Tributes to Mike Ovey (updated 26/1)
from Oak Hill College:
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants’ (Psalm 116:15).
It is with profound shock and sadness that we announce the sudden and unexpected death of our Principal, the Revd Dr Mike Ovey, at the age of 58.
As the Oak Hill community comes to terms with the loss of our dear brother and leader, we cling on to the promise that ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life’. It reminds us that for Mike, death is not an end but a glorious beginning.
Please hold in your thoughts and prayers Mike’s wife Heather and their three children Charlie, Harry, and Ana.
More details about Mike’s funeral and thanksgiving will follow in the coming days.
Editor’s note:
I want to express my deep sense of grief at this news. I did not have experience of Mike as a College Principal, but I was one of many who appreciated the forensic clarity and courage which he brought to the task of explaining the Christian faith in other contexts, and also his personal warmth, humour and support for ministries which he saw as important, including Anglican Mainstream. More tributes to this remarkable man will follow.
Andrew Symes
See also: (UPDATES)
Oak Hill principal remembered at memorial service, CEN
Just Mike – funeral address by Dan Strange
Oak Hill College and church leaders pay tribute to Mike Ovey
The Grace of God – or the World of the West? – Dr Mike Ovey, ACL
A statement by the General Secretary, Gafcon
A Tribute to Mike Ovey (1958-2017) – Church Society, Lee Gatiss
Obituary in Church Times by Chris Green [£]: […] His concern was never academia for itself, but for churches and evangelism in the fast-changing UK, with properly trained pastor-teachers as essential to the task. He devoted himself to it. There are church-plants in some of the toughest parts of Britain because of his drive to connect profound orthodoxy with today’s fragmented culture…Many will regret what stayed unwritten, but, as he once said of Archbishop Jensen, “his students are his books.” His influence on a rising generation of Evangelical ministers, Anglican and independent, around the world is enormous.
Full text here
Oak Hill College Announces Sudden Death Of Principal Mike Ovey – Christian Today
A Tribute to Mike Ovey. We need more Mike Ovey’s – Council Estate Christianity, Duncan Forbes
Death of Mike Ovey RIP, Diocese of Chichester
Moore College tribute to Rev Dr Mike Ovey
Tribute from the Bishop of Maidstone, Rt Revd Rod Thomas
From Bishop John Ellison (via email):
It was with profound shock that I heard, on Sunday, of the death of Mike Ovey. As the news sank in, I realised it was as if I had lost a family member or a close friend.
On my return to England after many years of ministry overseas, I needed urgent orientation to both nation and church in the country of my birth but where I now felt myself to be a relative stranger. Mike was one of several who gave me space and time. His profound theological awareness, prophetic insight and willingness to meet with me, a relative stranger, left a deep and lasting impression. Over the years since, we have met in meetings or just to talk, and my initial impressions have not lessened but deepened. This man reminded me of the giants of the Puritan era; he stood tall, and and I for one had so much to learn from his prodigious and courageous learning and leading. Thank you Mike.
We mourn his home-call but trust God in his mercy, to raise up others like Mike to lead us forward.
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