A MARRIED couple who received their doctorates in theology and practice together, at a University of Winchester graduation ceremony last month, have credited their academic research with helping to construct their congregation, and their ministry with illuminating their research.
The Revd Dr James (Jim) Binney, who’s 81, and officially retired, and his wife, Julia, who’s 66, share leadership of Abbey Baptist Church in Reading. They moved to the town from Surrey in 2018, during their first 12 months of study, to minister to a congregation that numbered about 20 on the time.
They shared a vision for transforming Abbey Church into an inter-cultural church — its congregation was mainly white — and prayer centre, and selected to reflect on the identical subject from two different angles. Dr Jim Binney selected to review the theories of the Anglican theologian Michael Moynagh, a pioneer of Fresh Expressions. Dr Julia Binney selected to review places of prayer, and the placement of Abbey Church throughout the medieval footprint of Reading Abbey.
When lockdown got here, they printed and distributed weekly service sheets in several languages, for people locally to follow at home. These thrived, and continued after lockdown. The congregation now numbers about 150, with members from Iran, Hong Kong, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Ukraine, Kurdistan, Hungary, and Gaza, in addition to the UK. Many bring with them the printed order of service which they received. The church’s strapline is “A Place of Prayer. A Place of Discovery. A Place of Refuge.”
“Our doctoral studies reflect our passion for the contextual church, and have been just as much a practical project as a tutorial one,” Dr Julia Binney said: a view endorsed by her husband, who said, “It’s been rewarding to reflect on the identical subject from two different angles.”
Dr Timothy Secret, senior lecturer in philosophy and religion on the University of Winchester, commented: “It is at all times a special moment for us as lecturers when our students’ journeys culminate in a graduation ceremony held within the majesty of Winchester Cathedral. But there was something truly magical about witnessing a husband and wife ascend together on to the plinth to sit down among the many lecturers as latest Doctors of Theology.
“It’s heart-warming to see how the research projects they’ve engaged in here have already had such tangible effect in cultivating their thriving congregation in Reading, working to integrate such a big selection of immigrants from all world wide into a very multicultural community.”
