Richard Truss has served as a parish priest in the dioceses of Leicester, London and Southwark. He is now a Canon Emeritus of Southwark. One of his teachers at Oxford was David Jenkins whose thought has been a continuing inspiration. Like Jenkins, his concern has been the very practical one of bringing the church and the wider community together in a living constructive dialogue. He has pursued this by taking roles outside the strict bounds of the church – for example as chaplain to a TV company, as National Theatre Chaplain, in chairing local committees, and teaching in adult education. He recently completed a PhD on the work of David Jenkins.
His first curacy was in Leicester where he was given responsibility for a small church on one of the largest council estates in England which brought home both the alienation of so many from the church but also the basic issues which people faced and to which the church needed to respond. He moved from there to Hampstead Parish Church where social divisions were clear-cut, and thence to Belsize Park, then bed-sitter land. Here he founded the Hampstead Christian Study Centre offering concurrent courses on subjects ranging from biblical studies to church flower arranging, and providing educational opportunities for congregations became an abiding concern. From then on in different parishes he taught adult educational classes on a variety of theological subjects.
Throughout my ministry he has also worked with institutions, first as chaplain to a TV company, also to Haringey Council, and subsequently as Senior Chaplain of the Actors Church Union, Chaplain to the National Theatre, the Young Vic and the Southbank Centre. He also chaired the Waterloo Regeneration Trust, chaired the Kennington Police Committee, chaired the Southwark Diocesan Board for Church and Society, and in his role as Lambeth Anglican Borough Dean, dealt with local issues from street homelessness to knife crime. Social and personal issues were also at the fore when he served as chair of a local housing trust and on a mental health charity.
He has been a member of Modern Church for sixty years and served on its council for much of that time, including ten years as chair. He is now a vIce-president. Most recently he is co-founder of the Public Square Group, continuing this life-long concern with the relationship between faith and public life.
His is married to Helen and they have four children and eight grandchildren.
