BRF Ministries is delighted to announce that Mark Sheard is to be our new chair of trustees when Bishop Colin Fletcher steps down from the role he has held with honour since September 2001, almost a quarter of the life of the charity.
Mark had a long and distinguished commercial career before repeating his success in the charity/voluntary sector. He was CEO of World Vision UK, the world’s largest international children’s charity and has also been a board member and trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee and a trustee and appointed member of the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council.
He is a lay leader in the parish of St John’s with St James in West Ealing, a licensed lay minister in the diocese of London and in the diocese St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and a lay canon of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
BRF Ministries chief executive Richard Fisher says of the appointment
‘I am absolutely delighted that Mark has accepted our invitation to become chair of trustees. I have known Mark for some years and have always valued the insights and wisdom he has brought to conversations about our ministries. With his wealth of expertise and experience, I can think of no one better to help us take BRF Ministries forward into the next season.’
A new role for a new year
Mark takes up his new role from January 2025. He joins us at a turbulent and challenging time in the charity sector, but he is exceptionally well placed to help guide BRF Ministries through the coming years, given his wide-ranging and high-level experience and his passionate Christian vision.
He says of his appointment:
‘I am very excited to be joining the board of BRF Ministries at this time. BRF Ministries is an organisation with a wonderful heritage; I have a particular affection for the charity, counting myself among the vast number of individuals who have been blessed by its daily Bible readings and other publications over more than a century. Over recent years BRF Ministries has brought new and highly significant initiatives to the life of the church in the UK and beyond – Messy Church, Anna Chaplaincy, Parenting for Faith and Holy Habits – and these in turn are continuing to reveal the reality of the God’s love to so many people.'
‘As I have watched their emergence and development I have been convinced that the work of BRF Ministries should and will continue to flourish by the grace of God and BRF Ministries has brought new and highly significant initiatives to the life of the church in the UK and beyond
Bishop Colin Fletcher
It is with enormous gratitude and a sense of loss that we say goodbye to our outgoing chair, Bishop Colin Fletcher, who has served BRF Ministries with energy, wisdom and humility for almost a quarter of its existence.
Colin became a trustee in January 2001 and chair of council in September 2001. He has always been one of our most diligent and faithful advocates. He says:
‘On any analysis BRF Ministries has been the most significant organisation working alongside the Church of England and our ecumenical partners in fostering Fresh Expressions of church in recent years. It has been an honour to be involved in the flourishing of Messy Church, Parenting for Faith and Anna Chaplaincy, alongside our traditional publishing ministry, helping to resource the Christian journey of thousands upon thousands of people of all ages across the world. I may be standing down from my official role, but BRF Ministries will remain forever in my heart and in my prayers.’
Richard Fisher pays tribute to Bishop Colin
‘We are so grateful for all that Bishop Colin has given to BRF Ministries during his long involvement with us. It has been such a pleasure to work with him. His wise leadership of the council of trustees has been greatly valued and appreciated by trustees and staff alike, as he has led us through a hugely significant period of growth and change, evolving from a Christian publisher to embrace and develop the new ministries that reflect the breadth of our work today. He will be greatly missed by us all.’
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