Local People - Chris Jackson

One of Okehampton’s newest residents is The Rev Chris Jackson — the newly appointed superintendent for the West Devon Methodist Ministry Circuit.

Chris is bringing his positive and ‘glass overflowing’ approach to his new posting, where his goal is to bring the church away from the Victorian model of communication and into the 21st century.

Chris and his wife Jo moved to Okehampton in August this year. His career and his calling within the church have taken them on many journeys, including the remote Shetland Islands where they were based for ten years, Northern Scotland and now West Devon.

His role sees him looking after the well-being of parishioners from 15 churches in the Methodist circuit, from Belstone to Bridestowe and Northlew to Winkleigh. Either from the comfort of his home office, online or in person, Chris hopes to use his multi-model level of communication to reach everyone possible.

Looking around his office it is clear to see that Chris has many interests — we see he is a fan of Liverpool Football Club, an admirer of artist Leonardo Da Vinci, an enthusiastic reader with books reaching the thousands, and a fan of sci-fi programme Doctor Who. 

However, it is not just his interests that vary, his careers have taken him on an interesting journey but the core has always been the same and that is his faith. . . and a love of coffee!

‘I had a very strange career and I am a proud to be a nerd!’ joked Chris. 

Born and raised in Bedford, Chris grew up influenced by both the Church of England and Methodists, as the two were united in his village. Growing up in the CofE, Chris was converted to Christianity in a Methodist Church in his 20s.

‘It can be confusing, but I like to explain by saying that we are all coffee but we are just slightly different blends — we have different emphasis on the same thing - God,’ explained Chris. 

When he finished his first degree in computing at 20, Chris became an analyst programmer which he said was where he created programmes and sat around drinking coffee!

‘That job was incredibly fun, but then I went into full time Christian ministry for Scripture Union as one of the senior retail managers.’

After ten years years, Chris then became publishing manager of Kingsway where he was able to travel all over the world and sit around drinking coffee — there is a theme here! 

But he had reached the peek of his career and he had the ‘itchy feet feeling’ and felt that God was saying it was time for him to do something else. 

‘I had a sense that God was giving me a new challenge. I began to look at publishing jobs in Canada, we even filled out emigration forms. But throughout this Shetland started to be included in all conversations, and over the next six months I resigned, put our house on the market and put our belongings in a van and we even had somewhere to live for three months. We said that we would go and see what happens and we ended up living there for ten years.

‘I went from global ministry to extreme rural ministry, I spoke to hundreds and then preached to two ladies in a chapel in the middle of a field with water running down the walls — God has such a sense of humour!’

But the next step was one that Chris never saw coming.

‘I always used to say that the ministry would never get a collar around my neck, but being in Shetland got me to a point where I knew this was my next step.’

To become a Methodist minister is not a decision you make alone, it is up to other people to decide if you are the right person. If this is agreed then it takes about six years until you are ordained into the world wide church of God as a minister of the Methodist church.

At his first posting, Chris and Jo were moved to Northern Scotland in Buckie on the Moray Coast, where they lived for five years before he was asked to become the superintendent for the West Devon Methodist Ministry Circuit.

‘We are not employed, we are sent by appointment by the Methodist Conference who marry up the right person for the right place. We like going to different places, meet new people, new areas, it keeps us fresh spiritually and we felt it was right to come back to England,’ Chris explained.

‘All my backgrounds with work and education have merged and that is why I am here. COVID has been awful but it has allowed the church to reassess the change that was coming.

‘A lot of churches are asking the questions: What is church about and what do we offer? I see a rise in digital church, I did a lot of church online and we spoke to people online from all over the world. Now there is a talk of a hybrid model of church.

‘I don’t talk about decline in Christianity, it’s just a decline of the old style. Christianity isn’t going anywhere, it’s still the largest religion and still growing. It’s just shifting from the Victorian model — it’s always shifting and in a state of flux and that’s a good thing. We will still share the teachings of Jesus Christ but we are not going to have one way of doing it - we will have multiple ways and all of these will be equally viable. There won’t be just the one method which was church on a Sunday. I believe my role will be to help make that happen.’