About the writer
A lifetime's work in teaching and youth ministry
Chris has spent his entire adult life working with children and young people in a wide variety of settings. He qualified as a secondary maths teacher in 1990, beginning his teaching career in Essex, before moving to the South West of England to take up a secondary maths teaching post in Gloucester.
Whilst a student Chris volunteered over his summer breaks at a children’s playscheme with a Church in Brixton, London and maintained his involvement as a volunteer in Christian youth work when he and his wife settled in Gloucester.
In 1998 Chris left teaching to commence training for full-time youth ministry, graduating with a First Class Degree in Youth and Community work and Applied Theology in 2002. Chris moved from Gloucester in 2000, to take up a full-time post as Youth Minister at a parish church in Bristol.
Chris and his young family returned to Gloucester in 2005, Chris once again teaching secondary maths in a local comprehensive. In 2014 Chris made the decision to take up a post at a small independent school, with a particular focus on teaching children with dyslexia and similar specific learning difficulties. Chris was subsequently appointed Head of Mathematics at the school and additionally had the opportunity to broaden his experience to include teaching both A-level politics and A-level economics.
Chris had planned to retire from teaching in 2025 but is still has some involvement part time at his former school and has also recently taken on a tutoring role at Bristol Rovers FC, teaching GCSE maths to the apprentices at the club.
Developing as a writer
Chris views his writing as both a creative activity as well
as an important extension of his teaching ministry.
During the period that he worked in youth ministry, Chris
produced many written teaching resources, enjoying the challenge of unpacking
topics in order to make them more accessible and engaging for young people.
Many of the teaching sessions he produced were subsequently published in
Youthwork Magazine, a Christian periodical which aims to inform and resource
those working in youth ministry.
Whilst Chris is sometimes commissioned to write an article
on a particular topic, his motivation for writing is often simply that it serves
as a process whereby he can give time and thought to more fully explore a theological
topic or current issue. Through this process Chris aims to develop and deepen
his own understanding of a subject, thereby providing greater clarity and sharpness
to his own views.
In many ways, this reflects the process of preparing a
teaching session for a group of young people, since as any who have worked with
youth would recognise, it is essential to be clear what you believe and where
you stand on an issue before attempting to address the same with a group of
teenagers!
As an Evangelical Christian, Chris recognises the authority
of the bible on all matters. In writing on a topic or issue, Chris will always
look to the scriptures to provide the guiding framework when considering
differing ideas and views in relation to a subject. Chris was introduced to
applied theology in his youth ministry degree; a methodology he understands to
be founded upon the idea that the teaching of scripture can speak directly to
contemporary issues, questions and debates.
As a Charismatic believer, Chris would also point to the active ministry of the Holy Spirit in leading believers into ‘the knowledge of the truth’ (John 16:13). For Chris, the practical outworking of this is that he looks to the Holy Spirit to shape his developing thoughts on a subject and especially to bring to mind relevant scriptures.
Chris has a powerful personal testimony
Although Chris grew up in a Christian home in his early teens he drifted further and further away from God. However, at the age of 16, a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit completely changed the course of his life.
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