning curve as I start in my new role. I will very much miss the daily contact with the great friends I have made at Ridley.

Bridget Baguley

(formerly Specialist Neurophysiotherapist) Parish: Cottenham and Rampton (Ely) I’ve loved being part of the Ridley community for a few years: I’ve loved the academic work, G kitchen conversations, friendships, prayer weekend, and have learned to value and enjoy corporate morning prayer.

Please pray for me and my family as we learn to adjust to ministering and worshipping in two different parishes.

Andy Bond (formerly Pensions Administrator) Parish: Holy Trinity Beckenham (Rochester)

Ridley has been both an absolute privilege (you get to live in a place like Cambridge and study alongside and be taught by some awesome people) and also at times challenging. As a family we’ve grown, my mind has been stretched, yet God has remained faithful and we’re looking forward to seeing Him change lives in Penge/Beckenham.

Sid Bridges (formerly Youth Minister)

Parish: Orton Longueville/Orton Waterville, Peterborough (Ely) The two years at Ridley Hall have proved to be a safe, secure space from which to explore more of what it means for me to serve God in this new chapter.

Steve Burston (formerly Metropolitan Police) Parish: Worth Parish (Chichester)

Ridley has been a tremendous privilege and a deep breath. A privilege to live, study and press further into God. A deep breath where the long hours of the police seem a distant memory. A place where, in the space of residential training, God has continued to strip away and form new things in a surprising and wonderful way. We are looking forward to doing ministry as a couple.

Jonathan Clark (formerly Systems Engineer) Parish: Stroud Team (Gloucester)

Every day for the last two years I’ve been grateful for the time for formation and study full-time at Ridley. It is both a wonderful place with many opportunities, and a special community of love and support. Martha and I only wish we could stay another year, but Gloucestershire calls us back...

James Crockford (formerly Lay Church Worker) Parish: St Paulinus, Crayford (Rochester)

I couldn’t say just how much I’ve enjoyed the chance to study, think, read, write, and pray in such beautiful surroundings, with so many people (lecturers and students) with such able minds, humble hearts, and wise passion. It’s set me off in a great direction for the many years of ministry ahead.

Lynn Davidson (formerly Baptist Minister)

Parish: St George’s Church, Shrewsbury (Lichfield) Because I was previously a Baptist minister, I have only had to do one year at Ridley. It feels like I have just arrived and I’m leaving already! I have loved being a part of the Ridley family. This has been an important time of ‘Anglican formation’ for me and I feel that Ridley has equipped me well for my future ministry at St George’s.

Jocelyn Downey (formerly Medical Researcher) Parish: St James’ & St Anne’s, Bermondsey (London) Alongside my curacy, I shall also be involved in Chaplaincy to the Salmon Centre. The future is

full of some uncertainties for me, so I would ask for prayer that, to the extent that I am able, I can continue to use my scientific training and develop international links in order to establish a solid missionary focus within both the local community and further afield.

Matt Earwicker (formerly Travelling Secretary for ÖSM [IFES] in Vienna and Graz, Austria) Parish: St Mark’s with St Andrew’s, Laverstock (Salisbury) After six years in ministry it has been very refreshing to spend more focussed time on studying and thinking at Ridley. Now it is time to put that thinking back into practice, and Nele and I are looking forward to the new challenges of curacy.

Stephen Foster (formerly Barrister)

Parish: Holy Trinity Brompton (London) Before coming to Ridley we lived in East London, and I worked as Barrister specialising in Crime.

Beth, Beatrice and I have loved our time in Cambridge, and I have really enjoyed the opportunity and space to study and learn. We are excited to be going back to London, where I will be a Curate at Holy Trinity Brompton.

Hannah Graveling

(formerly Speech and Language Therapist) Parish: St John the Evangelist Church (Chelmsford) I have enjoyed my time at Ridley, in particular meeting such a fantastic group of fellow ordinands. A highlight for me has been our times of fellowship within the staircase group, with lots of support and lots of laughter.

Mark Harlow

(formerly Lay Chaplain, Secondary Academy) Parish: St George’s (Leeds) Ridley has been a fabulous experience: a place to study, worship, grow, and develop lasting friendships that will support us into the future.

I look forward to moving to Leeds and joining in with God’s mission there, sharing the Gospel and seeing the Holy Spirit at work.

Daniel Ingles (formerly Senior Project Worker, Ex-offender and Homelessness Supported Accommodation Projects) Parish: St Mary’s, Mosterton (Salisbury)

It’s been a blessing to be a part of the Ridley community, with so many great people! Good conversations (coffee) and informative lectures mean I feel more informed and am looking forward to taking my experiences out into ministry where we hope to see God’s Kingdom come. Bring on the countryside!

Nick Ktorides

(formerly Business Owner in the Construction Industry, Member of the Hastings Street Pastors) Parish: St Andrews, Gorleston (Norwich) Although I had been to Bible College before, ordinand training at Ridley Hall has been formative for ministry in a unique way. My wife and I deeply enjoyed our time living within the Ridley community, enriched by the gifts and devotion of both staff and ordinands. We will really miss Ridley Hall, as God moves us on to an exciting future ahead.

Jon Lindsay-Scott (formerly Chemical Engineer at Shell UK Oil Products Ltd) Parish: St Chads, Romiley (Chester)

My three years training at Ridley have been an immense blessing and an enormous privilege. I will miss this community and the way that God has used the people and experiences here to shape me in preparation for ministry. I leave with friendships for life looking forward to serving God’s transformation in the North.

Heather Lowe (formerly Church Under 5s and

Families Worker, Homelessness Housing Officer) Parish: St Marys, Harrington, Holy Spirit, Distington (Carlisle) As an activist, it has been a real privilege to take two years out and be able to study theology. I can’t believe how much I have learnt and yet how much I still have to learn! I’m feeling ready to roll my sleeves up again and get back out there. Thank you for the theological reflection space you have given me.

Tom Hutchings (formerly Teacher)

Dave Lowrie (formerly Web Developer)

We are looking forward to parish ministry – please pray that Andria, Jemima and I are built up in Christ as we settle in to a new home and that we have many opportunities to proclaim the gospel.

So much has happened in the last three years and Ridley has been a wonderful spiritual home during those bittersweet times. I have learnt lots and had great experiences, but it is the love we have received and the friendships made that Lizzie and I value most.

Parish: United Benefice of Sileby, Cossington and Seagrave (Leicester)

Parish: St Luke’s, Crosby (Liverpool)

Andrew Martin (formerly Associate Minister) Parish: St Stephen’s and St Wulstan’s, Selly Park (Birmingham)

We’ve made great friends in Cambridge and will be sad to say goodbye. Thank the Lord that he is gracious and faithful, and that he has good plans: we look forward to serving him and his church, and proclaiming his gospel in Birmingham and beyond.

Adrian Morgan (formerly PhD student)

Parish: St Catherine’s, Gorseinon (Swansea & Brecon) My time at Ridley has been a real gift, one which I will treasure for the rest of my life. I have grown in so many ways – spiritually, socially and intellectually – and I’ve made so many great friends who have, each in their own way, challenged me to think about what it looks like to follow Jesus.

Jo Mulliner (formerly English & History Teacher) Parish: St Thomas’, Lymington (Winchester)

Whilst at Ridley I have completed the BTh Theology degree – great fun and wonderful learning, with never a dull moment! My prayer is to continue to show God’s love for all peoples. God has been loyal and faithful and I leave to start ordained ministry with excitement at all of the opportunities which are opening up.

Helen Orr (formerly professional singer/

songwriter and record company director) Parish: Curacy at St Andrew’s, Chesterton (Ely) I hope that my future in the church will be as creative and outward focused as my past outside it was. May God use my gifts to inspire others to use theirs so that we may all shine for God’s praise and glory.

Michelle Porter-Babbage

(formerly NHS General Outpatient Sister) Parish: Benefice of Bourton on the Water, Clapton on the Hill and the Rissingtons (Gloucester) It has been a privilege to study at Ridley and I have particularly enjoyed the experience gained from sharing lectures with students from other denominations and the insight this offers as part of the ecumenical Federation.

I have felt richly blessed by deep lifelong relationships during my time here and the expertise, friendship, encouragement, generosity and wisdom of the staff.

Steve Proudlove

(formerly Head of Pharmacovigilance) Parish: All Saints’ Ilkley (W. Yorkshire & the Dales) I am grateful for my time at Ridley, having the chance to explore areas of spiritualty and learn things which will be very useful in future. I’m

nervous about going to curacy but hopeful that God’s calling and leading means that there will be a place for me there.

Ben Randall

(formerly Pastoral Assistant and PhD student) Parish: St Lawrence & St Paul, Pudsey (West Yorks) My journey to and through Ridley has had its ups and downs to be sure, but after having read pretty much every book, essay and journal article in the whole of Cambridge, I can’t wait to roll up my (clerical-shirt) sleeves and get stuck in.

Joel Sales (formerly Worship Pastor)

Parish: St John’s, Hampton Wick (London) We view our time at Ridley as an amazing gift. We have enjoyed journeying with people who share a similar heart to us, and we have been so well loved through a difficult time. We’re so excited about the next season; stepping back into full-time ministry and seeing what God will do.

Martha Simpson

(formerly Press and PR worker for the National Trust) Parish: Chipping Norton Team (Oxford) I’ve had an unusual experience of training, having a baby between my second and third years of study.

Despite the challenges, Ridley has been a place of deep growth for our whole family and I’m really looking forward to working out what ministry as a mum will mean.

Katharine Smith

(formerly Pastoral Assistant, Early Years Assistant) Parish: St Peter’s Battersea (Southwark) These three years have been a gift: studying, worshipping and discovering more about who I am and where I might be going, in such beautiful and supportive surroundings. Andy and I have met some wonderful people and been part of some very special communities here, and are looking forward to our next move to South London.

Edd Stock (formerly Youth Worker, Church Warden, Homeless Project Coordinator) Parish: St Laurence’s & All Saints, Eastwood (Chelmsford)

Ridley has given me the space to learn by considering past experience and applying new methods and insights methodically. This has affected not only how I engage with pastoral encounters but also how I engage with scripture and my personal faith in God.

Ben Topham (formerly Church Youth Worker) Parish: Chalfont St Peter’s (Oxford)

I have really enjoyed being a part of a prayer and accountability group whilst studying at Ridley,

something which I hope will continue for many years to come.

I’m excited about the challenge God has in store for me as I return to parish ministry, and begin this exciting new chapter.

Adrian Wolton (formerly Youth Pastor)

Parish: St Paul’s Weston-super-Mare (Bath and Wells) The last three years at Ridley have been a bit of a roller coaster, being part of an amazingly supportive and loving community has enabled us to explore our calling as a couple and my calling to ordination. We are really excited about our move to Weston and beginning the next step of the journey.

Youth Ministry Students Please pray for students at the Cambridge Institute for Children, Youth and Mission who have just completed their final year at Ridley.

Their training placements have been varied, from church and community-based youth projects to national youth organisations. Some will continue in these posts after graduation, others will be going into new posts in an equally diverse range of roles.

Fabian Wuyts

(formerly Social Worker) Parish: St Alphege Seasalter Christian Centre (Canterbury) Ridley is a place where you are challenged intellectually, nourished spiritually and blessed with new friendships.

We look forward to a new place of learning and service and thank God for his great mercies . . . Come On (for those who know what I mean!)

Pete Wynter

(formerly Executive Director of Onelife) Parish: Holy Trinity Brompton (London) It’s been a privilege to study at Ridley. I have hugely appreciated the pioneer training and leave full of excitement and anticipation for my Curacy at HTB. We hope to be church planting in the years to come.

Focus on Youth Ministry Training All CYM students are based in a Professional Practice Agency, where they work on a part-time basis.

It is in that agency that students learn how to relate theory to practice. Cambridge CYM has over 30 agencies, including CROPS in Peterborough. For six years, CYM students have been an integral part of the CROPS team, placing them on the frontline of ministry with young people

CROPS is a charity focused on enabling young people to engage with the Christian message, as well as supporting them in the issues they face. In a wide range of Peterborough schools they help students explore the Christian option through RE days, assemblies, lunch clubs and CUs. They also work closely with school pastoral teams, mentoring students one-to-one or in small groups to restore a sense of hope in their lives.

LEAVERS 2014: Simon Bailey, Lynne Bailie, Brunel Basunda, Sarah Bladen, Helen Blight, Keli Bolton, Stephen Christodoulou, Charley Nixson, Spencer Pearce, Amy Rotherham, Becki Smith and Byron Smith.

Outside of school, CROPS, for the last 25 years, has run a discipleship houseparty at Letton Hall in Norfolk during the October and February half term, impacting over 2000 young people, a residential linked to their monthly inter-church youth event.

Since 2008 they have facilitated youth leaders to work together on youth-led word and deed mission through the Street Invasion project, and most recently the Mission Academy learning community.

You can find out more about the work of CROPS at www.crops.org.uk

An archaeological dig at Ridley Finds date back to Roman and Iron Age times

Company photograph: F Troop

of around 60 pages (‘The Blimp’ 1917, and ‘A Medley in F’ 1918). The magazines include advertisements for local businesses as well as articles, poems and drawings by the cadets, and give a vivid picture of life in wartime Cambridge.

RIDLEY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-18 The number of men training at Ridley had reached a high point in the years before the War, with 53 in the Easter Term of 1908 and 52 in the Michaelmas Term of 1910. Numbers fell in the War years to an average of 15 men between 1914 and 1918. Some of these had come from Wycliffe, which had closed down for the duration. At the lowest point in the Lent Term of 1918 there were only two students.

126 old Ridleians served as military chaplains between 1914 and 1919. Twenty-one Ridleians died on active service, whether as chaplains or combatants. They are commemorated in the chapel (left).

World War I Memorial Board in Ridley Chapel

In 1917 F Company, No. 2 Officer Cadet Training Battalion moved into Ridley and remained until the beginning of 1919. The military took over the whole of the college except the Common Room and ‘A’ staircase: by November there were about 100 cadets and company staff in residence.

The Principal’s wife, Mrs Tait, acted as housekeeper supported by a stewardess and ten other women, and the college ran a canteen for the cadets.

Ridley’s archive is fortunate to hold several mementoes of F Company (above), including two magazines produced by the men, each

Cartoon from ‘The Blimp’ 1917

Other items include a farewell dinner menu signed by the cadets of F Company leaving for the front. The dinner took place on 31 October 1917, as the Battle of Passchendaele was entering its final phase.

The archives also possess a programme for an entertainment put on by F Company in February 1918. The evening, which was in aid of the First Eastern General Hospital, included an ‘original Indian Love Phantasy’ called ‘Shalimar’ and a comedy ‘Relics of the Past’ along with recitations, songs and piano music.

Elaine Thornton

Menu: F Company Farewell dinner 31 October 1917

Programme: F Company Entertainment February 1918

11

Reflections from an RAF Chaplain

Revd (Squadron Leader) Michael Chatfield On exercise, huddled under the stars with only a bivvy sheet for protection; listening to the concerns of a weary trainee after a week in the field; praying for the aircrew on Kandahar airfield as Tornados scream into the sky; leading quiet acts of remembrance to colleagues killed in action; waiting with families for their partners to return from an operational deployment; living the day to day joys and sorrows of a community of people drawn from all sections of society.

Leaving Ridley Hall 14 years ago, I would never have imagined that the call God has on my life would lead me to experience life as an RAF Chaplain serving with men and women both at home and overseas in Afghanistan and the Middle East. I and my fellow ex-Ridley Padres (Ashley Mitchell, Ruth Hake, Matt Stevens and Chris Lawrence) are continually grateful to God for the privileges and responsibilities of life as RAF Chaplains. This privilege is wonderfully portrayed in a short poem written by a recently retired colleague.

Padre

Hallo Padre you’ll have a cup of tea?

I’m glad you dropped by Would you speak to one of my lads?

He needs to talk after last night and I wouldn’t know how to begin.

By such as this is God’s harvest gathered in.

Padre Tony Gilbert

Michael Chatfield (Ry 1997–2000)

The Privilege of Serving For centuries the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department (RAChD) has ministered to soldiers and their families in times of war and peace.

I am one of those few Chaplains who has been honoured to provide spiritual support, pastoral care, and moral guidance to all, irrespective of religion or belief. We hold Her Majesty’s Commission and wear the British Army uniform and go wherever our soldiers go. However, we are non-combatants and do not bear arms.

12

Experiencing Naval Chaplaincy With four other ordinands from the Cambridge Federation I had the privilege to spend a week in the summer with the Chaplaincy Team at HMS Sultan, the engineering training establishment in Gosport.

We were warmly welcomed, with visits to HMS Nelson and the newest and oldest ships in the Fleet. What I experienced was a deeply incarnational ministry from three very different but dedicated Chaplains. In the navy you hold no rank as Chaplain and as such are as approachable to the ratings as you are to the officers.

Indeed the Chaplain, in a seven-month tour at sea, is a vital part of the ship’s welfare care – often the only person who can listen to and maybe challenge a commanding officer and call him by his first name.

Also, in the navy you do the same training as the officers at Darmouth, or, if in the Marines you have to be awarded your green beret. This gives the naval Chaplain a natural affinity and respect that I did not witness in police chaplaincy. I served twenty years in the Met Police where, because Chaplains tend not to have experienced what we experienced, they did not have the same voice at the table that the naval Chaplains have.

Yes, there remains the question of whether it is right for Christians to be engaged in War. However, what I experienced was a deeply spiritual Chaplain deeply pressing into God in his love and care of his congregation. Simon typified the Chaplaincy Team: he trained as a barber before going to sea, so that he could cut sailors’ hair and talk about Jesus and listen to their problems. As Simon noted, ‘Armed with a pair of hair clippers, I have a captured and vulnerable audience for at least ten minutes a month!’

Steve Burston (Final year student)

Since joining the Chaplain’s Department I have been privileged to serve in Germany, Cyprus, the Balkans and the Middle East. I am currently serving with 11 Explosive Ordinance Disposal Regiment based in Didcot, Oxfordshire. 11 EOD is a specialist regiment of the British Army’s Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) responsible for counter terrorist Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD), the safe recovery or disposal of munitions. The Regiment also has an inspectorate role supporting the Inspector Explosive (Army). 11 EOD Regt has subunits geographically based throughout Great Britain to provide a nationwide high readiness response capability in support of the police. The Regiment carries out its mission on all deployed and

From Physical Courage to Moral Courage

Live with the Men...Pray for them Always

When people discover that I was in the Royal Marines before getting ordained, the usual comment is, ‘What a change!’

Following my time at Ridley I served my title as Minor Canon of St Asaph Cathedral in North Wales, a post I thoroughly enjoyed. Towards the end of this time I was approached with a view to serving as a military chaplain. I thought that this might make an interesting second curacy? As it happens it has turned out to be an extended second curacy lasting 16 years.

Yet increasingly I see many things in common between the two vocations. I joined the Royal Marines yearning for adventure, and found it in places like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

But those adventures are dwarfed by ones in the last two years, which began when my wife Chloe (Ridley 2010–11, before being lured away by a better offer) showed me the Healing on the Streets manual, and we started stepping out (with some fear and trepidation).

I was stunned to find I could do what Jesus and his disciples did, and learn to make miracles a lifestyle (Matt 10:8). We started to see deaf ears open, blind eyes see, cancer disappear, migraines go, alcoholism broken…and more. When we don’t see things happen, we’re not discouraged because we’ve discovered that the price of looking foolish is worth it.

The Royal Marines taught me about physical courage, but Jesus has been teaching me about moral courage, and it’s involved facing more fear than I imagined.

So now supernatural ministry is at the heart of the church we’ve planted in Exeter called ‘Love the Street’. At the moment we’re part of Exeter Network Church and we meet on Saturdays to worship for a couple of hours before sharing a meal together and then hitting the streets to pray for people. I never imagined our lives would look like this.

Fred Frederick (Ry 2008–10)

expeditionary operations worldwide and on British Forces based in Germany.

It is a privilege, indeed an honour to provide spiritual, pastoral and welfare support to the soldiers and officers of 11 EOD Regiment. We ask a lot from them and they deserve our support.

That said, they are always very quick to remind me that they could never do my job! This is humbling given what they do on our behalf.

Finally, I should also pay tribute to all those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for us 100 years ago. It is a war that has had a lasting impact on our world. A war that

During that time I have served on many operational and training bases throughout the UK and also on deployments to such places as Belize, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Italy (Libya) and most recently the Falkland Islands.

Each of these postings and deployments has been unique, but they have also had a common strand of presenting the gospel of Christ, his death and resurrection, within a pastoral context to young servicemen and women at their point of need.

I am often reminded of one of the most well-known First World War chaplains, Geoffrey Studdert ‘Woodbine Willie’ Kennedy. He was a chaplain who was awarded the Military Cross after running into no man’s land to help wounded soldiers during an attack on the German frontline. He wrote this advice to the chaplains of his day – a message that stands true today: Live with the men.

Go everywhere they go...

The more padres die doing Christ-like deeds, the better for the Church...

Take a box of fags in your haversack and a great deal of love in your heart...

You can pray with them sometimes, but pray for them always.

Ashley Mitchell (Ry 1992–95)

was fought across Europe, Asia, Africa and beyond. A war fought at home. Whether we are of their generation or not, it is in no way false to describe their sufferings, their wounds and their deaths as truly sacrificial. Their sufferings and their deaths were instrumental in allowing us to live in freedom.

Rest eternal grant unto them O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.

Lee Gandiya (Ry 1992–94)

13

Ready to take risks After spending 22 years in the RAF as an engineer, of which the last 12 were as an engineer on Bomb Disposal Sqn, training and formation were essential elements to being prepared to fulfil that which I was called to do.

I later realised that the hours spent on the parade square doing drill, on the firing range weapon training, on various training courses and exercises, were an essential part of that formation, bringing with them discipline and preparation. At the time many of these experiences seemed pointless and were hard and painful, both physically and mentally.

For me there are many resonances between training and serving within the military and training and serving full time as an ordained Pioneer Minister in the Church of England. I jokingly make the comparison that I have moved from ‘one army to another’.

However there is one element that both vocations have in common and no matter what training and preparation we undertake cannot be written out of the equation; and that is ‘risk’.

In the military there were the obvious risks, risks to one’s life being lost in a war zone by a variety of means. This risk is willingly taken up by for many who have served, some not fortunate enough to have returned home to loved ones, and in this, the centenary of the 1st World War ‘we remember them’.

In ordained ministry, the risks, although different – at least here in the West – are ever present. This calling involves many risks, but the biggest is I believe the risk of entering in to a context we don’t and cannot fully know and giving of one’s self, making oneself vulnerable.

This calling involves many risks... the biggest is the risk of making oneself vulnerable

In preparation for this, learning, training, formation are again essential processes, tools, techniques enabling us to fulfil the call that is placed on our lives. And although perhaps hard, painful and at times may seem pointless, through my limited experience, many are now seen by myself as essential knowledge and disciplines, allowing me to be ‘risky’.

To risk giving myself, wholly to that to which I am called as a Pioneer Minister.

Be prepared. Why? To take risks.

Simon Kaye (Ry 2011-13)

14

The Revd Norman Sharp Missionary to Persia

Ridley alumnus Revd Norman Sharp (Ry 1921) had an extensive, life-long ministry in Persia, now Iran, where he was a missionary and Assistant Professor at Shiraz University.

Norman Sharp lived in Iran for 43 years from 1924, and built churches in Yazd, Shiraz, Qalat and Bushehr, the most important of these being the Church of St Simon the Zealot in Shiraz. He took Revd Norman Sharp (left) an active role in the design of with Ali Sami of the Persepolis the churches he built, incorMuseum at Persepolis porating decorative tile work with biblical quotations in Persian, and designing the stained glass windows himself. He also created nine windows for St Christopher’s Cathedral in Bahrain, which was consecrated in 1953.

As an academic, Norman Sharp taught Old Persian Cuneiform at Shiraz University, a subject he introduced into the curriculum himself. He had the honour of guiding Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip around the site of Persepolis on their visit to Iran in 1961. His books include The Inscriptions of the Achaemenian Emperors in Old Persian Cuneiform. Revd Norman Sharp died in 1995, at the great age of 99.

The first Persian Bishop, the late Hassan DehqaniTafti, who had trained for ordination at Ridley Hall in 1947–1949, and later fled to England following the Iranian Revolution, published a book on Norman Sharp’s Persian designs in 1974.

Ridley has recently been reminded of Norman Sharp’s fascinating work in Persia, as the College has received a generous bequest of £28,588 from his late daughter, Dr The Anglican Church of St Olive Persica Sharp, a former Simon the Zealot in Shiraz, built by Revd Norman Sharp GP who was born in in Persia in 1934. We are delighted that Dr Sharp has remembered in this way the part that Ridley played in her father’s formation at the very beginning of his long and distinguished career.

If you would like more information about leaving a legacy to Ridley, please contact the Development Team at development@ridley.cam.ac.uk.

Elaine Thornton, Development Officer

On the Road

Getting theWord out

...our regular snapshot of some of the recent speaking engagements of members of Ridley’s teaching staff.

Recently released publications from Ridley staff, students and alumni

Adrian Chatfield

Philip Jenson

Dave Male

Rob McDonald

Andrew Norman

Mike Thompson

Adrian Chatfield spoke at parishes and dioceses across the country, addressing such themes as Suffering, Ministry in the Holy Spirit, Deepening our Faith, and Spiritual Direction. In February he gave a lecture to Peterborough Theological Society on Wilfred Owen’s spirituality.

Philip Jenson gave a talk at St Edmundsbury Cathedral Centre on ‘The Psalms: Recovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality’. He also contributed as a member of the working party that produced a report on the future of theological training in the Church in Wales.

Dave Male delivered a range of talks during an extensive speaking tour of Australia (see p 3).

In May he addressed the Church Army Mission Communities gathering on the topic of pioneering ministry and was guest speaker at a weekend event in California for Methodist clergy, speaking on fresh expressions of church.

Rob McDonald preached on ‘I believe in the Holy Spirit’ at Choral Evensong, Magdalene College Chapel. In April he gave a paper entitled ‘A Backwards Glance at Barth: Reviewing the Trinitarian Theology of Vols. I and II of the Church Dogmatics’ at the annual conference of the Society for the Study of Theology (SST) at Durham University.

Andrew Norman addressed a consultation in January at St Saviour’s Church Guildford on ‘Listening to the World Church’. He also delivered a paper on ‘The Bishop and Mission’ at a conference for newly-consecrated bishops in Canterbury, attended by 26 Anglican bishops from across the world.

Mike Thompson was guest speaker at the Cambridge Christian Graduate Society and addressed deanery clergy at Buckden Towers on the theme of ‘Philippians and Christian Giving’. In October he spoke locally on ‘Paul and His Letters’. This Easter he was guest speaker at St George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee, as part of their first Scholar in Residence programme.

Ridleians write, edit and contribute to a wide range of publications, including books, book chapters and journal articles. We have selected some recently released and in the publishing pipeline.

New Testament God Has No Favourites: The New Testament and First Century Religions by Basil Scott (Bangalore: Primalogue Publishing, 2013)

Theology

Reflections on Creation by Hannah Graveling (four radio broadcasts during Easter 2014 on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Sunday morning faith show)

A Dramatic Pentecostal/Charismatic Anti-Theodicy: Improvising on a Divine Performance of Lament by Stephen C. Torr (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2013)

Church Life and Mission

Building Up the Body: Encouraging, Equipping and Enabling Volunteers in the Church by Richard Steel (Oxford: The Bible Reading Fellowship, 2013)

Pioneering Leadership: Disturbing the Status Quo? By David Male (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2013)

Anglicanism

‘A Review of The Wiley Blackwell Companion to the Anglican Communion’ by Andy Tufnell in Churchman vol. 128 iss. 2, forthcoming

Theology and the Arts

Music, Modernity, and God: Essays in Listening by Jeremy Begbie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)

History

A Tear in the Curtain by John Symons (London: Shepheard-Walwyn, 2013) 15

Echoes on the Somme Last July, I spent a week cycling around the Somme battlefield in northern France in the footsteps of both my grandfathers.

Staying in Pozieres, I retraced the steps of my mother’s father William who joined up in 1912 and was a front-line infantryman in the London Rifle Brigade. On July 1st 1916 at 7.30am he took part in the doomed (‘diversionary’) attack at Gommecourt at the northernmost part of the Somme front which left what John Masefield later described as a field ‘heaped with the bodies of Londoners’. Some 12 miles south of Gommecourt I followed my other grandfather Arthur’s movements around the village of Mametz, where, as an officer with the Royal Horse Artillery, his guns supported the attack of the South Staffordshires and 22nd Manchesters that fateful morning.

My grandfathers didn’t know each other until after the war when their children married, but for most of the conflict they were never far from each other. I was able to piece together their movements from the regimental records of the London Rifle Brigade and from Arthur’s often coded letters (of which 231 survive), and the trench maps (on which he had marked various enemy targets and trench positions).

It is the strange juxtaposition of life and death that still haunts the visitor today. The gentle hills of Picardy, which struck the young infantry officer Edmund Blunden on his arrival in the trenches as ‘sweetly at rest’, and ‘incapable of dreaming a field-gun’ were soon the scene of the costliest battle ever waged by the British Army. It turned the countryside into a shell-cratered desert. Within the first three hours the British suffered 60,000 casualties (20,000 killed), and during the Somme offensive as a whole (which ended 4½ months later) sustained a further 500,000 casualties (with similar figures on the German side).

In the military cemeteries – rarely out of sight across the battlefield – the headstones, immaculately maintained in white slate, seem to stand to attention in dignified rows, belying stories of suffering and death. And around them the healed countryside waves with heads of ripe corn and deep red poppies. I found it very hard to take in; the bravery, but also the futiliity and waste. And it all happened in such a small area. On a bike you can cycle up the Albert to Arthur Weston (1915) Bapaume road between the British front lines of July 1st and September 1st in just a few minutes, and you become aware of the military significance of even the slightest elevation. A matter of mere feet made an enemy gun position unassailable and casualty lists unimaginable.

Between them William and Arthur fought in many of the major battles of the First World War (all three battles of Ypres, the Somme, Arras and the final strike and counterstrike of 1918). William took part in the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 near Ploegsteert on the Ypres Salient. He was wounded twice.

Both emerged with the rank of Captain. And both survived. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

Paul Weston is Tutor in Mission & Homiletics Arthur’s son Keith (Paul’s father) was at Ridley 1950–52 William Reed (1917)

Fear & Trust A Day of Preparation for Advent With Adrian Chatfield & Helen Randall Please bring a packed lunch Refreshments will be provided Registration fee £20 per person

www.simeoncentre.co.uk

22nd November 2014, 10am to 4pm Ridley Hall, Cambridge CB3 9HG