Get to Know - David Emerton

Revd Dr David Emerton is Director of St Mellitus College, East Midlands

Tell us a bit about yourself

I grew up in Chester as the youngest of three children. My sister, Liz, once a missionary in China, is a primary school teacher (and married to a vicar), and my elder brother, Andy is the Bishop of Sherwood (and yes, mitres and purple shirts do not sit well with green tights: ‘Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen…’ But no, we didn’t grow up in a household where the Lord was a day-to-day reality. We were all baptised as infants, however…).

On leaving school, I studied history at Edinburgh University, before passing through law school in Nottingham and Oxford on my way to London, where I worked as a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. It was in London—at St Paul’s, Hammersmith—that I first sensed a call to ordained ministry, a call which led me to being part of the very first cohort of students to train for ordination at a newly established theological college...St Mellitus! And it was at St Mellitus that I took my first theological steps and where I first became passionate about the marriage of church and theology.

After ordination, I served as a curate at St Stephen’s, Twickenham, before following God’s call up to Aberdeen to pursue PhD studies, and then down to the East Midlands to re-enter the Church of England fold, initially as the Principal of the School of Discipleship in the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham.

When I’m not in college, most of my time is spent trying to learn how to become a Christian, a husband to Naomi, and a father to two young daughters, Lois and Sophie-Joan. I also seem to spend a significant amount of my time experiencing the emotional highs and lows that come from being a supporter of Liverpool Football Club. And whilst Dreams—as Gabrielle once famously put it—can come true, unfortunately they didn’t this summer in the shape of an unprecedented quadruple. A reasonable amount of my time is then spent persuading my daughters that school actually is a good thing and if you want to get better at the piano or cello then you really do have to practice your scales. And a significantly less amount of my time is then spent fighting a losing battle to keep fit and trying to hit a publishing deadline for a forthcoming book titled Types of Ecclesiology.

It was at St Mellitus that I took my first theological steps and where I first became passionate about the marriage of church and theology

What is your faith story

I came to faith at the age of 14 at a Holiday Club for 5-11 year olds run by the local village church (I recall being there under duress courtesy of my elder brother and sister, and duress because there was an Ashes Test Match on TV at time…). Ever since, I’ve been trying to learn how to become a Christian: Eugene Peterson certainly has it right that discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction. But Jesus is the horizon of my life: he is the one who I endeavour daily to set sail towards, although I’m more successful some days than others. But that Jesus is the risen and ascended Lord of this world means that I know that ‘all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’And because of this, I try not to take myself too seriously (although, again, some days I’m more successful at this than others!) and I know that any competence I have as a priest-theologian comes to me as God’s gracious gift.

Those who have shaped and informed my Christian faith over the years are too numerous to mention, be they family and friends, staff at YWAM Melbourne or St Mellitus College, my PhD supervisor, the GrowthSkills team in California, or my spiritual director. But one dead German pastor and theologian probably deserves to be named. And that is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. From my time studying Bonhoeffer for my PhD I learnt that it really does matter as a follower of Jesus that I’m committed to living out concretely what is true about who Jesus is—no matter what it might cost me. To put that otherwise, it really does matter as a follower of Jesus that I live a life of integrity, that my thoughts, words and deeds all communicate exactly the same thing.

Why St Mellitus College?

I love SMC and all that constitutes it: theology at the heart of the church; Christ-like character as the primary requirement for Christian ministry; generous orthodoxy as a vehicle for mission; and the pursuit of ministerial and academic excellence, all set in the context of prayer and worship, shaped by the Holy Spirit.

What are you hoping and expectant for in your role?

I’m expectant about the potential that SMC EM has to develop a unique expression of ministerial training shaped by the missional context of the East Midlands, and to help resource mission and ministry across the region and support local diocesan vision. I believe the Lord desires the community of SMC EM to be joyous, hope-filled and vulnerable, and whether gathered or scattered marked by the age-old prayer of the church, ‘Come, Holy Spirit’, and therefore the confident commitment in declaring the gospel truth that Jesus is Lord. Contributing to the realisation of this desire in my offer of leadership to the SMC EM community is what gets me out of bed in the morning (that and the first cup of coffee of the day, or sometimes a small child…).

Studying theology will enlarge your love for both God and the church. It will stretch your mind, your heart, your soul, and your strength—the capacity of your very being to love the Lord your God and follow-after his Son in faithful obedience

What are you passionate about?

As a disciple, I’m passionate about following-after Jesus whenever and to whatever and to wherever he calls. As a disciple called to exercise in leadership in God’s church, I’m passionate about inhabiting a leadership space which is shaped primarily by the Lord’s words to Paul that “my power is made perfect in weakness,” and by Paul’s associated commitment to “boast all the more gladly about [his] weaknesses, so that Christ’s power [might] rest upon [him].” Put otherwise, I’m passionate about exercising vulnerable leadership in God’s church, knowing that any competence I have as a priest-theologian and leader of God’s people is God’s gracious gift. As a priest-theologian, I’m passionate about church and theology being married together and believe that theological wisdom is vital to the health and vitality of the church. The work of theology is, I believe, a spiritual discipline—the act of loving the God that we adore with our minds. Done properly, theology therefore grows out of and leads back into prayer and worship as our vision of who God is is enlarged by the theological work we undertake. As a husband and a father, I’m passionate (you’ll be pleased to hear) about my wife and my children, and becoming a more Christ-like father and husband. And as Liverpool fan, well, I’m passionate about Liverpool!

What would you say to someone considering studying theology or exploring their vocation?

Studying theology will enlarge your love for both God and the church. It will stretch your mind, your heart, your soul, and your strength—the capacity of your very being to love the Lord your God and follow-after his Son in faithful obedience. But having your vision of who God is and what his church is enlarged is not only critical for the health and vitality of your own life of discipleship, it’s critical as well for the future mission and ministry of the church. In the words of a former colleague, what the church today needs most is ‘theologically astute Christians who can out-narrate a sin-sick world’. Studying theology will help you to be such a Christian. It will also help you to help others to be such Christians. And if you’re currently exploring your vocation, then I’d simply want to encourage you to continue to do so, to keep on asking the Lord how best you can offer your life back to him in service of his church. And make sure you keep asking those who are older or wiser followers of Jesus than you are what they think the answer to that question is as well! Following-after Jesus is the best thing that anyone can ever do with their life. It’s not always easy or straightforward, and sometimes it’s very costly. But it is the path along which resurrection life comes in the Spirit.

And finally, for something unexpected...

I love building Lego (preferably of the Star Wars variety). Is that unexpected? I don’t know. Perhaps. Perhaps not! If not, then I’ve played in the Scottish National Badminton Championships; walked on the hallowed turf of Wembley as part of the half-time entertainment at an England football international; and played Jazz trumpet at a Bavarian Beer Festival whilst dressed in Lederhosen.