Healthy training colleges vital – new Oak Hill Principal

Reformed evangelical training college Oak Hill is looking forward to the arrival of a new Principal in the autumn.

James Robson, an experienced leader and theologian, is taking up the role and will be leaving his current post as Ministry Director at Keswick Ministries in September.

Robson has previously served as Senior Tutor and Tutor in Old Testament and Hebrew, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and before that also taught at Oak Hill where he now returns.

Speaking with en, Robson, who will be contributing occasionally to en in the future, said: ‘I am very honoured and humbled to be the next Principal. I am passionate about Godly men and women, well-equipped, with passion, heart and humility, serving the church. We need this more in this day than almost anything else. It was John Stott who said the health of the church depends on the health of its theological colleges. And Jim Packer talked about theological colleges as like plumbers getting the good water to the church. That is my passion and heart.’

In an earlier statement, he said: ‘It has been a privilege serving with Keswick Ministries these last six years and I am thankful that there is a great team of trustees and staff to take the ministry forward. I am excited by the fresh challenge and opportunity that lie ahead in my new role at Oak Hill.’

A statement from the Keswick Convention said: ‘We will always be grateful to James for his godly and sure-footed leadership over the last six years, which has included safely navigating the ministry through the Covid pandemic, undertaking a major refurbishment of the new ministry site (The Derwent Project) and the development and growth of our year-round ministries.’

Oak Hill said: ‘James is a noted Bible teacher and theologian, with a deep pastoral heart. He is passionate about training people to be effective Bible teachers, evangelists and pastors.

‘Academically his focus is the Old Testament. He was Senior Tutor in Old Testament and Hebrew at Wycliffe Hall Oxford and previously Tutor in Old Testament and Hebrew at Oak Hill College. He holds a PhD in Theology from Middlesex University and a BA in Experimental Psychology from Oxford University. His published works include Word and Spirit in Ezekiel, and Honey from the Rock: Deuteronomy for the People of God.’

Robson is married to Bridget, and has two grown-up daughters. His hobbies include hill-walking, mountain-biking, growing vegetables, and playing golf and armchair cricket.

Robson’s appointment as Principal follows the recently-announced planned departure of Johnny Juckes this summer, who has been known as President rather than Principal. Following the publication of a story in last the college month’s en about Oak Hill, issued a statement admitting that there had been ‘issues to do with Johnny’s leadership’. These centred on ‘his leadership effectiveness, or how he handled particular situations and interactions’. It said concerns had been raised through appraisals, via management, and also directly with Juckes. However they were not ‘of a safeguarding nature’, the college said. The full statement can be read on the Oak Hill website.

The en story attracted some social media comment and a number of readers contacted the paper with questions and criticisms. After the story was published a source within Oak Hill also told en: ‘Many of us are in full agreement with your sentiments and grateful to en.’

Writing on the Anglican Ink website, freelance journalist and former pastor Julian Mann described Oak Hill’s initial handling of the story as being ‘arguably caused by the tendency among English conservative evangelicals to want to control the narrative or, if they can’t, to batten down the hatches’.

Tim Thornborough, a trustee of en and also an associate editor, commented: ‘The church in general has been slow to learn the lessons of the last few years about how we respond to failures within our leadership. Like the world, we have seen repeated examples of attempted cover ups and face-saving exercises, out of a misplaced sense that we should not be washing our dirty linen in public. But I believe that the people of God and the gospel are never ultimately served well by this approach. en occupies a curious position in the evangelical world. It is a faith-based newspaper, wanting to support, inform, encourage and stimulate Bible- and Christ-centred Christianity. But it is also a newspaper with a mandate to uncover and report the truth without fear or favour – even when those truths seem to be embarrassing for the gospel cause, or personally hurtful to those within our tribe. These two aims can come into conflict at times, and some may feel a sense of hurt or betrayal when en pursues such stories. Although we get it wrong sometimes, the en team is seeking to walk this difficult line with honesty and integrity.’