Brothers James and John Harding form a powerful partnership with their wide experience of both theological study and pioneer ministry. As they co-lead this stimulating retreat, we’ll glean from their combination of deep theological study in the book of Revelation, coupled with wide experience in forming young leaders and pioneering church plants at home and abroad. Together, we’ll explore our Gospel inspired reflexes of love, in leadership, ministry and mission, all viewed in the light of apocalyptic moments where Heaven and Earth touch. Prepare to be rocket-fuelled for your ministry!
Who's speaking?
James Harding
I was born, and spent my childhood in Yorkshire, then moved to Liverpool to study, but ended up living there for 20 years before heading to Thailand and then later Malaysia as a missionary theological educator. I’ve been married to Katie for 24 years, and we have 3 children: Agnes is 17, Noah is 15, and Elsie is 13. We have a golden-doodle dog called Maggi Mee (the Malaysian name for instant noodles). My academic background is varied. I excelled in NT Greek as an undergraduate, specialised in interfaith philosophy of religion at MA level, and was awarded my PhD in the book of Revelation in 2006. As part of my ordination training, I was awarded an MProf degree in practical theology, after taking an empirical and social sciences approach to the study of church planting. I was ordained Deacon in 2011 in the Diocese of Liverpool, then priested the following year, serving a number of curacies, but with a particular focus on university chaplaincy. I joined St Mellitus in 2013 as the Chelmsford Tutor and Lecturer in Missiology and spent a wonderful three years teaching at the Chelmsford and London centres. Then in 2016 we were invited to pioneer and lead St Paul’s Theological College, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. SPTC Malaysia is part of the Anglican Diocese of West Malaysia and is attached to Holy Trinity Bukit Bintang – an HTB church plant. Over that five year period we saw the College grow remarkably, with an average student community of around 100 people, coming from nearly 40 different churches spread across 14 denominations, 13 countries, and 10 different ethnicities. Since summer 2021 I have been Director of St Mellitus College South West (based in Plymouth) and part of the national college’s senior leadership team.
John Harding
John graduated from Bible College, married Kirsten, and moved to Liverpool in 1998, where they began to serve as lay leaders in Frontline Church. John took over as Senior Pastor of Frontline in 2015, where he led the church for 9 years before handing over to younger, homegrown leaders in 2024. During that time, John pivoted Frontline from a single, large congregation to a church planting network, planting expressions of frontline across Liverpool and beyond. John has a passion for Bible teaching, training leaders, and running pop-up apostolic training schools in places like DRC, India, Bulgaria, and Greece. John and Kirsten have two boys, Soren (19) and Reuben (16), a retired Greyhound, loves cooking, football, and mountain hikes.
