Canon Michael Rees
Popular figure in the evangelical movement who was a dynamic leader of the Church Army
CANON MICHAEL REES, who has died aged 82, was a Canon Residentiary of Chester Cathedral from 1990-2000, serving as Vice-dean from 1993. Earlier he had been a highly influential figure in the stimulation and nurturing of the evangelical revival in the Church of England. This was accomplished in the key posts of Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, where he ministered from 1972 to 1984, and Chief Secretary of the Church Army from 1984 to 1990.
Of the strength of his own evangelical convictions there was never any doubt; neither were these ever compromised in the slightest degree. Yet his warm, open personality enabled him to work easily with others and to serve as a bridge between the conservative elements in the movement and a new generation with a wider agenda and a readiness to collaborate with other traditions.
Richard Michael Rees was born on July 31 1935. His father, the Rev Dick Rees, was widely known as a conductor of parish missions involving house evangelism. Michael was educated at Brighton College and, drawn from an early age to follow in his father’s footsteps, went on to St Peter’s Hall (later College), Oxford, and Tyndale Hall, Bristol, both evangelical strongholds.
Ordination in Chichester Cathedral in 1959 led to a three-year curacy in the Sussex parish of Crowborough. He then returned to Bristol as a curate of Christ Church, Clifton, this leading in 1964 to appointment as Vicar of Clevedon in Somerset.
By 1972 it was evident that Rees had inherited his father’s leadership gifts. He became Vicar of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, famous for its association with the revered Charles Simeon, who led an evangelical revival in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Holy Trinity has remained a significant influence in the life of the university as well as the town, and has been a place of pilgrimage from further afield.
Over the next 12 years Rees won admiration for the quality of his preaching, his pastoral skill, and his ability to relate to both university and townspeople. Assisted by a team of curates, he served as chaplain of the recently founded Darwin College and took over responsibility for the work of the Cambridge Pastorate, which for many years had augmented the ministries of college chaplains.
Unlike many later evangelical clergy, Rees’s approach to worship remained fairly formal and he eschewed the “happy clappy”. But there was a special service for students on Sunday evenings and he was fully involved in Billy Graham’s 1982 Cambridge crusade, with Holy Trinity Church being used for overflow meetings.
During his Cambridge years Rees served as an Ely diocese representative on the General Synod, from which he was elected as a Church of England representative on the then-flourishing British Council of Churches. He was chairman of its evangelism committee.
In 1984 his national reputation took him to the chief secretaryship of the Church Army. This 19th-century creation of 300 lay evangelists was entering a time of change, as many new opportunities for work in a wider field opened. Rees enabled these to be seized, with a combination of inspiration and flexibility, and the work of the Army’s men and women officers became increasingly valued. He moved the headquarters from London to the site of its training college in Sheffield and devolved much responsibility to the regions.
This accomplished, in 1990 he accepted an invitation from the evangelical Bishop of Chester, Michael Baughen, to become a Canon Residentiary of Chester Cathedral. Although he served the cathedral well, becoming its Vice-dean in 1993, welcoming its many visitors and organising a Millennium celebration that attracted almost 30,000 participants, he also accepted considerable additional responsibilities in the diocese. These included those of diocesan missioner and Cheshire county ecumenical officer.
He retired to King’s Lynn in 2000 and assisted in parishes, offering muchappreciated advice and encouragement to younger clergy in Norfolk.
Michael Rees is survived by his wife Yoma, whom he married in 1958, and by their son and daughter.
Canon Michael Rees, born July 31 1935, died March 25 2018