Christine Walters

It is with great sadness that we have learnt of the death of Deacon Christine Walters, Past Vice-President of the Conference (1994).

Deacon Christine was born in Grimsby and grew up in Birmingham and Petersfield.

Her career change from florist to studying Christian Ministry and Theology at Queen’s College, Birmingham, led to her becoming a deacon in 1976, with a variety of valuable and fruitful roles within the Methodist Church.

Her circuit ministry included the Victoria Hall in the Bolton Mission (1981–1985) and Surbiton Hill (1985–1989).

From 1989 to 1998, Deacon Christine was Warden of the Methodist Diaconal Order (MDO) during a period of change as the Wesley Deaconess Order became the MDO. She continued to oversee further significant changes, which saw the diaconate being recognised as an order of ministry as well as a religious order and deacons being received into full Connexion for the first time in 1998. In addition, as Warden she contributed widely to ecumenical conversations around the theology of the diaconate.

As the Vice-President of the Conference, she represented British Methodism at the European Methodist Consultative Conference in Ireland and in many other parts of the world. 

Deacon Christine had many tales to tell, although her journey wasn’t all plain sailing. On her return from a visit to the Methodist Church in Ghana in 1994, she never forgot gun-toting soldiers boarding the plane and removing some passengers, then lightning strikes and turbulence accompanying her on the rest of the flight home. Nevertheless, she described it as “A journey of contrasts but warm hearts, wonderful people, all the way!”

She also spoke about places that she described as “thin places”, those locations where she felt particularly close to God. She included the beautiful Malvern Hills in this category.

Despite facing the challenge of major spinal surgery, her ministry continued in the Winchester and Bournemouth Circuits.

After ‘sitting down’ from active ministry, Deacon Christine became involved in the work of the Pastoral Centre at Emsworth Methodist Church.

A lover of poetry, the work of Elizabeth Jennings was among her favourites. One well-known quote is very pertinent: 

“Perhaps, often, what we see
Is nothing but the light we bring.”

Certainly, the light Deacon Christine brought will be sadly missed by many.