Alumni Article Lent 2022

Pete James studied at St Mellitus College from 2014 to 2017 on the BA in Theology, Ministry, and Mission. He served his curacy at KXC church in London and is currently the leader of St Basil’s Church in Devon. This church is a Bishop’s Mission Order based out of a farm to the west of Exeter which began public services on Easter Sunday 2021. He is married and has 3 children.

What have you been up to since leaving St Mellitus College?

After leaving St Mellitus College I served my curacy as the Associate Leader of KXC in London where, amongst other things, I led our work in the area of spiritual formation. Having had our third child at the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020, we then subsequently moved to Devon a couple of months later to begin forming a praying community that would become St Basil’s.

The "generous orthodoxy" was more than a slogan, it was a crucible for growth I would otherwise have likely missed out on

What are you passionate about for the future of the church?

A "presence-driven church" that is a white-hot furnace of prayer and worship; who are living holy lives; rooted in the scriptures; operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as an established norm, and which understands its distinctiveness is its relevance to the culture around it. A "descending church" that as a consistent posture and genuine embodied reality is serving the most vulnerable in society with the same humility that Christ showed. An "open church" that demonstrates Jesus’ radical hospitality: sharing our tables with those unlike us; sharing our money with those in need; and sharing our faith with those who don’t know Jesus all in the hope of drawing people into the life and love of God. And, finally, an "imaginative church" that retains a vivid prophetic imagination for the world around it and doesn’t collapse its aspirations into the reality of what is; one that understands its mandate to join God in the renewal of all things; one that is creative and bold in how we go about mission to a hurting world.

What does Lent mean to you? Is there anything you are going to fast/take up?

Lent, for me, is a time for waking up. We spend so much of our lives without any lack and it often means we have less longing; less desperation for God; less urgency in mission. Because comfort breeds spiritual complacency, I find in Lent that fasting something physical, stirs a spiritual hunger again. I tend to focus on removing things that are numbing me; things that are helping me cope with or ignore life’s difficulties. The inevitable – and probably volcanic – emotional response to their removal is a door ajar for the Holy Spirit to come in more fully and for greater dependency on Jesus.

What impacted you the most from your time at St Mellitus College?

The "generous orthodoxy" was more than a slogan, it was a crucible for growth I would otherwise have likely missed out on. If you just stay in your corner of the church then you just become an echo of its worst and best bits. At St Mellitus College it was different: completely different people; ministering in a whole variety of contexts; operating from a range of theological visions, but united around a love for Jesus and his church. The formally designated formation exercises – lectures and tutorials and so on – were brilliant. But, honestly, so much of the memorably formative moments took place through the randomly occurring conversations over dinner or over a couple of pints in the corner of the bar on residentials. Aside from that, I made the best of friends to journey the long haul of ministry with. They – much like the deepened wonder at the person of Jesus I gained at St Mellitus College – are a gift that keep on giving.

Could you tell us a highlight and challenge from this year?

For a large chunk of the spring and summer of 2021 we worshipped outdoors in one of the fields at the farm. One week at church a man comes up to me and tells me that he lived three miles down the valley and doesn’t normally go to church but that the Sunday before he was hanging his washing out in his garden and he could hear people singing songs and decided it was so beautiful that next week he would go along. It turns out it was us, three miles away up the valley worshipping Jesus!

A challenge this last year – among the plethora of them! – has been retaining an outward focus when so much of our personal lives is in disarray. We have largely been turned inwards in order to get through the pandemic (isolate, stay in your bubble, socialise with a select few, maintain your personal wellbeing amidst the attritional circumstances etc etc). So the challenge has been to observe the rules that are in place to protect people and take our own wellbeing seriously whilst also reserving some of our heavily limited capacity for – and remaining compassionate about – the great many others in desperate need. For a while we had to put up a very small circle around our lives and were asked to operate within it. But what about those without a circle to be in? A huge challenge to come is to allow our hearts to be broken again for those in need, when we ourselves remain fragile and in need too. It won’t be easy but it is surely an imperative on the church in this cultural moment.

If you just stay in your corner of the church then you just become an echo of its worst and best bits. At St Mellitus it was different: completely different people; ministering in a whole variety of contexts; operating from a range of theological visions, but united around a love for Jesus and his church.

How did you discern the call to what you are doing now?

This was a long process but in short I would probably say, it was formed through lots of rejection that forced me to pray more deeply and surrender more fully. It was basically a humbling experience that involved dying to self and facing worst fears. Perhaps more practically: some prayerful reflection on my life story to spot patterns of God speaking; regularly making space to be silent, pray and listen to God; seeking the wise counsel of others; the rejection of ideas I thought were good and made sense but were entirely wrong and playing it safe; random, extraordinary prophetic words; pages and pages of scribbles; immersion in the Word of God to help discern truth from lies; curiosity not fear in the midst of the unknown; and actual, real, faith in the character and promises of God.