Roger Harper is the founding author of Fresh Bible Answers.
Roger envisages that, as Fresh Bible Answers becomes known and valued, other writers, sharing a similar approach, will join him.
Roger is a Prison Chaplain in the UK Midlands, soon to retire. He writes the blog Rogerharper’s Blog | Fresh views on Life, Faith and Everything (wordpress.com) . He has written a whodunit, A British Crash, a doctrine book, The Lie of Hell, the website, GayMarriageMaybe, the Biblical fiction novel, Jacob The Son, and the relationship guide, Wholly Dating. He has published his books through Ladder Media Ltd. a Christian Equitable Company he set up with a friend: Home (laddermedia.co.uk)
Roger was brought up in North West London, the son of a Catholic mother, and of a secular Jewish father who had immigrated from Germany to escape Nazi persecution. His mother’s father had immigrated from Ireland, and her mother had grown up a Vicar’s (Church of England Leader’s) daughter near Nottingham. Roger values all parts of his heritage. He also draws from the influence of the East African Revival, Church of England Evangelicalism, and the Charismatic Movement, including the renewal of Holy Spirit Renewal associated with a church in Toronto.
We hope you enjoy this detailed account of Jesus’ intricate and unique and purposeful orchestration of circumstances drawing Roger and keeping Roger to himself. Much of the circumstances of life can be appreciated only in hindsight.
Early years.
Roger attended Catholic Church as a child, aware that something serious was happening at the front. He enjoyed the modern stained glass windows and the special smell from incense. He later found that other, Protestant, churches had less pleasant smells. He gradually became able to join in some of the words, at the time in Latin, which he can still repeat.
Roger became aware that the priest at the front was lifting bread and wine, apparently giving these to God, and then eating them himself. He asked about this strange practice of giving something to God and then eating it yourself, but no-one took his question seriously.
The people in pews around him were more immediate and interesting than the religious environment and he was told off for staring at people. Sunday lunch, at home or, later, at a restaurant, was a welcome reward.
Teenage
Roger was sent to Catholic Boarding School, Downside, in Somerset. Again, he recognised that something serious was happening at the front of church, with a special not unpleasant atmosphere. The school was going through a liberal phase and provided various church services, ‘masses’, with different styles at different times of the day. All the boys realised very quickly that it was easy to say that you had been to a previous mass or were going to a later mass and go to none. Occasional summer outdoor masses, though, felt even more special, the church atmosphere blending with nature in a very pleasant way. Roger tried going to Confession and found it surprisingly straightforward and liberating. Roger has valued, used, the practice since.
At about 14 years old, Roger decided that there was no point in going to Church. He believed God had made the world and then moved on elsewhere. Talking to God was pointless. His mother upbraided him for not giving God even one hour of a whole week but Roger was convinced that God, like the Catholic teachers, had no idea whether he had gone to church or not, so ignored the rebuke. All along, Roger’s father never went to church and had no adherence to, nor interest in, any faith.
Roger did well at school, particularly languages, without great effort. He surprised himself and others by being voted 2nd in the Debating Competition judged by the local Labour MP. In his final year, he was delighted to win the French Prize, over one rival, and then mortified that his grade at A level was lower than everyone expected. But he had finally applied himself to History and, also against expectation, gained the top grade.
In that sort of school at that time it was natural that Roger apply to Cambridge University, where his father had studied, before and after the Second World War. Roger returned to school after A Levels to study for and sit the Cambridge Entrance Exam in December.
The reply from Jesus College Cambridge was also unexpected. Something strange was happening. The Modern Languages Tutor wrote that Roger had narrowly failed the exam, though he had made a good impression in his interview. The Tutor noted that Roger was young, barely 17. He said that, if Roger would wait an extra year, the College would give him a place to study French and Russian. They expected Roger needed to grow up. An unprecedented decision.
Big gap year
Suddenly, Roger had not only the 9 months from his exam to the usual September start at University, but also another 12 months. What was he to do with all this free, waiting, time? Like his school friends, he wanted to travel far. But he wanted to stay in one place, preferably in some helpful role, not be a wandering tourist.
Two UK organisations were then sending school leavers to teach in African schools, Toc H and the Church of England Church Mission Society, CMS. To be selected by Toc H, candidates had to live rough in the Scottish Highlands for a week, proving they were tough enough for anything. ‘That’s not me,’ thought Roger. To be selected by CMS, candidates had to be practicing Christians. ‘I can pretend,’ thought Roger, and applied.
Roger was invited to a selection weekend in a large warm country house South of London. Roger tried hard to exaggerate his minimal Deist (distant God) faith, though could not hide that he had been to a Catholic school. The other candidates all clearly had a faith which he did not have. For the first time, he was among people of his own age who lived with a personal connection to God, giving them an inner confidence which was new to Roger. Roger was sure that his play acting would be seen through easily.
At the end of the weekend, the Selectors told Roger that they would try to find a place for him to teach in a rural Secondary School, maybe a Catholic School, in Kenya from January to August. Roger was on his way to Africa! Most unexpected, again.
Late in December, the CMS organiser phoned Roger. ‘We were about to write to you with the sad news that we had been unable to find a school for you. But, a couple of days ago, an unknown man walked into our office and asked if we had any teachers to start in January. He is the Chair of a planned Secondary School. They will have their first students next month. We told him we would send you.’
Roger was relieved and delighted and aware that a coincidence had happened. He had no thought of a God behind the coincidence.
Kenya
In early January, Roger and the other, believing, youth flew to Kenya. They stayed for one night in an English Country House style Retreat Centre in green hills near Nairobi. Apart from the heat and the bird sounds, the only indication that they had left England were the toilets – deep pits topped with wooden seats.
Roger sought out the local organiser and asked where he was going. All the other young people were in pairs, had known for a few weeks where they were going, and most had talked with people in England who had worked previously in their school.
‘Ah, well. Tomorrow, you’re going to a place called Riakanau. We’re not sure where it is exactly. We haven’t managed to go there. Let’s get a map… Ah… That’s disappointing. It’s somewhere in this area, near this river. It’s quite low, probably plenty of malaria mosquitoes, especially as it’s near a rice-growing area, so here’s a mosquito net. We don’t know what accommodation they’ve arranged for you, so here’s a camp bed and a cooking stove. Some English people are in the area, working on the construction of a dam downstream from you, but they’re maybe 30 miles away on the other side of the river. No, no bridges, I’m afraid. We’ll come and visit you to check on you, maybe in a month or two. Sorry we can’t give you any more information.’
Roger blinked and didn’t know what to think. Living rough was not for him! He kept tomorrow out of his mind until he was in bed. The huge unknown now terrified him. His breathing became more and more shallow as his heart raced. A panic attack was beginning. He thought of the other would-be teachers with him. A thought came: ‘If they were in my position they would pray.’ No harm. ‘God, if you’re there, help!’
Roger didn’t know what to do next so did nothing. After a minute or two, his heart slowed, his breathing deepened, a peace came and he slept. The peace was with him in the morning. Nothing to do now but go through with it.
Roger was driven three hours to a market town. Two large smiling men with a pickup made room for him in the front, while various people perched on food sacks in the open back. The men were chatty, delighted. After 40 minutes driving through dust on mud roads, they pulled up at a little bar by a small marketplace with three low stalls selling tomatoes and onions. Roger was shown through the bar to a bedroom behind, with a sturdy bed and upright wooden chair, a blue plastic bowl and thin green towel, by a yellow plastic jerrycan of water. This was Roger’s first Riakanau home, much more comfortable than feared. Soon he was called through for a massive plateful of maize, beans and tasty goat stew.
Roger pondered on the peace that had come to him. It was justified by events. He wondered how his body had calmed itself down. It seemed that the tension had grown to such a point that something had had to give and his body had sent him to sleep. Surely not help from God.
Riakanau
Roger’s time in Riakanau was delightful. The very first class in the new school had 25 students ranging in age from 12 to 22. Daniel, from the local area, upright, urbane, bright-eyed and respectfully caring, was the other teacher, officially the Head Teacher. Daniel too had passed Kenyan A levels and was to go to University. Daniel and Roger taught half the subjects each: Roger taught English, Maths, Religious Knowledge and African History. Plenty of learning from the textbook the night before a class.
Everyone was cheerful and welcoming. Daniel and Roger moved to a purpose-built teacher’s house next to the school, a building site with an office and one classroom.
The neighbouring family invited Roger to a meal. Matriarch Monicah explained, through a son who knew English, that her husband worked away at Nairobi Airport, that she was a first generation Christian, that she knew Roger’s mother was somewhere a long way beyond the mountain (waving North to Mount Kenya), and that, while Roger was there, she would be his mother. Roger enjoyed more goat, with roasted maize, sitting by a bright fire under countless stars.
With Monicah, and because he was seen as a missionary (!), Roger went to church. Here too were people who thought they had a strong connection with God, with Jesus, and showed a confidence not quiet but exuberant. Roger enjoyed the heart-lifting singing, pretending to be more than the observer he was.
Prayer
After 5 weeks, Roger needed to go to Nairobi to finalise his Visa. He was told a bus left Riakanau for the 3 hour journey to Nairobi every weekday morning at 5 am. Roger was reluctant to wake up so early on a Friday and did not want to cancel morning classes. He decided to try to make his own way to Nairobi after lunchtime. As an experiment, he sent up a prayer asking for help to reach the big city.
Roger started walking the couple of miles to the nearby small town, which was on a more major road. After 20 minutes, he was surprised to hear a vehicle behind him and could smell the dust raised. The driver stopped and took him to the town.
Roger was more surprised to see a smart blue Toyota Land Cruiser in the town centre. He had to rub his eyes when he saw three Europeans by the car, who turned out to be English. They took him with them to Nairobi. The sun was still high when they plunged into the smell of hot tarmac streets and the shock of hundreds of people, walking, selling, shouting, laughing.
Roger again pondered. This time the coincidence was too striking, the provision of transport too unusual, too good a fit to his particular needs. Could this have been an answer to prayer?
Tentatively, Roger continued his experiments with asking prayer. A few more coincidences followed.
Roger enjoyed teaching cheerful students, some very bright. He enjoyed being part of the local community. He enjoyed evening strolls down to the river where he could bathe in the flowing water, wash clothes and sit a little up the bank to watch the hippos break the surface of the water and snort, as the sun went down. He enjoyed meeting his new Christian English friends at weekends and school holidays. He could see the value of the faith that he did not have, and wondered if his prayers were really being answered.
University
Back in damp, grey, England where people looked miserable, Roger started at Cambridge University. At the first meal, people were talking about what they had done before studying. Roger enjoyed his dramatic ‘I’ve been Deputy Head Teacher of a Secondary School in Kenya.’ He explained that he was also the junior staff member of two. Asked how this happened, he explained that it was a programme run by the Church Mission Society. ‘Are you a Christian?’ was the eager hopeful question from a student sitting opposite. Roger felt caught. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. He is still friends with that student.
As in Kenya, Roger sat in on college Christian Union meetings, enjoying the singing, listened to University Chirstian Union Bible lectures, appreciating the seriousness but bored with people repeating at length what Paul had written, and spent an hour on Sunday mornings in a local Church of England church, both familiar with and different from sitting in a Catholic congregation. He found most of the Christian package made sense and was a positive contribution to life. He felt close to signing up but had one major block: Hell.
The Hell block
If the package included signing up to hell, Roger couldn’t sign. How could he subscribe to millions of humans, including Monicah’s parents who had never heard about Jesus, sent to excruciating torture for ever and ever? He would be asked to approve of, argue for, this barbaric callousness. Approving hell was impossible.
One Sunday morning in the Round Church in Cambridge, Roger half joined in saying the Apostles’ Creed. ‘He descended into hell. The third day he rose from the dead.’ A thought pinged in his head. Jesus has gone into hell and come out of hell. For Jesus, hell had a way out. That way out can’t be for Jesus only. I can sign up to a hell with a way out.’ Years later Roger investigated carefully the teaching of Jesus and the Bible about hell and found that the thought must have been pinged in by the Holy Spirit.
Roger signed up. ‘Yes. I am a Christian.’ He was happy to be part of the great family which had welcomed him, particularly in Kenya. The struggle was over. No dramatic change from darkness to light. Rather, Roger finally fully welcomed the light which had been shining for months, if not years, and decided to live in it.
Roger was not the first or last person to wonder, at times, if he was really a Christian, without a grand conversion experience story.
Which Church?
‘And what sort of Christian am I? Catholic or Church of England? Now I’m back in the Christian mansion, which is my wing?’
Roger had gone to a few meetings at the Catholic Student Chaplaincy, appreciating the familiarity, and impressed by Catholic Theology Professor, Nicholas Lash. One sentence stayed with him, ‘The question today is not how to speak to a world come of age, but how to proclaim the Fatherhood of God in a world which has lost its humanity.’
Roger felt at home in both Christian wings, though he had more friends among Evangelical Church of England believers. He noticed that, in Cambridge as at home, the Catholic Church had a strong, prominent, Irish element. With an immigrant father and grandfather, he preferred to be part of, put down roots in, something more English. He also found celibacy for priests hard to accept.
Roger was now comfortable in the college Christian Union, and at Holy Trinity Church, inspiring and not hard-edged. He wondered how people could insist that anything good, anything to be approved, had to be found in the Bible. Better to approve anything which was not contradicted by the Bible. He soon found himself in small groups arguing gently for Christian faith. He helped set up a short-lived Christian Modern Linguists Fellowship. He also went on a students’ retreat led by the inspiring former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, who inspired him to pray more.
Roger went to bread and cheese lunches by the Church Mission Society Group where he caught up with a couple of Kenya friends and also with a Ugandan theology student, William Magambo, who had been a Selector, agreeing to send him to Kenya.
Beyond University?
One Cambridge Kenya friend, and another elsewhere, were on their way to becoming priests or ministers or vicars (same role, different names) in the Church of England. The Church was also concerned about not having enough priests and made a national appeal which Roger heard at Holy Trinity.
Roger found out a little about what the role involved and it seemed attractive. He did not want to follow his father and his parents’ friends into money-focused professional work, which seemed to give them shallow lives with little purpose. (Some would say a typical child of the 1970s.) He could think of no preferable career. No-one would pay him to do what he had been trained to do, write essays about 19th Century French and Russian literature.
Roger made a tentative approach about working in the Church of England, thinking that his limited experience of the Church disqualified him. The Church of England again made an unexpected decision by accepting him for training, after a gap of two years. Again, people thought he needed to grow up.’ Again, Roger had plenty of time to spend away from a career path. Again, he applied to do something helpful. Community Service Volunteers placed him as a Social Work Assistant in North Islington, London.
When Roger told his mother that he would be working in the Church of England, her immediate, anguished, response, was ‘You’ll never set foot in a Catholic church again!’ His father’s response was a grumpy, ‘Huh! You won’t make much money like that!’
The Holy Spirit
As Roger left Cambridge, an acquaintance gave him, and a few others, a photocopied book. This man had been enthused by reading about people being healed through prayer. ‘Odd,’ thought Roger, putting the thick envelope of papers to one side. ‘Never heard of that being part of Church.’
Roger joined the local Church, St John’s Upper Holloway. A group of young adults was already meeting and Roger was welcomed warmly. He took on winding up the church clock, cranking a weight up the tower every week, and started a monthly family news magazine for church members.
Roger heard people talking about another odd part of their Christian lives: praying in tongues. One good friend, who he had met as a student and was now living in London, considered praying in tongues a normal part of the life of the church where she grew up. Intrigued, Roger found out more, soon realising that he knew little about the Holy Spirit. He researched.
Roger also wanted to use his faith more in his work, particularly with older people without family carers who were struggling to live on their own. Roger would often take people to look at sheltered accommodation where they could live semi-independent lives. He felt that his prayers for them were ineffective words compared to the need.
Roger went to a Christian Social Workers Conference where he met Carl, an older, Dutch, Social Worker. Carl had been lured by a small magazine advert, lodged in his mind by God, into leaving his job as Team Leader in Yorkshire to working as Social Worker for the Church of England in North Norfolk. Praying earnestly for troubled people, he found his hands moving of their own accord. People then reported significant blessing coming to them which they knew to be connected with him. Carl became a friend and mentor to Roger for several years.
The answer to Roger’s question about how his praying could have more impact now seemed obvious. He needed the Holy Spirit in him and flowing through him, maybe in tongues. One Saturday afternoon he asked, invited, the Holy Spirit to come in. A warm peace followed and, as he prayed, his hands started moving of their own. A few weeks later, after prayer with others, he also started praying in tongues. Now he felt that it wasn’t just him working up the best prayer he could. Now something good and strong within him was using his concern for people and making a connection with God.
One older woman was taken to hospital. She had always lived on her own, in a local basement flat, but had developed diabetes, not helped by her eager appetite for a little-more-than-a-little whisky. One foot was now gangrenous and would have to be amputated to the knee. Roger knew she would hate having to learn to walk again and having to leave her home of many years. He prayed earnestly for her healing, a little aware of a light bathing her. He felt that his concern, his prayer, had been carried to where a response could come. Two days later, to the surprise of the doctors, she died. Although sad, Roger trusted that she was moving on and up into the light bathing her. A good but unexpected answer to prayer.
Theological College
Knowing God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Roger found Theological College in Nottingham interesting and, mostly, straightforward. His marks ranged from mediocre to high depending on his level of interest. He gained a Diploma in Theology with Distinction. He was the college rep to the national organisation for people training for Church of England ministry. One student from another college was surprised that someone seemingly so sensible could have chosen such a wacky, ie charismatic, college. Praying in tongues was, and still is, derided by some people in the Church of England.
Roger became national Chair of the trainees’ organisation through the usual church process: he was the only person who wanted the role. He attended Board meetings in London with a few Bishops and learned much more about the Church of England, particularly how good they were at talking about decline and not doing anything about it.
The most memorable achievement of Theological College was earning the Man of the Rugby Match can of Fosters Lager, the one time his college played against a nearby Methodist College. Pastoral Care courses brought healing to Roger’s heart. Personal developments and uncertainty how to finish the final long essay meant that he never completed the course.
Church Ministry
Roger worked as an Assistant (Curate) in churches in Belper, Derbyshire, and Leicester, before becoming Team Vicar in Pendeford, North Wolverhampton. The variety of working life was stimulating and refreshing: meeting individuals in sad and joyful times, leading small groups and congregations, attending and chairing meetings, ploughing through admin, writing for church magazines and local Press. Praying with people, often for healing in their hearts, and helping people understand Christian faith better, make a stronger connection with God, were highlights.
Roger found that his University education had been a good training in listening, learning to understand and convey someone’s language, for instance for speaking about a loved one at their funeral with the emphases and language in which their family had spoken about them. Being trained, also, in explaining, assessing, writing in a different language, preferably in a fresh way, helped in explaining Bible passages in fresh ways.
More Holy Spirit
Three years into work in Pendeford, Roger was surprised, late August, to feel jaded. Enthusiasm for church life picking up after the summer was low. A friend from Theological College, Alastair, was in the news – because in his church people were falling over and laughing.
A fresh move of the Holy Spirit had begun in the Vineyard Church by Toronto Airport. The outpouring was commended by Holy Trinity Brompton, London, home of the Alpha Course. So many people, mostly church ministers, travelled to Toronto that British Airways had to put on extra flights. The UK Press found it a useful quirky story to fill the quiet summer and called it ‘The Toronto Blessing.’
A former Vicar of St James’ Bream, in the Forest of Dean, had been prayed for by someone who had visited Toronto. He visited St James’, where Alastair was now Vicar, prayed for people and there was enough falling over and laughing and other responses to the Holy Spirit, for a Japanese camera crew to come and film.
One Sunday afternoon, Roger and some Pendeford people borrowed a minibus and drove a couple of hours to Bream. They were treated to an ordinary church tea, sausage rolls and scones, before the evening service. The service was ordinary, modern Church of England. At the end, a Bream team prayed with anyone who wanted. Roger stood, upright, calm, as someone touched his outstretched hands and asked the Holy Spirit to come to him. A good few people had fallen to the floor, but Roger felt no prompt to do the same, rather to stay standing, quiet. He sensed a gentle touch on the top of his head, like very soft rain, even drizzle. It felt good, though, to his disappointment, less significant than expected.
The drive back was happy, everyone in their own way feeling brighter. The following morning Roger woke at 5.45 am, unexpected because, without an alarm, he naturally slept until about 8. The following morning Roger woke at 6.15. The following morning at 6. The early waking continued. From the Bream day until today, Roger’s body clock shifted 2 hours. And he thought that nothing significant had happened! Roger’s enthusiasm for church life also returned, stronger.
Waking early has been great for prayer and mulling over with God. Having to make himself go to bed earlier was a struggle. Roger had no option but to recognise that the Toronto Blessing was and is a genuine flow of the Holy Spirit. He continued to go to meetings and conferences of this Stream. He found some hype alongside much healthy Holy Spirit.
Roger was aware that some people were, and are, suspicious, as the Theological student had been suspicious of his ’wacky’ college. Most suspecters held back from going to ‘Toronto’ gatherings, or even hearing what difference the ‘Blessing’ had made to people.
The leaders of the Toronto church, John and Carol Arnott, call the outpouring The Father’s Blessing, for a key element is a closer connection to God as Father. Part of the answer to the question asked years before by the Cambridge Professor: How to preach the Fatherhood of God in a world which has lost its humanity?
Church conflict
Roger, and family, moved to St Thomas, Aldrige, Walsall where the congregation leaders had asked for a Minister who would take a gentle lead in Charismatic Renewal. A personal comment to a church member after his first service disclosed his not holding to the traditional ‘no way out’ doctrine of hell. This was passed on through the grapevine, to much dismay, leading to serious discussion about whether Roger could stay as Minister. The local leaders agreed he could.
Roger also made time for thorough study of Bible teaching on what happens after death to those who have not been forgiven by Jesus. He began with a little correspondence with Tom (NT) Wright who was working at his local Cathedral. Tom has now written over 70 books and is highly regarded in academic, theological and church circles.
One Friday evening, Roger went to a ‘Toronto’ evening at Revival Fires Church, Dudley. The only reason was to show the wife of a Kenyan friend studying in the UK a different kind of church to the traditional Church of England.
The speaker was a short American who confidently said, ‘Do this, and this, and this, and this, and you will hear God speaking to you.’ He wasn’t a former American Football player with whitened teeth spouting an unbelievable formula but sort of sounded like one. He led people through what he called the 4 Keys. Jesus spoke to Roger more clearly than ever, a few striking words. The man was Mark Virkler.
Roger bought Mark’s book and found it a home on his shelf. Later that year, he at last went to Toronto himself, on the way to a family wedding in Portland, Oregon. Walking into the church foyer, he noticed a short man standing in front of the welcome desk: Mark Virkler again, unexpected. Mark was teaching How to Hear God’s Voice there too. The Toronto leader, John Arnott, explained that he had heard Mark teach several times, found his message highly valuable and always wanted to come again, picking up something fresh. Back in England, Roger had to take the book from his shelf and study it. Mark’s 4 Keys have helped Roger hear much better from Jesus, a perfect complement to waking at 6am.
A year or so later, Roger brought Mark to St Thomas’ Church to teach How to Hear God’s Voice, and Prayers that Heal the Heart, then a new course. Not everyone welcomed Mark, nor indeed much that Roger spoke about. His gentle leading in Holy Spirit renewal, as well his view of hell, were too different from the Conservative Evangelical background of some members.
Early one September, Roger was at an evening service at St Thomas’ led by a Lay Reader. He had an intense sinking feeling of foreboding. Not understanding it, he kept quiet. The following Tuesday, he came home from a morning meeting to be told by his daughter ‘America is under attack!’ 9/11.
Roger went on to preach about the Christian response to violence and aggression – not to hit back but either to use the Law or to respond in Grace. As the US and UK Governments were immediately determined to hit back, with the support of many people, including in St Thomas’, this message too was not welcomed by some.
Roger had ignored an early prompt from Jesus to leave after less than 2 years, insisting that he not ‘throw in the towel’ so soon. Various strands of conflict came together and Roger had to leave the church. He much regrets not leaving earlier and apologised to church leaders. He remembered stating to himself and to God, a few years previously, that he was no longer interested in an easy life.
Writing
With his wife now working full time, Roger took a break from church work. Although he had always thought he would continue as a local church leader until retirement, other work was in the background. It felt like he had had a drawer in his head where he had stuffed ideas for various writing projects, which Jesus now pulled out saying ‘We can do something with this, and this, and this. Leave the book on hell for now, for when you do that you will be crucified.’
Roger was already slowly writing his whodunit, A British Crash, which was finished. He first earned money through writing by sending the Church Times a brief account of the first national demo in London against the invasion of Iraq. Then the Church of England Newspaper welcomed and paid for an interview he had done with the author, G P Taylor, at the time also a Vicar, in Whitby, Yorkshire. The Editor of Premier Christianity magazine was also interested in this interview and initiated a few years of commissioning Roger to write articles, mostly on pastoral Holy Spirit ministry.
Travel
Roger was able to respond to an invitation to visit West Ankole, Uganda, where William Magambo, CMS Selector and University friend, was now Bishop. ‘That’s OK isn’t it Jesus?’ Roger asked, considering the question superfluous. ‘Yes, but go to India first,’ was the surprising response. Roger had also been invited to Andhra Pradesh, India, by a Pentecostal church leader, Thomas, who had visited St Thomas’ Church, invited by some members of the congregation.
To test Jesus’ call to India, Roger wrote to a number of friends asking them to pray and report what came, and, if they thought he should go to India, to consider sending money for his air fare. Enough money for two air fares came, so Roger went with a friend.
He warmed to the Pastors of the little churches, overseen by Thomas, who came for training. The following year he returned to speak at three rural evangelistic tent meetings. He prepared to speak on the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son. He was delighted that more people had come on the second night because of the appreciation of the first night. With even more expected on the third night, Thomas took over, to Roger’s disappointment.
In India and Uganda Roger taught about healing prayer using a laid-back Vineyard type, rather than Pentecostal, model which had been developed by a couple of church leaders in New Zealand and recently introduced to the UK as ‘Person-Centred Prayer Ministry.’ Roger relished the higher levels of faith in Uganda and made good friendships, returning several times. He was invited to speak for one year’s Ordination Retreat and Ordination Service, and was made an Honorary Canon of the Cathedral. His greatest honour was being told he preaches like a Ugandan.
Roger’s appreciation for the culture and teaching of the East African Revival, begun years before in Kenya, grew stronger. One element particularly is the need to speak out confession of specific sins. In the East African Revival, this is usually spoken in a midweek small group, though he has heard it in a full church too.
A young woman confessed to 120 people in church for a seminar that she had killed her brother’s pig, throwing a stone to shoo it away from her drying washing, and never intending to kill it. She had kept quiet and denied she knew anything about the pig’s death, until the Holy Spirit touched her in church and she told everyone. Roger doubts that he would have heard such a public confession anywhere else in the world.
In the Roman Catholic Church, this specific confession is spoken to priest. Revivalists and Catholics, divided by years of European prejudice, have not come together through both valuing spoken specific confession. Roger’s Catholic background leads him to rejoice at this similarity in both traditions and he has been encouraged by Catholics coming to, and taking part in, his Ugandan seminars.
Roger also had the great privilege of teaching, through an interpreter, about praying in tongues. As people prayed together in twos and threes, a woman who could not read nor write her own language, let alone English, spoke a few words of English. She had no idea she was speaking English. Roger heard about this from the local pastors over lunch. The pastors were amazed and excited. Roger was excited too, and disappointed to have missed the actual speaking English in tongues.
A few years later, back in Uganda, this time with his daughter and the daughter of the, new, local Bishop, Roger led a seminar in another church at the other end of the Diocese. In a time of inviting the Holy Spirit and praying, another woman who knew no English spoke out a few strange sounds. That was how she later described what she was doing to Deborah’s daughter, as the Bishop’s daughter interpreted. To Roger and his daughter she was speaking a few words of English, in a strong Ugandan accent. How good of Our Father to allow Roger to hear English in tongues for himself!
UK work
After 2 years of no UK church work, Roger started as part time Chaplain at Douglas MacMillan Hospice, Stoke-on-Trent. He has great memories of praying with patients including, praying in tongues with a few, documenting this practice in the medical notes. Some nurses were also doing Reiki healing with patients, which Roger did not support, but kept quiet. When the Director of the Hospice heard that Roger had prayed in tongues, he was dismissed. His line manager was disciplined and left soon after.
Lorry driving now seemed a decent way to earn a living, more paid Christian Ministry out of the question. But, unexpectedly, the Diocese of Lichfield sought an Interim Minister, half time, for The Good Shepherd Church in West Bromwich, whose Vicar had been suspended. Roger was welcomed, with a little extra initial supervision.
The church grew, also unexpectedly. When the Vicar was found guilty and left, Roger’s time came to an end. ‘Well, Roger, it’s been an experience!’ was the first sentence of the farewell speech of the Church Warden. The second sentence was, ‘A good one, I must say.’ The third sentence concluded the speech: ‘You have helped me move down paths which I didn’t know even existed and, personally, I thank you.’ She was aware that, here too, not everyone welcomed all that Roger brought.
Roger went on to a similar role in Bilston parish, South Wolverhampton where he enjoyed six months, warmly welcomed by some, but not all. Then family circumstances led to a move to Derbyshire, to a house bought 13 years previously after his father had died.
Despite being able to hear Jesus more clearly, Roger once again resisted a prompt, this time to apply to be Vicar in Belper, the church where he had first worked. Roger would not change his view that going back to the same place was inappropriate. Later, he recognised that he should have at least talked it through with Jesus. After a few months, he was appointed Vicar, half time, of Burton Joyce with Bulcote and Stoke Bardolph, commuter villages East of Nottingham, a few miles from where he Great-Grandfather had been Vicar.
Church conflict again
Roger was becoming used to being a ‘Marmite Vicar’ – some love, some hate. (Marmite is a pungent brown paste mostly spread on toast which proudly advertises that some like it and some hate it.) Again, teaching and encouragement to welcome the Holy Spirit was not welcomed by all.
Just after his second Christmas, Roger was planning to speak about Jesus growing up, how his first word could well have been ‘Abba!’ ‘Daddy,’ a good word for us to use too when we pray. Before then, Jesus could well have just babbled in sounds like any other young child. It seemed right to explain that this is like praying in tongues, which some people may have heard of, and which the Archbishop of Canterbury does every morning for half an hour.
Roger thought Jesus telling him to show people what tongues sounds like. ‘From the pulpit?’ countered Roger. ‘That could cause some opposition.’ Yes, go ahead.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yes indeed!’ immediately after Roger’s strange sounds from the pulpit, to which he gave an interpretation, a couple of church leaders said the atmosphere following was surprisingly untroubled. Later, another leader agreed that the criticism already simmering flared up, as though blown on by bellows.
Hell had become a much debated topic after the publication of the book Love Wins by Rob Bell. Rob had raised sharp controversial questions. Roger had studied the answers. His book The Lie of Hell was published in Spring 2012. By then, it seemed that most people wanted again to avoid the subject of hell and the book has had little recognition.
The following year, Roger’s mother died, and some church members made an official Complaint against him, and his wife of 30 years left him. She had long been uncomfortable with Roger thinking that Jesus was talking with him, especially when he thought Jesus said something about her. Roger could see other reasons for the truth of what Jesus had said but did not insist. For a few years, Roger and his wife knew they disagreed, and accepted that they could not discuss the matter. His wife then decided that Roger’s view was so unacceptable that she left.
Roger’s brother called 2013 his ‘annus horribilis,’ horrendous year. Roger felt afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair. A couple of years later, he was reminded of what Jesus had said about being crucified after writing about hell.
The good development in 2013 was that Roger started paid work as Chaplain in a local prison one or two days a week, after volunteering for months at another local prison. Roger was less a Marmite Chaplain than he was a Marmite Vicar, enjoying a more consistent welcome.
The Church Complaints Procedure was long. The Archdeacon conducting the investigation had said to Roger, at the start, that he needed to leave, but the Archdeacon would not transfer Roger to any church. New people were coming to the church and new All Age Worship on Sunday afternoons was begun. In 2015 the Church Council, for the first time, voted against a proposal supported by Roger – to join in a Diocesan initiative. Roger now had enough experience to apply for Prison Chaplain jobs. He resigned, returning to Derbyshire.
Rest
Roger went to what is now Reach Church in Derby, where a Prophecy Course was about to start. Another unexpected gift. Roger learned to look to see pictures as well as hear words from the Holy Spirit.
On the course, a couple of people, who knew nothing of his history, said they thought God was saying that he had fought well and should now rest. The course leader was surprised to ‘hear’ a question: ‘Who’s afraid of Roger?’ The answer came quickly. ‘The enemy is afraid of Roger.’
Roger’s rest lasted the whole year, despite Prison Chaplaincy applications. He had time to visit Malaysia, where some people were enthusiastic about his teaching on hell. He worked on his Biblical fiction novel Jacob The Son. He continued to work a little at the prison near Nottingham. When this work came to an end, there was no prospect of further income and a daughter’s wedding was imminent, when he wanted to be generous, Unexpectedly, yet again, Roger was asked to take on Chaplaincy at an Immigration Removal Centre near Grantham, which paid very well.
Again, Roger enjoyed praying with people, witnessing the Holy Spirit come to them. One notable prayer was with a young man being sent back to Cameroon, where his father had been a leading politician and had been assassinated. This man asked for ‘the last rites.’ Roger and he agreed in prayer for angels to guide him through life, or through death. Roger has never heard what happened to him.
London
At his first Prison Chaplain interview in London, Roger was appointed. He worked at Thameside prison for 6 years, including through Covidtime, the longest stretch of any job.
Just before starting at Thameside in 2017, Roger flew to Israel for a cousin’s wedding. He sat next to a new author finding success with a niche book for older daters. ‘I could write a niche book for Christian daters,’ he thought. He was dating through the Christian Connection website.
In 2019 Sharon was also on Christian Connection, almost ready to give up. Sharon and Roger connected so well that they married in July 2020. Sharon was enthusiastic about the dating book, which she named Wholly Dating, a joint project.
In October the following year Sharon died of CJD, a rapid, inexplicable, terminal shutting down of the brain. You can read about Sharon and Roger’s Connection in Wholly Dating.
Sharon had also enjoyed a late draft of Jacob the Son, which made her laugh and she had suggested improvements. Now on his own, Roger finished and published Jacob The Son.
London without Sharon was tough. Roger gradually came to enjoy the city again. Then he was told about a Chaplain vacancy in Dovegate prison, near his Derbyshire home. In 2023 he moved again to Derbyshire. Again, the house without Sharon was tough, together with starting in a new prison with very different working practices and a team that felt like working in a sitcom. Gradually Roger’s new life has felt less lonely, less anguished. Throughout, Roger has felt Jesus close, helping all the way. Jesus and Roger now routinely hold hands, as never before.
Sharon had also had a vision about Fresh Bible Answers before she knew about it. Two months after meeting Roger, she was a volunteer at the David’s Tent Festival, arriving early to set up. Praying on her own, she saw Roger writing on many pieces of paper which were then whisked up and away into the air. She was concerned that something was removing, dispersing, maybe stealing, Roger’s writing. Roger came the following day and told her about his plans for Fresh Bible Answers, for which he had already bought the domain name. Sharon was seeing web pages broadcast across the world,
With the publication of Wholly Dating, the time now seemed right to publish Fresh Bible Answers also.
Having lived through God’s unexpected for years, Roger looks forward to more.
