Chair of College Council
Jonathan Edwards went up to Oxford to study law and whilst doing so was clearly guided to become a Baptist minister. He stayed in Oxford and trained for ministry at Regent’s Park College. After his training he spent two years in Kerala, South India where he worked with a development organisation amongst dalits, and also taught Shakespearean comedy in a large college. On his return to England he was called to an estate church in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and then to Orpington Baptist Church in Kent.
In 1998 he was appointed General Superintendent of the South Western Area of the Baptist Union, and after eight years in that role was appointed General Secretary of the Baptist Union during which time the Union adopted Encouraging Missionary Disciples as its strap line. In 2007 the Baptist Union Council decided unanimously to offer an apology for the slave trade and the following year Jonathan was part of a small delegation that took the apology in person to Jamaica.
In 2013 Jonathan began a portfolio ministry within which he mentors a number of Christian leaders, moderates churches, writes devotional material for Premier, and serves as a trustee of a number of Christian charities including Parish Nursing Ministries UK and County Everyone In, the leading Christian charity for people with learning disabilities. He became a Governor of Spurgeon’s and Chair of the College Council in 2019 and is delighted to be a part of the College’s life at such a significant and exciting time. He lives in Newbury, Berkshire with his wife Sue. They have three grown up children and now have the joy of fostering.
