On Sunday 28th September, Hinde Street will welcome Rev Dr Peter Howson as guest preacher for our Peace Sunday Service. Peter has a decades-long connection to our church, and we are excited to welcome him back on this occasion. Ahead of the service, we reached out to Peter who told us more about his ministry, his life with his wife Jane, and his upcoming sermon on ‘Peace’ – you can read more in the introduction below.
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I arrived at Hinde Street in September 1975 with Jane, having been married in the July. We have three children and five grand children. We lived in 16 Hinde Street over the Danish laundry sharing the accommodation with three elderly ladies. During our two years here our son William was born at the Middlesex Hospital and baptised at Hinde Street. He is currently a senior consultant at St Mary’s.
Controversially for some my next appointment was to be a chaplain in the army. There then followed 25 years of postings to Germany (11 years in all) Cyprus, Hong Kong and various parts of the United Kingdom. Having spent two years as a VSO in Malawi after a degree from LSE, Jane had been in Uganda, we are both well travelled.
After leaving the army I was Superintendent of the Inverness Circuit for ten years and then had a spell in the Woking and Walton Circuit before retiring to Wiltshire. With no local Methodist chapel I worship at the Parish Church. This has lead to permission from the bishop to conduct worship and, with our benefice in vacancy, I now take regular and frequent services in St James. I am also Chaplain to the Order of St John in Wiltshire and a trained first aider with St John Ambulance.
Over the last fiteen years I have written on military chaplaincy and the Methodist approach to war during the twentieth century. Chapters in two books, one on the London Regiment between 1900 and 1920, the other on Non-conformity and War 1900 to 1950, will appear this autumn. I am currently Chair of the London Society for the Study of Religion and a member of the Board of Finance of the Methodist Church.
It seems strange to think that it is 50 years since I first came to Hinde Street. There are still a few who will remember us from those days. The last person with whom we maintained a regular contact was Mary Hicks. I will reflect on ‘Peace’ with illustrations from my time at Hinde Street and elsewhere. I hope to think about it at the personal, organisational and world levels, or perhaps in another way in tactical, operational and strategic terms. Chaplaincy has been a recurring theme throughout my ministry. It owes a great deal to the solid grounding I received during my time on the staff of Hinde Street.
Rev Dr Peter Howson