Chris Harrigan sat on the beach on holiday in Portreath, reflecting on why he was turned down from his application to be ordained. He had no idea that in a few short years he would be returning as a trainee curate in Redruth.

“I love boxing, but it’s always the punch you least expect that knocks you down.” Chris Harrigan who will be ordained as curate during this year’s Petertide Ordinations

Down perhaps but not out

As Chris says, “I love boxing, but it’s always the punch you least expect that knocks you down.” He might have felt down, but he wasn’t out. That was when the real work began.

It was shortly after, during his younger brother’s ordination, that Chris felt the push to get back in the ring. “I didn’t want to go back and try again. But my support network including my bishop, told me that’s what I must do. So, I relied on their belief, as my tank was empty. And that was part of the healing and repairing. God was disarming me, stripping me back. He let me know that I couldn’t rely on my own self-belief.” The self-belief that had taken him from a bricklayer in Romford to an architect in east London. “I had to rely on Him.”

How God disarms

As Chris explains, piece by piece, God was removing his armour, fine-tuning it, then putting it back. “I had to surrender to what God wanted. As He had previously demonstrated, when He wants to make something happen, He moves hard and fast.” Chris re-applied and was swiftly accepted.

“I had to surrender to what God wanted and… when He wants to make something happen in my life, He moves hard and fast.”

That’s when his brother David shared his dream. “It was a dream he’d had long ago about both of us standing together in robes. It was a great moment.” Despite being 8 years younger, David has been a trailblazer. He was a youth worker and then Chris’s curate. He became a pioneer minister, breaking new ground including setting up a boxing club. With Chris and one other, they reached out to men who would never ordinarily set foot in church. “We imagined what the church could look like for working class men, starting with ten people coming to the club. Then 20 and soon we had 25 men coming for fitness and fellowship every week. Our foundation for mission was to be ‘loyal to the soil.’ To listen to the roots of a place. The club is still running after we left, which is a great model for mission.”

Why would someone successful in the way the world determines decide to become a curate?

So why does Chris, who has worked hard to create the sort of life for himself and his family that the world says everyone wants, choose to be a curate? “It’s part of that stripping away, being refined and open to what God wants, seeing the world differently and dreaming how it could be with Jesus in your life. Which isn’t always easy to discern, especially after seemingly falling at the first hurdle. But now it feels like I’ve been in training for this all my life. When I look back, I see a montage of moments, decisions and situations preparing me for what’s coming next.”

“It’s part of that stripping away… seeing the world differently and dreaming how it could be with Jesus in your life.”

And why in Redruth?

And next is Redruth, why there? “Having made the decision as a family to stay in the west country after training at Trinity in Bristol, I was all for farming out my CV. We hoped something would come up in Bristol as we love the city. But my tutor encouraged me to wait on God and see where He wanted to send me. Thankfully I didn’t have to wait long as a call came from Truro Diocese two days later, about a potential post in Redruth. When I realised it was right next to Portreath, where I had started this journey after being turned down, it felt like I was coming full circle.”

When Chris and his wife Rebecca came down to visit, they felt God say, ‘Love my people.’ “For me, I feel that His people are my people too. I’ve lived and worked many years across social divides, as a labourer and an architect. I know what it is to work hard, to fight for what you have when the world tells you ‘No’.

Bridge-building

As Chris says, “One of the definitions of a priest is pontiff, from the Latin ‘pontifex’ meaning bridge-builder, and that’s how I hope God will use me. To bridge those divides, in church, in community”.

Rebecca, who has worked in many missional roles, used to be a key worker in a women’s refuge, but wanted to work closer to where the difficult decisions were being made. So, she re-trained, becoming a solicitor specialising in human rights and immigration. It’s not difficult to see why Revd Caspar Bush’s team at Redruth feel blessed to welcome the family.

An unexpected way to connect

One unexpected outcome of Chris’s training is a new love for motorcycles. “It has connected me to a new community and helped me connect with God in ways I never expected”.  Cornwall is a good place to explore this new love. As Chris says, “It’s a wonderfully spiritual place, where God’s glory is viscerally felt in the elements. I want to connect with those elements, the sea, the hills, the moors. It’s a special place of healing and connection, and with a young family, we want some of that and to share it with others. To see God’s glory in connection with community.”

“It’s a wonderfully spiritual place, where God’s glory is viscerally felt in the elements. I want to connect with those elements, the sea, the hills, the moors. It’s a special place of healing and connection… we want some of that and to share it with others. To see God’s glory in connection with community.”