Please subscribe to the Clayton TV weekly emailout for what's new on the channel.

After studying economics and history at Aberdeen University, Ian worked in human resources for several years. He trained for Baptist ministry at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and following two local church pastorates began teaching at Spurgeon’s College in 1992. Over the course of nearly twenty years he was Tutor in Church History and Spirituality, Chaplain, Deputy Principal and Director of Research. Ian also had two periods seconded to the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. As well as teaching, he has supervised a large number of Master’s and PhD students. Ian has written several books, such as histories of the Keswick Convention, the Evangelical Alliance, Spurgeon’s College and Operation Mobilisation. He has a particular interest in the areas of spirituality and its relationship to mission. He has written many articles, most recently: ‘“Ye men of Plymouth”: C.H. Spurgeon and the Brethren’, in T. Grass, ed., Witness in Many Lands (Troon: Brethren Archivists & Historians Network, 2013), pp. 73-90; ‘Billy Graham, Evangelism and Fundamentalism’, in D.W. Bebbington and David Ceri Jones, eds., Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 173-91; ‘Nonconformists and Overseas Mission’, in Robert Pope, ed., T&T Clark Companion to Nonconformity (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2013), pp. 381-406; ‘Methodists and Moravians: The Shaping of Evangelical Spirituality’, in J.W. Cunningham and David Rainey, eds., The Path of Holiness (Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2014), pp. 43-59; ‘The Keswick Convention and Anglican Evangelical Tensions in the Early Twentieth Century’, in Andrew Atherstone and John Maiden, eds., Evangelicalism and the Church of England in the Twentieth Century (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2014), pp. 89-108; ‘“The living presence of Christ”: Charles Raven (1885-1964), a missional theologian’, Journal of European Baptist Studies, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2014), pp. 5-23. In recent years Ian and his wife Janice have lived in Cambridge, where Ian is a hospital chaplain and has a ministry of Spiritual Direction. They have two married daughters and three grand-children and enjoy visits to them: they live in Czech Republic and Sweden.

The Keswick Convention is a world-famous, annual gathering of Christian believers from around the UK. Keswick Ministries is committed to the spiritual renewal of God’s people for his mission in the world. There are three fundamental convictions which shape all they do: hearing God's Word, becoming like God's Son and serving God's mission. For more information please visit keswickministries.org.

Please visit Essential Christian to buy a copy of this talk.