The Very Reverend Michael Harper

Transcription

1 The Very Reverend Michael Harper Summary of career 2005 Raised to be Archpriest A Director of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge Priest of St Botolph s Antiochian Orthodox Church, City of London Dean of Antiochian Orthodox Deanery of UK and Ireland 1995 Priest of the Orthodox Church (Patriarchate of Antioch) President of Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy Chairman of ICC (International Charismatic Consultation) Executive Director SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad) Canon of Chichester Cathedral Attached to staff of Holy Trinity, Hounslow Director of the Fountain Trust Assistant Curate, All Souls, Langham Place Chaplain to the Oxford Street Stores Assistant Curate, St Barnabas, Clapham Common 1956 Married to Jeanne 1956 Priest of the Church of England 1955 Deacon of the Church of England 1954 Master of Arts degree Ridley Hall, Cambridge Emmanuel College, Cambridge Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk St Faith's School, Cambridge Gate House School, Kingston Hill, Surrey 1931 Baptised in St Mark, North Audley Street, London 1931 Born March 12th Education Studying at St Faith's School, Cambridge, he won a scholarship to Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk. Concentrating on politics, economics and history he won an open scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he studied Law and Theology, graduating with an M.A. degree with 2nd Class honours. Spiritual pilgrimage Both Michael and his wife Jeanne were baptised as infants. Jeanne came under the influence of Christians while studying at the Royal Academy of Music, and came to faith in Christ while attending Westminster Chapel, through the ministry of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. In 1951, in Michael's first year at Cambridge, he came under the influence of the Christian Union, and turned to Christ during a Communion service in King's College Chapel. In 1952

2 he offered for the Anglican ministry, and had two years of training at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, after finishing his degree course. He was ordained in 1955 and served for three years in an inner city parish, St Barnabas, Clapham Common, London, and in 1958 joined the staff of All Souls, Langham Place, at the invitation of the Rev John Stott, serving as Chaplain to the Oxford Street stores. In 1962 Jeanne and Michael had a deep new experience of the Holy Spirit, which was to prove a second important turning point in their lives. The third major turning point was in 1995 when they were received into the Orthodox Church. Marriage Michael and Jeanne met during a university mission in Norwich in September Jeanne was studying music at the Royal Academy of Music. She studied the piano and oboe, for a time under Harold Craxton, and graduated, getting her LRAM and GRSM. They were married in St. Barnabas Church, Clapham Common, London on 1st September Jeanne's musical gifts have been an ideal partnership with Michael's throughout their married life. Her talents have received prominent exposure in the songbooks Sound of Living Waters and Fresh Sounds, which she edited with Betty Pulkingham. They have had worldwide sales of over half a million. Besides ministering with Michael, Jeanne was the UK leader of the Lydia Prayer Fellowship , and founded what has become known as the CPC, a body committed to the sharing of gifts between the medical profession and the Church in the area of divine healing. Jeanne has edited another songbook Songifts, published in April In the Orthodox Church her musical gifts have been much used. She is the choir leader of St Botolph s Antiochian Orthodox Church in the City of London. Fountain Trust Michael was the founder and first Director of the Fountain Trust from During that time the Trust built up a world-wide reputation, organised the first major international charismatic conference (Guildford 1971), published Renewal magazine and several best selling books, and helped to share the blessing of renewal throughout Britain and other parts of the world. Michael was the founder and for many years served as chairman of the Charismatic Leaders Conference. Writing Michael has written some eighteen books, which have been translated into most of the major languages of the world, including German, Chinese, Japanese, Finnish, Swedish, Korean, Croat, Spanish, French, Polish, Romanian, etc. His first book, Power for the Body of Christ, came out in 1964, and since then he has written 17 others with combined sales of over 500,000 in English editions. His best known books are Walk in the Spirit and Spiritual Warfare. Other best sellers include, As at the Beginning and Let my people grow. In 1986 The Healings of Jesus was published in a series edited by Michael Green, and the same book

3 was published by Inter-Varsity in the United States. His book A new way of living became a best seller in its French and German editions, and was widely influential in France and Switzerland. His book, Equal and Different, has become a best seller after it was published by Hodder & Stoughton in May It deals with current gender issues in the church and family. It has been translated and published in Sweden. His latest book The True Light was published in June The American edition is called A Faith Fulfilled, and has been published by the Conciliar Press. It has been translated into Romanian and published in Romania. Michael has made major contributions to magazines, newspapers and encyclopedias, including Heritage of Freedom (Lion), and Anglican Worship Today (Collins). He has contributed chapters in Open to the Spirit, a preparatory book for the 1988 Lambeth Conference, and By my Spirit, edited by the late Archbishop Bill Burnett. For a full list of his writings see end of this. Renewal magazine Michael was the founder and first editor of Renewal, which was the longest established charismatic magazine in the world. Its first issue was published in February 1966, its 289th in June He was the editor until 1975, and came back to the editorial desk for three years, , when his friend and literary agent Edward England bought the magazine from the Fountain Trust. Speaker Michael has spoken at many international conferences throughout the world, including USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Japan, Sweden, France, Korea etc. His largest Sunday audience was 22,000 in Seoul, Korea,. His largest conference audiences were, South Bend, Indiana, USA, 40,000 and Rimini, Italy, 40-50,000. With Roman Catholics Michael's ministry has been recognised in the Roman Catholic renewal, and three of his books have been published by them in the United States. He spoke at the Notre Dame Conference in 1976 (attended by some 30,000 people), and the first all-ireland Conference in Dublin in He was a guest at their International Conference in Rome in 1975, and at the first R.C. Leaders' Conference in He also attended other Leader's meetings in 1975 in Rome and 1993 in Assisi. He was a member of the core group which planned the Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. He has met both Pope Paul VI, John Paul II, as well as the Patriarch of Venice, who later became Pope John Paul I. He was a speaker at the annual conference held in Rimini, Italy, and attended by about 40,000 people. With WCC Michael has been involved since 1979 with the WCC in its meetings with the Charismatic Renewal. He was present at Rostrevor (1979) and Bossey (1980), and in planning the Consultation in Zaire in 1981 and a meeting in England in He also took part, after

4 becoming an Orthodox priest, in a Consultation on Proselytisation at Bossey in He was invited to be a delegate of the Patriarchate of Antioch at the Assembly in Harare in 1998, but was unable to attend because of illness. Radio and Television He has spoken on BBC radio and appeared a number of times on both BBC and the Independent TV companies' programmes. He has also co-hosted the 100 Huntley Street Canadian TV programme twice, and appeared on it a number of other times. He was also a religious advisor to the old company Television South (TVS). Continental Europe He has had an extensive ministry both sides of the former Iron Curtain, and ministered in East and West Germany; all the Scandinavian countries including Iceland, as well as the former Yugoslavia, France, Netherlands, and Switzerland. He was a key-note speaker at both the Strasbourg Conference in 1982 and the ACTS 86 Conference in Birmingham in He was chairman of the British committee for ACTS 86. He was an advisor for the European Charismatic Consultation, and was a speaker at the Berne Leaders' Conference in In 1996 he spoke at the Catholic Renewal Conference in Rimini, Italy, attended by over 40,000 people. In 1997 and 2000 he was chairman of the Consultations held in Prague, and in 1997 was a key-note speaker at this ecumenical conference sponsored by ICCOWE and ECC. SOMA From 1979 to 1994 Michael's primary work was founding SOMA (Sharing of Ministries Abroad) and acting as its International Executive Director. SOMA is an organisation committed to sharing ministries with all Christians, particularly between Western and Third World nations. He has been responsible for planning and organising major leadership conferences held in conjunction with the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury (1978 and 1988), as well as conferences in Singapore (1981), Nairobi (1983), Fiji (1984) and Tanzania (1984 and 1985). He has also visited and shared in Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Israel and Palestine, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Sabah, Kuching and Singapore. He was responsible for the setting up of national bodies in USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. He retired from SOMA at the end of ICCOWE In 1984 he initiated a meeting in Rome between Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans. He was a member of the executive of the Singapore Consultation, named after international consultations in Singapore for Charismatic and Pentecostal leaders in 1987 and In 1989 when its name was changed to ICCOWE (International Charismatic Consultation on World Evangelization) he was appointed Chairman. Michael not only spoke at the Brighton 91 conference (see below) but also at the Prague 97 consultation. He retired as Chairman in September 2000, but continues as a trustee..

5 Brighton 91 Both Michael and Jeanne played a full part in this unique conference, which gathered over 3000 leaders from all over the world in July The conference used twelve languages. Michael was chairman of the executive, and a member of the conference planning committee, as well as speaking on the opening evening together with the Archbishop of Canterbury (George Carey). Jeanne was involved in the prayer preparation before and during the conference, and also in the compiling of the conference songbook, which was published in four languages. As an Anglican Michael was appointed a Canon of Chichester Cathedral in He has spoken widely in the Anglican Communion and has preached in over 50 cathedrals. He represented SOMA at the Missions Agencies Conference in Brisbane, Australia in December Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy The decision of the Church of England to ordain women to the priesthood, was for Michael and Jeanne the last straw in their growing concerns about the Anglican Church. Michael was invited to become involved with the Pilgrimage to Orthodoxy and to be its President from 1993 to its closure in 1995 when with others he was received into the Orthodox Church. This was a body of former Anglican Priests with their parishes, who were wanting to be received as groups into the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church After two years of negotiations with the Patriarchate of Antioch, Michael was ordained Priest in St Stephen s Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Paris on April 1 st He was followed by other former Anglican priests. A Deanery was set up in the UK, and Michael was appointed the first Dean. In 2002 Michael was elected a Director of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge. In the same year he represented the Patriarchate at the Anglican/Orthodox Consultation in Wales and two years later at Canterbury. He also represented the Patriarch at the enthronement of Dr Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury. He was made an Archpriest in Personal Michael and Jeanne live in Newnham Croft, which is a village within a mile or so of the University and the Cambridge city centre. Their hobbies are music, walking, riding bicycles, and gardening. September 3, , West View Newnham Cambridge CB3 9JB

6 Books written by Michael Harper Prophecy, a gift for the Body of Christ 1963* Power for the Body of Christ 1964* As at the beginning 1965* Walk in the Spirit (Walking in the Spirit - U.S.) 1966* Spiritual Warfare 1968* None can guess 1971* A new way of living 1973* Glory in the Church 1975 Let my people grow 1977* Bshops' Move (editor) 1978 This is the day (The Three Sisters - U.S.) 1979* You are my sons (Live by the Spirit - U.S.) 1980* The love affair 1983* That we may be one 1984* The healings of Jesus 1986* These wonderful gifts! 1989* Equal and different 1994 The True Light (A Faith Fulfilled - US) 1997* * = published in the United States also Music books by Jeanne Harper Sound of Living Waters 1974 Fresh Sounds 1976 Songifts 1986 Present positions Dean of the Antiochian Orthodox Deanery of the UK and Ireland Priest of the Antiochian Church in the City of London Trustee of ICC (International Charismatic Consultation) Member and a Director of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge