Mark joined the Queen’s Foundation in 2007, having been Team Rector of Morley in the West Midlands for 5 years. He is the Anglican co-director of the Centre for Ministerial Formation at Queen’s, and tutor in liturgy and worship. He teaches and co-ordinates modules on both Track 1 (weekday learning) and Track 2 (residential weekends and Tuesday evenings). These include: Foundations in Christian Worship; Pastoral Liturgy; Spirituality and Formation for Ministry; Ministry in God’s Church; Bridging into Ministry.
Mark trained for ministry at Cranmer Hall in Durham and was ordained in 1991. He served a curacy in Leicester diocese before becoming Minister-in-Charge of an Anglican-Methodist Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) church on the edge of Chatham, Kent. From there he moved to Salisbury where he worked at the ecumenical Institute for Liturgy and Mission at Sarum College.
This provided a base for his work as National Education Officer for Praxis, a Church of England organisation for liturgical renewal, education and formation. He played a key national role in the preparations for the introduction of the Common Worship services, and produced training resources which were used in thousands of parishes. He is the author of numerous books and articles on worship and liturgy. Since ordination he has been part of the Group for the Renewal of Worship (GROW), who produce the Grove booklets on liturgy and worship. He is also a member of the Society for Liturgical Study and a trained Myers-Briggs practitioner.
Mark originally trained as a Civil Engineer at Loughborough University, where he spent a year in industry, working ‘in sewage’ for Severn Trent Water. When asked about the link between sewage and liturgy, his answer is invariably, ‘They’re both about flow. The problems start when there’s a blockage.’
Mark is a keen amateur actor, and is enjoying the opportunity to belong to Harborne’s Moorpool Players.
Connecting with Baptism: a practical guide to Christian initiation today (CHP, 2007) – co-editor
Liturgical Worship: a fresh look – how it works; why it matters (CHP, 2002)
Common Worship Today (HarperCollins, 2001; St John’s Extension Studies, 2007) – co-editor
Producing Your Own Orders of Service (CHP/Praxis, 2000)
Understanding Worship (Mowbrays, 2001) with Perran Gay and Anne Horton
No. 201, How to Choose Songs and Hymns for Worship (2009)
No. 200, Liturgical Formation and Common Worship (2009)
No. 189, Introducing Times and Seasons 1 (2006), with others
No. 171, Collects – an alternative view (2002), with others
No. 170, Mission and Liturgical Worship (2002), with Carolyn Headley
No. 152, Leading Worship (1999)
No. 140, Worship as Drama (1997)
No. 133, Worship Audit: making good worship better (1995)
‘Worship – What do we think we are doing?’ – Evangel, Spring 1998
‘This is the Word of the Lord: the Bible and worship’ – Anvil, 19/2, 2002
‘Reconstructing Worship’ and ‘A Safe Delivery?’ – Anglicans for Renewal, Autumn 1998 & Autumn 2000
‘A Help to Spirituality: the Bible and the three-year lectionary’ - Transmission, Bible Society, Summer 1999
‘Common Worship: new book or new era?’ – The Reader, Winter 2000
‘Common Worship and the all-age church’ – Church Leadership Pack, CPAS, Spring 2001