Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet


The Revd Dr Derek Boyd Murray: 1936-2022 


As husband and father, pastor and teacher, chaplain and scholar, friend and confidant, Derek Murray fulfilled a vocation that was both diverse and focused

 
Derek MurrayDerek Murray was a Scottish Baptist minister for 64 years, which included three pastoral charges (Glenburn in Paisley, Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh); 25 years as a Hospice Chaplain at St Columba’s Edinburgh, 15 of them full time; 46 years continuous teaching in the Scottish Baptist College, five of them full time, and 40+ years of leadership in the Scottish Baptist History Project.
 
These are impressive statistics, but within them and woven through them was a life of quiet devotion and vocational obedience to the call of God. As husband and father, pastor and teacher, chaplain and scholar, friend and confidant, Derek Murray fulfilled a vocation that was both diverse and focused.
 
Derek was educated at George Watson’s School and the University of Edinburgh, He was married to Giles for 36 years, until she died in 1995, and together they have two daughters, Ruth and Ann. In 2000 he married Lorna and for 22 years they supported and accompanied each other, each in their vocational interests.
 
Derek was the first full time Hospice Chaplain in Scotland and a pioneer on spiritual care in the hospice setting. He was an understanding and thoughtful preacher, a warm-hearted and faithful pastor, and a teacher who taught the right questions to ask and never to settle for poor answers.

In church history Derek was a scholar of faithful enthusiasm for the story, and an amazing memory and careful accuracy for the detail. His knowledge of Scottish Baptist history in particular, and of Baptist history generally, was all but encyclopaedic, and his fund of anecdotal oral tradition seemed inexhaustible.
 
As a theologian he was intellectually generous and broadly evangelical, progressive and biblically oriented, pastoral and spiritual, combining intellectual humility with a sharp intelligence. He was also and always one of the most enjoyable conversationalists, drawing on a mind like a fully stocked supermarket of stories, facts and ideas.
 
Derek was my teacher in college, a good and supporting friend ever since. He embodied the title of a book we discussed more than once – The love of learning and the desire for God. The hymn of Thanksgiving, chosen by Derek for the funeral service, was sung by all who knew him with gratitude to God, as a description of a man we loved as companion on the road, and signpost to God:
 
Brother, Sister, let me serve you,
Let me be as Christ to you,
Pray that I may have the gift to
let you be my servant too.

 
 

The Revd Dr Jim Gordon



 
    Post     Tweet
Joyce Mary Wainwright: 1934-2024 
Served with BMS World Mission for more than 25 years and then as a deacon and church secretary with Long Buckby and Brington Baptist Church, Joyce lived a full and blessed life and was a faithful servant to her Lord
The Revd David Joynes: 1931-2022 
Baptist minister whose pastorate at Beulah Baptist Church on 'the outskirts of industrial Oldham' extended more than 52 years
The Revd Raymond Charles Bolton: 1918-2024 
Baptist minister who faithfully told the story of God’s love in Jesus for more than 80 years
Pamela Neville: 1932-2023
'A long life of extraordinary service to Christ and the Baptist denomination - to hundreds over her lifetime she was organiser, 'sister', 'Mother’, friend, confidant, wise advisor, mentor and a model of faithful, fruitful Christian service'
The Revd Grenville Overton: 1953-2023 
‘In his leadership he embodied the Gospel’ - Tributes have been paid to the Revd Grenville Overton, the former Regional Minister Team Leader at the Southern Counties Baptist Association, who died on 30 September aged 70
The Revd Frances Godden: 1938-2023  
'We give thanks to God for her life of faithful, unwavering service' An appreciation, by the Revd Jenny Few
     The Baptist Times 
    Posted: 10/01/2024
    Posted: 17/01/2023
    Posted: 28/01/2022