A Nottingham vicar with a love of fast cars and motorbikes has been appointed as the new Area Dean for Nottingham South Deanery.

Vicar of St John the Evangelist, Carrington, the Revd Jonathan MacGillivray, has been at Carrington since 2001, after moving to the area from the Diocese of Manchester. His additional new role will help churches work together across the area, supporting each other across their various communities in the south of the city.

Nurturing relationships, rather than the latest plan or strategy is what Jonathan hopes will characterise the shape of the continuing development of the Nottingham deaneries. He explained: “I fervently believe that we can discern God at work, we can value one another, serve our communities more faithfully and meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world when we allow ourselves to be recalled to the nurturing relationships intrinsic to being an authentic Eucharistic people.”

Jonathan is passionate about good liturgy – or patterns of Christian worship. He said: “The Eucharist is the very essence of  what it means to ‘be Church’, and decent liturgy in theologically - authentic spaces is also the most important tool we have for mission. The Church is formed and nourished by the relationships celebrated and authenticated in the offering of the Eucharist. “ Jonathan is equally committed to matters of justice – both in the Church and in the various communities of which they are a part.

Jonathan was born in Inverness, the child of an English mother, who was a Spiritualist and a Scottish father who was a (very) lapsed member of the Plymouth Brethren. He said: “So they agreed not to talk about religion with their children!  But two aspects of that heritage powerfully influenced my life in the ensuing years: an irrational love of cars and motorbikes inherited from my father, and an awareness of a spiritual dimension to life and a love of music from my mother.”

After reading Geography at Aberdeen University, Jonathan worked in France as a plasterer, and then for a year with the Missions to Seamen in Antwerp (having literally ‘missed the boat’ for a posting to Singapore!). He trained for ordination at the College of the Resurrection in Mirfield.  Before ordination he worked as a nursing auxiliary in St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney and then as a funeral director. He was ordained in 1980 in the Diocese of Manchester, where he served in a variety of posts for over 20 years: as a curate in inner-city Hulme, rector of a multi-cultural parish in Longsight, the vicar of the largest parish in Ashton-under-Lyne (and also the lead chaplain in the local hospital), before being appointed Manchester Diocesan Director of Ordinands and Ordained Local Ministry Officer. 

Jonathan likes fast motorbikes, even faster cars, and very slow canal boats. He loves singing and is a member of the Nottingham Bach Choir. He also enjoys walking his dog Jack, and drinking real English beer and Scottish malt whiskies.

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