An Evening with Jago Wynne
14 May 2020
As part of Oak Hill’s seasonal lectures, we were thrilled to hear from Rev Jago Wynne, the Rector of Holy Trinity Clapham and author of 100% Christianity: How the Gospel Changes Everything.
In this termly series of guest lectures, we are delighted to learn from a range of Jesus-loving speakers, and Jago Wynne was no different. Jago’s broad range of experience of church leadership made this a night to remember. While a student in Cambridge, he worshipped with the church at Saint Andrew the Great. After work as a management consultant, he worked at All Souls Langham Place, and after ordination, he joined the leadership team at Holy Trinity, Brompton. Seven years ago he led a group from HTB to join a graft Holy Trinity Clapham (the home of the Clapham Sect and Wilberforce). Here he remains, leading the HTC church family and reaching the local area mainly made up of 20-30 year olds .
Over the (zoom) evening together with Jago, we were challenged by many of the lessons he had learned from his unique experience of different church settings. He spoke about learning as a curate about "godly risk-taking," describing a mind-set which says, "‘Here’s an opportunity, it’s a risk, it may fail, but we’re going to step out and say, “Lord, help us.” To have that mind-set was hugely helpful for me.”
He also talked about heart-idols in ministry, reminding us that "the idols you have before becoming a pastor are the same once you’ve become a pastor." On the practicalities of managing the busyness of being a minister, he shared with us that he tries to focus on four P's: "Prayer, People, Preaching, Planning (and maybe Presiding at the Eucharist as a bonus!)."
His big closing challenge to us in our future ministries was, without 'oversharing', to "Show your vulnerabilities. You're able to communicate a lot more by communicating your vulnerabilities." Over the evening Jago modelled that, along with his love of the Lord and people, and his testimony to God's grace in the joys and challenges of ministry.
As we approach the end of term, we will be taking this formative conversation with Jago with us into the summer (and beyond). It was an ongoing reminder to keep beginning each day with Jesus and to make the most of every opportunity to make him known, lockdown or none.
