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Book Review: The Road to Canterbury
The Road to Canterbury
I have been reading recently the biography of Justin Welby, the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury. It traces the story of his life from his early unsettled years to the eve of his enthronement in March 2013. It examines his conversion to the Christian Faith; his work in the oil industry; his subsequent calling to the ordained ministry and his meteoric rise through the ranks of the Church of England. Justin Welby came to faith in Christ as a student at Cambridge where amongst his new friends several were members of the Christian Union. During his first year he remained generally uninterested by their attempts at evangelism. On Sunday evening, 12th October 1975, Justin Welby was taken by close friend Nicky Hills, to Holy Trinity Church Cambridge. The sermon was uninspiring and Justin Welby was ‘bored out of my mind’. Afterwards he and Hills spent the evening talking about what it meant to be a Christian. As Justin Welby describes it: ‘The penny dropped... I asked Jesus to be Lord of my life... The sense that something had changed was instantaneous’.
After he left Cambridge he initially considered the diplomatic service, but soon abandoned the idea. Numerous job applications came to nothing, until he was offered a job with a large state owned French oil company. After a year he was head-hunted by Enterprise oil. In 1979 he married Caroline at Holy Trinity Brompton, London. Both of them were active members of the church. Tragedy struck 4 years later when their seven month old daughter, Johanna, was killed in a car accident. In later years the Welbys have reflected publicly on their deep bereavement and experience of grief. A particular source of strength in their bereavement was the church family at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB).
During the 1980s the church went through a period of significant change. When Sandy Miller went there as curate in 1976 the main Sunday service was sung Mattins with robed choir and a mainly elderly congregation. In a church that was ‘geared to maintenance rather than mission’ a talented team at HTB adopted the principles of freedom in worship, intimacy with God, ministry with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and church growth. This included planting new churches.
Over the following years many new churches were planted to revive struggling congregations. This remains a key principle of HTB today. (In 2009 with the full support of the Bishop of Chichester, a new church was planted at St. Peter’s Parish Church, Brighton. Plans are in progress to plant a new church at Holy Trinity Hastings which we heard about at our parish AGM in April).
As a member of HTB, Justin Welby learnt many of the key lessons he would bring to his ministry as a Rector, Cathedral Dean and Diocesan Bishop. His path to ordination was far from straightforward. He went through a bumpy series of interviews. The then Bishop of Kensington told him, ‘There is no place for you in the modern Church of England. I have interviewed a thousand for ordination and you do not come in the top thousand’. Meanwhile Justin Welby’s work at Enterprise Oil was going well and the less he wanted to be ordained. After a while and with pressure from HTB, the bishop eventually allowed Justin Welby to attend a three day national Church of England selection conference. In his final interview with the then Bishop of Maidstone he was asked why he wanted to be ordained. Justin Welby replied ‘Well, I don’t really, because I am enjoying what I’m doing now’. Asked what he would do if he was turned down by the Church, he replied: ‘I’ll go back to London and take my wife out for the most expensive meal I can afford, to celebrate’. He was recommended.
Ordination meant a massive drop in salary. His annual income as an oil company executive exceeded £100,000 but the average stipend for clergy in 1989 was just £9,500. At the Enterprise Oil leaving party, Justin Welby’s boss quipped that his transfer to the Church of England was ‘the only known case of a rat joining a sinking ship’.
After training at Cranmer Hall Durham followed by a curacy at Nuneaton, Justin Welby became Rector of St. James at Southam in Warwickshire in 1995. One of his first priorities was to put the medieval church building in good working order. It was an ambitious plan aiming for a more flexible building which would not only be used by Christians on Sunday, but become a ‘focal point in the community’ all week round. ‘Any living building must change to suit the community. The building is the servant, not the master of those who use it.’
The renewal of the building allowed greater flexibility in public worship. Alongside traditional services new initiatives in worship were encouraged. Other key parts of church growth were the revival of children’s and youth work; small groups meeting for bible study, prayer and mutual encouragement; Alpha courses; attendance at the annual New Wine event; and stimulating interest and support for the global church.
Central to Justin Welby’s faith is the cross and resurrection of Jesus. ‘...the authentic Christian message is grimly realistic about the world. Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we can be put right with God... If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is untrue... the Parish church, the Roman Catholic church and the Chapel would simply be museums to a discarded superstition. If it is true, then all other Christian claims follow. There is life after death in heaven, and death has been defeated, which is the best news that there could be.’
When Justin Welby left Southam In October 2000 after seven years there, one of his congregation reflected: ‘Justin is a man of many abilities. One might say he has been a New Broom, and the dust from his sweeping has made some of us splutter a bit, but he has encouraged us to take some deep breaths of fresh air.’
‘The Road to Canterbury’: Archbishop Justin Welby by Andrew Atherstone, a paper-back just published by Darton, Longman and Todd at £7.99.
John Fletcher (to be continued next month)