Following my time at BGS, I was awarded a place at Nottingham University to study law, starting
in 1969. I soon changed this to economics, concluding that law wasn’t for me. While at Nottingham,
among other things, I was involved in the large and active Christian Union, serving on its
committee. Graduating in 1972, I then spent several months volunteering with the West Ham
Central Mission in East London. After a short spell as a theatre porter at Birmingham Children’s
Hospital, I was recruited by Birmingham City as a graduate trainee in its Education Department. By
this time I was married to Rita, a teacher who I had met at Nottingham.
As a child, I had been connected to the Baptist Church in Torrington, and for some years I had felt a
sense of calling to Christian ministry among the Baptists. Believing that the time was right to
pursue this, I started ministerial training in 1974 at Spurgeons College in London. In 1977 I
graduated once again, this time with a degree in theology. Rita and I then spent a year at First
Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, where I was the “British Intern”. This was a fascinating and fun
experience, if a rather bewildering one, in the largest Southern Baptist Church in America.
My first church as minister in the UK was at the Baptist Church in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. By the
time we left there in 1986 Rita and I had four children, a girl and three boys. While in Yarmouth I
helped establish a new church in Ormesby St Margaret, and studied for an MA at Leeds University,
exploring the Theology of Work in the writings of the theologian Karl Barth, graduating (for the
third time!) in 1987.
Between 1986 and 1999 we lived in Middlesbrough on Teesside, where I continued my ministry in
the Baptist Church in the town. Our fifth child, a girl, was born there. I embarked on five years of
part-time research at Durham University, gaining a PhD in 1999. The thesis was published by
Paternoster Press as The Making of a Modern Denomination (a History of the Baptist Union of
Great Britain between 1898 and 1924) in 2001. I led the formation of a new church in Coulby
Newham, a large new housing estate to the south of the town.
Our next move was to Derby, where we spent 11 years at Broadway Baptist Church. While there I
continued pursuing my interest in the history of the Baptists, publishing a history of Northern
Baptist College as part of its bi-centenary celebrations in 2004, as well as various articles in
journals. I was appointed President of the Baptist Historical Society and Moderator of the East
Midlands Baptist Association.
As retirement began to loom on the horizon we moved for a final ministry to Leicester. While there
we were able to enjoy the celebrations connected to Leicester winning the Football Premiership. By
the time we came to leave the city in 2016, our children had settled in different parts of the country,
and we decided to move to be near our oldest in Sheffield, where we now live. Since then we have
continued to be actively involved in local church life and other community groups, including one
supporting asylum seekers, a local choir, an art group and a walking group. We are glad to enjoy
good health, and a growing number of grandchildren – currently nine of them, ranging in age from 2
to 10.
Rev Dr Peter Shepherd (August 2023)
