Evangelicals Now
<< February 2006 >>

Tribute to an encourager (Bob Horn)

Having joined Evangelical Times as one of three part-time editors in the early 1970s I found myself as the only one left, struggling to catch up with the publications schedules and cover all bases. The Chairman, Herbert Carson, drafted in Bob Horn (who died in December) to help out. We were to work together for nearly ten years.

It soon became apparent that ET was changing. Not in its faithfulness to biblical truth and its practical outworking, nor in its policy on church issues. It was developing a different spirit, very much the result of Bob’s influence. The paper had provided cutting edge comment from three ‘angry young men’. Often it was just cutting, snide even.

It was typical of Bob’s vision and generosity of spirit that he was not intimidated by those with whom he differed. Nor was he easily moved from thoughtfully held convictions. His gracious and resolute spirit was admired by those who opposed him as well as by his friends. He was able to build bridges because he took time to understand both sides of a debate.

Breadth of concern

When I began to think about making Christian provision for people with learning disabilities it was natural to turn to Bob for advice. Not only did he encourage the founding of A Cause for Concern, he became personally involved. He was one of three of us who formed the first management group that set up the charity, now known as Prospects. He continued to serve on that committee for 14 years. For someone widely known for his work among students, this involvement with people who are at the opposite end of the academic spectrum highlights the breadth of his concerns and the largeness of his vision.

Both Bob and I found ourselves serving churches as roving preachers. I asked him one day how he decided on the topics for his sermons. Bob did not see it as his role to try to reprove a congregation or to issue challenges which might or might not be appropriate. After all the people in the congregation lived in the hostile world from Monday to Friday. What they needed on Sunday, he said, was encouragement to face the world with fresh hope and confidence. So that is how his ministry was directed. His response transformed my own ministry.

High regard

Bob was a good man, but not a paragon of virtue — which of us is? There was one flaw which, particularly in the early days of working with him, I found infuriating. He liked to say, ‘Yes’. The problem was that he gave this simple word three different meanings. One ‘yes’ meant ‘yes’, another meant ‘maybe’, and the third meant ‘no’. Each had its own intonation and in due course I learned to recognise one from the other!

When a crisis arose in ET that led to Bob’s withdrawal, a number of us encouraged and supported him in setting up Evangelicals Now. It is testimony to the wide regard in which Bob was held that it was established without substantial sponsorship to be-come a respected and discriminating voice in evangelicalism.

Of one thing I am sure, that Bob received ‘a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ (2 Peter 1. 11).

David C. Potter, MBE