Stephen and I are moving back to Oxford later this year so I can take up a role teaching at Wycliffe Hall. For those that don’t know—Wycliffe Hall is a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford (much like a college) and is a residential theological college (aka seminary) for the Church of England. It was founded in 1877 and as well as training future clergy for the Church of England and beyond, it also has graduate programmes and theology courses for people to take. It has a rather exciting vision to help launch a “New Renaissance” and be at the forefront of being a Christian voice and witness in the arts and social sciences—something it’s uniquely situated to do being located in a place like Oxford.

This is a really exciting move for me as it also happens to be where I did my undergraduate BA in Theology many years ago. One of things I most appreciated about the Hall was that it neither compromised on being a place of learning or of worship. It is both Christ-centred and intellectually rigorous. 

I’m going to be taking up a hybrid role, both academic and ministerial, so hopefully combining both of the vocational hats I wear as a priest and a biblical scholar. I will be sharing the teaching of the Old Testament with their current OT tutor, Dr John Screnock, and then I will be teaching preaching and other pieces where biblical studies and ministry intersect, helping students think through the biblical foundations of different aspects of Anglican ministry. 

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As I reflect on this move, I have to say this: it’s funny where God leads. I never expected to be going back to live in my hometown nor to be teaching at my undergraduate college. Stephen and I have been in Texas for 9 years and made a life here in Stephen’s hometown of Houston (where he didn’t expect us to be when we moved here!). 

About 2 years ago I felt God say a (good) seed would be planted in our lives in July of 2022. In July of 2022 that happened. On the 1st of the month. What happened that day was the beginning of what led to where we are now and my appointment at Wycliffe. When I realised it was July of 2022, I looked back a year in my journal to see what I’d written and I had put “1st July 2022: watch out!” Down to the day, God had prepared me for beginning of what was to come.A long while later, and here we are. Steve’s visa application is in, some things in our lives have been sold or given away and we’re working on various complicated logistics (e.g. how to safely and affordably ship two dogs across a continent. Pro tip: doing it safely is FAR easier than doing it affordably (which may be impossible). We’ve also started looking for accommodation (so if you know of a dog-friendly place to rent in Oxford, please let us know).

For those who don’t know—I finished up at St. Martin’s in May. Since then I’ve been working on recuperating and healing from Covid-related brain fog and had a little dental surgery as well (no fun!). In the last month we’ve been working hard to get logistics set-up and organised for later in the year, as we left this week for an overdue 10th wedding anniversary trip. We’ll be visiting some friends and family along the Eastern coast of the US. We’ve done this kind of trip before so it should be a blast—and the dogs adapt brilliantly to life on the road. Once back home to Houston we’ll be working on getting moved in earnest.

If you are one of our States-side friends and would like to stay in touch and hearing our news, please do sign up for my newsletter. We’d love to share more with you about how ministry and life is going back in England, share prayer requests and give you advanced notice of when we’ll be back in Houston for visits.

To our UK friends: Stephen and I are looking forward to catching up and being close enough to see you more often. Get ready to put the kettle on, the McBays are coming back!

Do pray for us if you're someone who prays and would like to. And we'd love to hear what you're upto and how we can pray for you too. 

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