Minister's Minutes

After 60 years in Christian ministry, Bernard Thorogood reports on significant meetings, travels, and issues met along the way. Beginning his ministry in the islands of the South Pacific at the end of the colonial period, he describes Polynesia before the tourist rush as a paradise with deep scars. Called to take responsibility for the world work of the mission society, he needed to meet other parts of the world church in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Here Bernard Thorogood faces some key issues for Christian mission today. The third part of his ministry was in the United Reformed Church in Britain, involving much ecumenical activity, as the movement for unity shifted from the central organs of the churches to the congregations. Thorogood also tells of personal joys and heartaches. From Sussex to Polynesia, from London to Sydney, this is a spiritual as well as a global journey.