people

St Philip's Church Leicester

ministry & worship

People

Revd Suresh Kumar

Sureshwas licensed as Priest in Charge on 31st October at 7.30pm by the Assistant Bishop, Christopher Boyle.

I was born in the year 1959 in a very remote small village. My parents were mission school teachers and my mother’s mother was the first person who went to school (up to 8^th standard) in the family of very small farmers. Her education in a mission school run by missionaries gave her strong faith and a liking for full time ministry. It was her influence which made me commit to Christ at a very young age. My parent’s role as teachers in a rural area demanded them being catechists and role models for the entire village demanded our upbringing with a very strict Christian value system.

God gave me wisdom and knowledge and I did very well in the school. Living in a small hut, in a Hindu village where there was no electricity and other needs of a decent living did not hamper my studies. I travelled 74 KMS daily for 13 years (from my 6^th standard to my MSc,) and completed my M.Sc., in Mathematics with a very high first class.

I committed to full time ministry and joined the diocese in May 1981. I was posted as a candidate for ministry in Dharapuram Central pastorate. Working in a very poor and culturally different context gave me a wide exposure to mission. I was able to see the contributions on the Missionaries which changed lives. I was sent to Serampore College (The University College started by William Carey the Baptist Missionary) for theological training where again God’s presence was with me. I finished my Theological Studies with the best academic performance.

I was ordained in Trichy diocese in the year 1985 and was serving in a pastorate when the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai asked our Bishop to lend my services for teaching ministry. I taught Old Testament subjects from 1986-89. I was sent by the seminary to Leicester University to study a Masters degree in Mass Communication. I went back to Madurai to teach communication studies until 1999.

The Trichy diocese was reeling under severe financial crisis and I was invited back to the diocese in the year 1999 to take up the position of the Diocesan Treasurer. By God’s grace and guidance, I was very useful in the position and was able to help the diocese reach new heights in financial stability and self reliance.

During the year 2002 an overseas link with Churches together in Leicestershire was established and we had a few visits to Leicester and church leaders from Leicester visited our diocese. As a result I was invited to Leicester to work in the diocese of Leicester in Jan 2008.

I started my ministry in Braunstone, a predominantly white working class parish. I learnt the ways of doing things in UK and was moved to the Church of Nativity, a Methodist/Anglican parish ecumenical parish in July 2009.

I also work as an Anglican chaplain in the University of Leicester and work in promoting the India link.

My wife Mercy is a science teacher in a government school near Trichy. My son Vivian is a postgraduate engineering student in De Montfort University. My daughter Sharon is a student in Wyggeston Queeen Elzabeth II college. My aged parents and my wife are in India and I have my younger brother and his family living in Trichy who are helping them.

Revd Sonya Brown

Curate

Sonya was ordained deacon on the 4th July 2010 and is serving hertitle post as curate at St Philip's. Sonya trained at St Michael's Theological College, Llandaff and previously to beginning training for ordination, worked as a Community Development Worker for the Southwark Diocesan organisation 'Welcare'. She graduated from The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts in 2000, where she obtained a degree in Performing Arts, majoring in Community Arts and Acting.

Sonya will be ordained priest at the Cathedral on Saturday 2nd July 2011.

Revd Canon Dr Andrew Wingate

Associate Priest, and Director of St Philip’s Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi Faith Society

Andrew retired from full time ministry at the beginning of 2010 but is still an associate priest at St Philip's and still does some work for the Centre

Andrew’s ministry has centred upon theological teaching. He was a Lecturer at the Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai, South India. He was Principal of the West Midlands Ministerial Training Course, Queen’s College, Birmingham, and then Pricnipal of the mission training college of USPG and the Methodist Church, the United College of the Ascension, in Selly Oak.

He came to Leicester in 2000, as Director of Ministry and Canon Theologian, and Angela and he came to live in Roundhill Road, since when they have been part of the parish. He is now Bishop’s Adviser on Inter Faith Relations, and has developed the new St Philip’s Centre, one of two Presence and Engagement Centres in England. He is also part of a number of national and international inter faith structures, including the Ecumenical Committee for Relations with Islam in Europe, and is joint chair of the national Hindu-Christian Forum.

Recent publications : Free to Be,(DLT, 2002), and Celebrating Difference, staying faithful- how to live in a multi faith society, (DLT, 2005).

The Centre is developing fast, with ecumenical trustees expected from all the major churches, including the Roman Catholic Church. St Philip’s has two trustees, recognising their significant support and commitment. It is already serving local, regional, national and international groups. It is committed to sharing Christianity with people of other faiths, as well as understanding their beliefs, and enabling dialogue and working together.

READERS

Stephen & Pam Howe