Richard Charles Lucas (born 10 September 1925) is an Anglican

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exp ...

cleric, best known for his long ministry at

St Helen's Bishopsgate St Helen's Bishopsgate is an Anglican church in London. It is located in Great St Helen's, off Bishopsgate. It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London. Several notable figures are buried there, and it contains more monument ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, and for his work as founder of the

Proclamation Trust A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

and the

Cornhill Training Course Cornhill can refer to: *Cornhill, Aberdeen *Cornhill, Aberdeenshire *Cornhill, Boston, formerly a street in Boston *Cornhill, London, a street and ward in the City of London *Cornhill Magazine, literary publication in print until 1975 *Cornhill-on- ...

Early life

Lucas was born on 10 September 1925 in

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre ...

, Sussex. He attended

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, an ...

. He was converted to evangelical Christianity in 1941 under the camp ministry of

E. J. H. Nash Eric John Hewitson "Bash" Nash (22 April 1898 – 4 April 1982) was a conservative evangelical Church of England cleric. His work of Christian evangelism and camp ministry in the top thirty public schools of the United Kingdom from 1932 onwards ...

. Lucas began university studies at Oxford, but left to serve in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

during World War II. After the war, he continued his undergraduate studies at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

(BA 1949, MA 1957).

Ordained ministry

Lucas completed ordination training at

Ridley Hall Ridley Hall is a theological college located on the corner of Sidgwick Avenue and Ridley Hall Road in Cambridge (United Kingdom), which trains men and women intending to take Holy Orders as deacon or priest of the Church of England, and member ...

, and was ordained in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

as a Deacon in 1951, and then as a Priest in 1952. Lucas' first

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

was served as at St Nicholas' Church,

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter main line railway into London. Sevenoaks is from Charing Cross, the tradition ...

from 1951 to 1955, before he joined the staff of the

Church Pastoral Aid Society The Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) is an Anglican evangelical mission agency. It was founded in 1836. History of the Society The CPAS was founded in 1836 in the midst of the social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution to take 'the gospel t ...

from 1955 until 1961. Lucas became Rector of St. Helen's Bishopsgate in 1961, and served the church as its Rector for thirty-seven years. Under his leadership, St. Helen's grew from a small congregation of a few individuals to a large thriving church with a ministry to city workers, families, students and young professionals. He developed a reputation for strong Bible teaching and preaching. He emerged as a widely respected evangelical speaker, particularly at the

Keswick Convention The Keswick Convention is an annual gathering of Conservative evangelicalism in the United Kingdom, conservative evangelical Christians in Keswick, Cumbria, Keswick, in the English county of Cumbria. The Christian theological tradition of Highe ...

. He was outspoken among his generation of evangelical ministers in encouraging systematic expositional preaching. With this in mind, Lucas was among those who established a popular and widely duplicated programme of training workshops for preachers. In May 1986 Lucas founded the Proclamation Trust, the aim of which is to encourage ministry that seeks to "expound the Bible as God's Word for today", and remains active as a Trustee. In 1991, in partnership with David Jackman, Lucas helped to form the Cornhill Training Course. The course originally met for training in

St Peter upon Cornhill St Peter upon Cornhill is an Anglican church on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street in the City of London of medieval, or possibly Roman origin. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt to the designs of Sir ...

, before moving to

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

to meet in office space on

Borough High Street Borough High Street is a road in Southwark, London, running south-west from London Bridge, forming part of the A3 route which runs from London to Portsmouth, on the south coast of England. Overview Borough High Street continues southwest a ...

. Lucas is no longer part of the leadership team there. Now in his nineties, Lucas still has an active and influential ministry, preaching and speaking at conferences in the UK and further afield. He is Rector Emeritus of St Helen's, where he returns each summer to preach. Although prioritising preaching and teaching, Lucas is the author of a number of evangelical books and commentaries. With

John Stott John Robert Walmsley Stott (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) was an English Anglican cleric and theologian who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. I ...

J.I. Packer James Innell Packer (22 July 192617 July 2020) was an English-born Canadian evangelical theologian, cleric and writer in the low-church Anglican and Calvinist traditions. He was considered one of the most influential evangelicals in North Amer ...

and others, Lucas was a key figure in shaping the

conservative evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual expe ...

movement in the United Kingdom during the 20th century.D.W. Bebbington, ''Evangelicalism in Modern Britain'', 1989, London: Routledge pp. 258, 269 In 1995, a ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the ...

'' was published in his honour. ''When God's Voice is Heard: The Power of Preaching'' included contributions from Peter Adam,

D. A. Carson Donald Arthur Carson (born December 21, 1946) is an evangelical biblical scholar. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and president and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition. He has writte ...

, John Chapman,

Edmund Clowney Edmund Prosper Clowney (July 30, 1917 – March 20, 2005) was a theologian, educator, and pastor. Early life and education Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College in 1939, a Bachelor of Theology ...

, Peter Jensen,

Phillip Jensen Phillip David Jensen (born 1945) is an Australian cleric of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney and the former Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral. He is the brother of Peter Jensen, the former Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. Early life and conversion ...

, and

J. I. Packer James Innell Packer (22 July 192617 July 2020) was an English-born Canadian evangelical theologian, cleric and writer in the low-church Anglican and Calvinist traditions. He was considered one of the most influential evangelicals in North Amer ...

Bibliography

Commentaries: * Lucas, R. C. (1980). ''The Message of Colossians & Philemon'' (The Bible Speaks Today Series), Leicester:

Inter-Varsity Press Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) was previously the publishing wing of Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship. It support the publishing or distribution of well over one million books each year to over 150 countries, including the translation ...

. * Lucas & Green (Dec 1995). ''The Message of 2 Peter and Jude'' (The Bible Speaks Today Series), Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press. Keswick paperbacks: * Lucas, et al. (1978). ''The Gospel, the Spirit, the Church'': Keswick ministry from John Stott, Dick Lucas, Ken Prior, Gilbert Kirby and others, UK: STL Books orKeswick Convention Council. * Lucas, et al. (Nov 1981). ''Purity and Power'': Keswick Convention Ministry, 1981, UK: Send the Light Trust. * Lucas, et al. (Nov 1986). ''Rebuilding the Foundations'' (1986 Keswick Convention), UK: Send the Light. Other works: * Lucas & Philip (1980). ''Teaching John: Unlocking the Gospel of John for the Expositor'' (Proclamation Trust Media), UK:

Christian Focus Publications Christian Focus Publications (CFP) is a conservative, evangelical publishing house in the United Kingdom. CFP was established in the early 1970s, and is located in Fearn, Ross-shire Ross-shire (; gd, Siorrachd Rois) is a historic county ...

. * Jackopson & Lucas (April 1992). ''Good Morning, Disciple'', UK:

Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). They are a part of HarperCollins Christian Pu ...

. * Peter Adam (foreword by Lucas) (30 May 2004). ''Speaking God's Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching'', UK: Regent College Publishing. * Green and Jackman (1995). ''When God's Voice is Heard'': Essays on preaching presented to Dick Lucas (Leicester: IVP)

References

External links

St Helen BishopsgateThe Proclamation Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Dick 1925 births Living people Evangelical Anglican clergy People from Lewes Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English evangelicals 21st-century English Anglican priests Royal Navy personnel of World War II Bible commentators 20th-century English Anglican priests