2 minute read
Q&A with an SIM Leader: TIM ALLAN
Tell us a little about your background.
I’ve been a journalist all my working life. I joined a local newspaper shortly after leaving university, then moved to a regional evening newspaper and then on to a national newspaper. I’ve always loved sport, so it was natural for me to move into that field. Most of my career was spent on red-top tabloid newspapers. I was Deputy Sports Editor of the News of the World, then Executive Sports Editor of The Sun and finally Sports Editor of The Independent on Sunday.
Advertisement
Tell us a little about your family.
Kerry and I met at journalists’ training college and got married in 1987. We have three children – Imogen, who is a primary school teacher; Madeleine, who is an account executive for a food and drink PR company; and Fergus, who is studying history at Exeter University.
How did God lead you and Kerry to SIM?
By a very circuitous route! I was looking for a way to use my gifts and experience after leaving newspapers and saw an advertisement for the communications job with SIM UK. I applied and started there in 2015. When I moved to International, that left a vacancy at the UK office, which has been filled on a part-time basis by Kerry. The fact that she is a journalist too is a great blessing, both to me and to SIM UK.
What key things do you hope to achieve in your time/your role with SIM?
I want to improve the communications between the communicators, which I’m trying to do by hosting regular comms cafes and sending out details of stories published across the SIM world. I want to make story-telling front and centre of the way we mobilise new workers and ensure that our core mission, vision and purpose is embedded in all we communicate. I’d like to make our communication simpler, clearer and more effective.
What inspires you when life gets difficult?
The knowledge that what I do does not depend on me. Sometimes that’s hard for me to accept or put into practice because, like many people of my generation in the UK, I was brought up to be very self-reliant and independent.
One of the great liberating things about becoming a Christian, which I didn’t do until I was in my late 40s, was the realisation that God is in charge of my life.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I spend time with my family, usually over a meal. I cycle and play golf as often as I can. I will watch any sport on television and love to go to sports events. I walk our dog every day. Kerry and I enjoy travelling, especially to places with a wealth of history.
What is your favourite Bible verse?
I have a favourite passage – Ephesians 6:10-17. Put on the full armour of God…. If I’m ever asked to lead a Bible study or devotion at short notice, that’s where I’ll go. It speaks so powerfully about the way we should approach the world.
What piece of technology could you do without/never to without?
My mobile. It is my calendar, my newspaper, my means of communication and a means of entertainment. Even though I’m old enough to have lived for many years without a mobile, I now feel lost without it.
How can we pray for you?
Pray I would always rely on God and trust in his good purposes; that I can continue to build good relationships with my colleagues and that my three children would come to know the Lord.
Tim and Kerry Allan family
