Colin Morris (Methodist minister)

Colin Manley Morris (13 January 1929 – 20 May 2018) was an English Methodist minister, author, and broadcaster. Born into a mining family in a village near Bolton,[1] after his ordination he served the Methodist Church in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) for fifteen years.[1] He stood out for racial integration within the church, became a close friend of the leader of the independence movement, Kenneth Kaunda, and was closely involved in the formation of the United Church in Zambia soon after the country became independent.[2] He always espoused an explicitly anti-racist and socialist position and argued that it represents the authentic spirit of Christianity. He died on 20 May 2018 at the age of 89.[3] After returning from Zambia, Colin Morris occupied prominent positions in British Methodism, becoming first the superintendent minister of Wesley's Chapel in London,[1] and subsequently General Secretary of the Church's Overseas Division. He was President of the Methodist Conference, elected in July 1976 and serving for the customary year term.[4]

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From early in his career, Morris was a regular speaker on the BBC Radio 4 programme Thought for the Day, with a radical perspective and an instantly recognizable voice.[5] For a period in 1971 he withdrew from the programme in protest against alleged representations by the Conservative Party Whips against his criticism on the programme of the party's immigration policy as un-Christian, an incident that caused questions to be asked in the House of Lords.[6] He was still contributing to Thought for the Day in 2010.

In 1978 Colin Morris moved out of the ordinary work of the Methodist ministry to work for the BBC, as head of TV Religious Programmes.[1] He subsequently held the posts of Head of Religious Broadcasting, Special Advisor to the Director-General, and Controller of BBC Northern Ireland. After retiring from management within the BBC he continued to broadcast, presenting numerous religious programmes. From 1991 to 1996 he served as Director of the Centre for Religious Communication in Oxford.

As well as his broadcasting work, Colin Morris was a prolific author of books and pamphlets. Most of his published work reflected either his experience as a white missionary in black Africa, or as an ordained minister working as a professional broadcaster.