Press Release

'Respect my authority' say the socks

Outrageous socks and a trip to the Pacific islands will be two features of the life of the Moderator of the United Reformed Church when later this week the Revd John Waller caps a distinguished career by taking up the post.

As Moderator, John will preside over the URC's General Assembly, which takes place in St Andrews from the 4th to the 8th of July, before spending much of the next year 'on the road' with local congregations and districts. In August he steps down from the post of Deputy General Secretary of the URC and will be free to devote himself to a role which will see him travelling the length of Britain and even representing the URC as far away as the island of Kiribas in the Pacific.

John Waller was born in London in 1937, into a family whose roots in English Congregationalism and Scottish Presbyterianism go back to the 19th century. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant but later trained for the ministry at Westminster College, Cambridge. He has degrees in modern history and in theology.

John was a minister in local pastorates for 20 years: at Bracknell (1966-72), Derby (1972-76) and Purley (1977-85), combining work for the local church with a wide range of service to the community and the wider church. While in Bracknell he was a regular columnist for his local paper and later presented a religious affairs programme on BBC Radio Derby.

From 1985-95 he was Moderator of the West Midlands Synod, the equivalent of a diocese in the Anglican church, covering Staffordshire, Shropshire, Worcester and Hereford, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire - not to mention both Birmingham and Coventry. It was a period in which, in his own words, he gained an intimate knowledge of the busiest stretches of the M5 and M6. His particular emphases during his time in the Midlands were on the life and worship of local churches and the ecumenical life of the region - for some years he was Free Church President of the Birmingham Council of Christian Churches.

In 1995 John was appointed as Deputy General Secretary of the URC, where he has played an important part in handling many of the significant issues facing the Church, including the development of a racial justice programme and a major contribution to the resolution the recent and potentially divisive human sexuality debate.
Two key interests in John's ministry over the years have been the ecumenical movement and conflict resolution. In 2001 the two coincided when he was chosen to be part of a group visiting the Middle East on behalf of Churches' Together in Britain and Ireland. He contributed significantly to the hard-hitting report which sprang out of that visit and is passionate on the question of the suffering of the Palestinian people. He has a longstanding interest in conflict resolution and has visited Northern Ireland and the Middle East on a number of occasions.

Known for his dry sense of humour, John had a reputation in earlier days as a practical joker - he is rumoured once to have confounded two fellow students by swapping the entire contents of their rooms. These days that humour finds partial expression in a penchant for flamboyant socks: Peanuts, The Simpsons and Wallace and Grommit feature in his collection. At this year's Assembly, underneath his Moderatorial gown John will be wearing a pair of socks bearing the message 'Respect my authority'

The United Reformed Church

The United Reformed Church was formed in 1972 as a result of a merger between the Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England, two traditions which have been part of Christian life in Britain since the 17th century. The Church subsequently entered into union with the Reformed Churches of Christ in 1981 and in April 2000 with the Congregational Union of Scotland. The Church has some 1750 congregations in England, Wales and Scotland, representing a community of some 200,000 people of all ages. The URC is the largest representative in England of the Reformed tradition, itself the largest sector of the Protestant churches world-wide, with in excess of 70 million members.

Moderators of General Assembly are elected by the General Assembly and serve for a year.