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Adrian Alker

Adrian Alker

Adrian Alker was the Chair of PCN Britain for seven years and still serves as a Trustee. He lives in Sheffield where he was vicar of St Mark's, Broomhill, for many years.

Adrian was ordained as a Church of England priest in Liverpool Cathedral in 1980, following a career in local government as a senior careers adviser. After his curacy in Liverpool (where he assisted in the funeral of the great Bill Shankly!) he worked as a Diocesan Youth Officer in the Diocese of Carlisle, taking young people on memorable visits to Taize and to Madras in south India.

In 1988 Adrian was appointed vicar of St Marks Broomhill, Sheffield, where he served that remarkable congregation for twenty years. Always of a liberal, questioning frame of mind, Adrian was greatly inspired by the writings of Marcus Borg and the work of the Jesus Seminar in the USA. Borg’s acceptance of an invitation to come to St Mark’s led to the founding of the St Mark’s Centre for Radical Christianity. Adrian comments "The great joy of my work as a priest at St Marks was to see how radical, open hearted Christianity can be a real force for good and for growth in a parish context."

In 2008, Adrian became Director of Mission Resourcing in the Anglican Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales, supporting parishes to engage with contemporary issues of faith and life. Having retired from that post, Adrian and his wife Christine now live again in Sheffield and enjoy revisiting the lovely Peak District.

Adrian convenes the editorial group for the Together in Hope publications and has been a trustee of PCN Britain since its inception. He is currently completing a book entitled, ‘Is a Radical Church Possible?’, due to be published in the autumn of 2015.

Articles by Adrian Alker

Progressive Christians need to speak out about the Welfare of our fellow citizens!

Like many PCN members I have lived through the inflationary years of the 70’s, through various financial crises, through strikes and Thatcherism but never have I felt that our society was so grossly unequal as now; never a government so incompetent and a Prime Minister so devoid of a moral compass.. I am a comfortable pensioner – a secure church pension, free bus travel, a mortgage paid, children grown up and long since left the nest. And yet the government seeks to give me a 10% increase in my welfare through a triple lock pension whilst I see young friends and family members struggle with daily costs of living.

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