John Houghton, Pastor, Teacher, Writer, Artist (1944 - 2025)


Arriving in London in the late 1970s, I soon found myself part of a growing and dynamic church. South Lee Christian Church had been formed by an established church and a smaller house church joining together. It became one of the founding churches within Newfrontiers (then known as Coastlands). My wife and I were youth group leaders and then house group leaders over our years there.

Still a comparatively young Christian, I was hungry for God's word and the three church leaders - John Houghton, Ian Wilkie and Phil Rogers - fed me well. I learned so much from each of them.

Later, Roh and I would follow Ian and Angie Wilkie down to Crawley to help with a church there, but much of my grounding came from those early South Lee days.

John Houghton died last week. All three men of God have now crossed the finish line.

I so appreciated John's teaching. Really, he was a storyteller, and maybe I picked up a few tips along the way.

John's storytelling came out most impressively with a series of children's fantasy books, called the Oswain Tales. As I understand it, the genesis of these books came about when John was asked to tell stories to children in the local Junior School. All four of our own children read these books. My oldest boy, Nathan, now in his 40s, still has his signed copy of one of John's books. My youngest daughter, Lois, was part of a school book-writing project and was thrilled to receive a personal letter from John.

Small memories. But a big impact.

John led various churches and latterly became better known as an author and artist, creative to the last.

He helped me complete my dissertation in theology, and I remember him being particularly challenging. His final communication with me was quite recent. He had read some of my blogs on revival in Leicester and wanted to encourage me to continue to write and record all that the Holy Spirit was doing.

A husband and a father. A pastor, a preacher, an author and an artist. A friend to many. A life well lived.

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