The Revd Philip Brooks, the United Reformed Church’s (URC) Secretary for Ecumenical & Interfaith Relations, has been appointed to serve as its Deputy General Secretary (Mission) for two years.
Philip takes up the role after Francis Brienen announced last year that she will be moving back to her home country of the Netherlands after 19 years’ service to the denomination first as its Secretary for Mission and then as Deputy General Secretary (Mission).
The Revd Dr John Bradbury, URC General Secretary, said: “Philip brings many gifts and graces to this role. His passionate commitment to and experience of ecumenism is a real asset to the United Reformed Church. He also brings a commitment to mission in its widest sense, particularly new ways that church life can be expressed and through the means of technology. It will be a joy to welcome him as a colleague to the General Secretariat. I look forward to working with him over the next period of time, as together the United Reformed Church faces squarely the opportunities and challenges ahead of us.”
Philip grew up at Radcliffe URC, a lively and big-hearted church in north Manchester.
He benefited from the active youth work in his local church and later went on to be a Youth Leader and Elder, as well as enjoying the amateur dramatics which was a big part of the church. These skills worked out well when he was involved in two large Passion Plays in Bolton town centre.
Philip’s ministerial formation training was at Northern College, where he was awarded an MA in Contextual Theology. He was then ordained in 2007 at Christ Church, Little Lever, a URC/Methodist LEP.
Alongside Christ Church, Little Lever, his first pastorate included a Methodist Chapel, as well as a 1662 former Presbyterian Church in Little Hulton, one of the poorest parts of Salford.
The two Salford churches came together to form Wharton and Cleggs Lane, a URC/Methodist LEP, during Philip’s ten-year ministry.
Serving in the Farnworth and Worsley Methodist Circuit meant that he was also a Methodist Authorised Presbyter.
This Easter, Wharton and Cleggs Lane will mark the opening of a new church and community centre.
Prior to being ordained into the URC, Philip served in and helped to establish the Bolton Town Centre Chaplaincy, which gave him valuable insights into how the church still has a welcome place in what many people view as an entirely secular world.
It also grounded him in ecumenical and interfaith work in the multi-cultural setting of Bolton. He went on to chair and manage the chaplaincy and the associated Community Cohesion Project. He was also a trustee of Greater Manchester Industrial Mission.
Philip’s interest in chaplaincy began with a first-year student placement in the Vulnerable Prisoners’ Wing of Strangeways Prison. He also served as chaplain for local community radio station, Bolton FM, where he and his wife Debs had their own regular Sunday evening faith show.
In the URC North Western Synod, Philip was the ecumenical officer for Central Area and served on the its Area Pastoral Committee.
In 2017, Philip took on the role of Secretary for Ecumenical & Interfaith Relation for the denomination. His work has included helping to steward the URC’s 65-year Covenant with the Reformed/Lutheran Churches in the Palatinate region of Germany.
Because of the global Covid pandemic, he was part of the team that created yoURChurch, an online worshipping community.
As Deputy General Secretary for Mission, Philip says: “I hope to draw on my local church and Synod roots, linked to my passion for opening the church outwards to a world which still seeks God, but often fails to see the relevance of church.
“This two-year post will see an exciting period of transition for the URC and the work of the URC’s talented mission team will be central to that transformation.”
Philip is married to Debs, a primary school teacher, and they have two children and a grandchild.