Newport vicar fears church is losing its identity

After spending a lifetime leading congregations, The Rev Prebendary Edward Ward has seen it all.

He has worked in tough neighbourhoods with plenty of social deprivation as well as sleepy communities where crime is rare.

He has been looking after St Peter's Church, in Edgmond, for a quarter of a century which is an unusual position to be in as rectors appointed since 2011 can only stay in the same place for up to 12 years.

But as he took up the post previously he has the 'freehold' of the parish, which meant he could stay for a longer period.

He said he feels while there is much to rejoice over with the variety of projects that are being run to tackle social issues and building preservation, there is still plenty of work for Christian leaders to do, particularly in urban areas.

The 68-year-old has spent some four decades as a minister including a stint in the Black Country before returning to serve various churches in Shropshire.

He said: "Over the decades the Church of England has changed.

"It seems to to be moving away from what I considered to be its strength.

"It now seems that we are trying to make everybody become the same while its strength has been its diversity.

"We seem to be using training methods that the business world has already rejected because they don't work.

"We need to get back to basics. Priests are there to serve the people first. I do get a little frustrated when I hear ministers refer to what we do as their 'career'.

"The priesthood is not a career, it's a vocation. We are there because God has called us to work among the communities that He has called us to work in.

"If a vacancy is advertised in London, for example, hundreds may apply, but if it's in an industrial area of the Midlands or in the north very few will apply for them."

Originally from Bridgnorth, he entered church work in the early 1970s after studying at Kings College, in London.

After serving in Canterbury and Hereford he was relocated to Blakenall Heath, in Walsall, and the former St Aidan's Church, in Leamore.

"This is one of the most deprived areas in the whole of the country with many difficulties, but I found the people themselves were marvellous, very friendly and generous as much as they could be.

"Then I was moved to north Shropshire to be the first vicar of the merged Astley, Clive, Grinshill and Hadnall parish. At the time these were four separate parishes and I was given the task to unite them.

"One of my first jobs was to fundraise for Hadnall which had terrible dry rot. I was there for about a decade and felt I did as much as I could and it was time to move on.

Mr Ward was inducted and installed as rector of St Peter's, Edgmond, with St Chad's, Kynnersley, and St Lawrence, Preston on the Weald Moors, on November 6, 1991. At the weekend worshippers hosted a celebration service to mark the milestone.

Among the guests was the Archdeacon of Salop, the Venerable Paul Thomas.

Highlights of his time so far time includes the creation of Harper Adams University, of which he is also the rector, and the visit to St Peter's of the Princess Royal where she was installed as its first chancellor in 2013.

He a member of numerous bodies including Newport Rotary Club, Freemasons of the Borough of Bridgnorth, East Shropshire Talking Newspapers and was previously padre of the 5th Light Infantry for the West Midlands Regiment based in Shrewsbury.

He is married to Jane, 67, and they have three children Charlotte, 38, Alexandra, 35, and Richard, 32, and four grandchildren.