Keith Riglin
Keith Graham Riglin was born
on 24 January 1957. He read education and religious studies at the College of
All Saints in the University of London and, in 1978, Riglin married Jacqueline
Bryan. The couple had two daughters, Lucy and Ana.
In 1980, Riglin enrolled in the Regent’s Park College, Oxford, to study theology and train for ordained ministry. He proceeded to further studies in Theology at Oxford. When he completed his years as a university student, he had earned several degrees: a Bachelor of Education from London, a Bachelor of Arts, 1983, and Master of Arts from Oxford, 1986, as well as Master of Theology from Heythrop College, London, 1985, and a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Birmingham, 2008. In 2016, King's College London awarded him the Associateship of King's College (AKC).
Having completed his initial ministerial formation, Riglin commenced the first phase of his ministerial journey. He became a minister of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, after being ordained to the ministry in 1983 at Kenton Baptist Church, Harrow, Middlesex. He was associate minister at Manvers Street Baptist Church, Bath, and a chaplain at the University of Bath from 1983 to 1987.
In 1987, Riglin pursued studies at St Andrew's Hall, one of the Selly Oak Colleges in Birmingham. Afterward, he offered service with the Baptist Missionary Society in Jamaica, where he was a lecturer in church history and philosophy of religion at the United Theological College of the West Indies from 1987-1989.
The Riglins fresh from Jamaica
Upon his return to England, Riglin became minister of Amersham Free Church from 1989 to 1996. This church, which was formed in 1907 determined that everybody was welcome to join regardless of denomination. As time passed, the church decided that both infant and believers’ baptism should be administered. Starting in 1972, Amersham Free Church has been affiliated to both the Baptist Union and the United Reformed Church. When he resigned from Amersham Free Church in 1996, that was to mark the end of Riglin’s formal association with the Baptist Union of Great Britain
Riglin became minister and university chaplain associated with St Columba’s Church, Cambridge, and was transferred from the List of Accredited Ministers of the Baptist Union of Great Britain to the Roll of Ministers of the United Reformed Church (URC). Riglin also served as a visiting scholar at Westcott House, Cambridge, 2006–2007.
The final phase of Riglin’s journey started in 2008, the year when his first marriage ended in divorce, which caused him great pain. However, he clung to Christ, the friend who forgives human frailties. He united with the Anglican Church and was ordained a deacon and priest in the Church of England in 2008. He served as associate vicar at St Clement’s Church, Notting Dale, and St James’ Church, Norlands, in Notting Hill, London. In 2010, he married a second time. His wife was Jennifer Smith, now the Revd. Canon Dr. Jennifer Smith. Smith is an American-born Methodist minister who serves as superintendent of Wesley's Chapel in London.
Riglin worked in multiple additional settings – as honorary assistant priest at St Anne’s Church, Soho from 2016, and at St Mary le Strand, London, from 2017.
He was an honorary chaplain at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, from 2010. Beginning in 2019, he was director of ordinands in the Diocese of London and an authorised presbyter at Wesley’s Chapel, London.
In March 2020, he became an honorary canon of St John’s Cathedral, Oban, in the Scottish Episcopal Church. A year later, during the COVID crisis, Riglin was consecrated as Bishop of Argyll and the Isles in the Episcopal Church of Scotland. He also became provost at the Cathedral of The Isles in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae, Scotland.
Comments
Post a Comment