Revd Chris Burr
A little about me
I was born in Tredegar and have spent all of my life in and around South Wales. I wasn’t from a faith background but became a Christian in my early teens and quickly felt a call to ministry.
Initially from a small Baptist Church, I was preaching on the local circuit by the age of 16 before being confirmed into the Anglican Church in my early 20’s. By this time, I had met my wife, Helen, and we have 4 wonderful children in Daniel, James, Jessica and Thomas.
Having worked in the in the civil service for nearly 10 years, primarily as a National Insurance Inspector and then as a Training and Education Manager, by my late 20s I felt God’s calling more strongly than ever and I set that career aside to begin training for the priesthood at what was then St Michael’s College, Llandaff.
I graduated with a BTh in 2001, and served as a curate in Llantrisant before becoming Priest in Charge of a parish in Pontypridd in 2004. In 2010 I was appointed Vicar of Lisvane in the North of Cardiff, before stepping out of parochial ministry to take up my current post at St Padarn’s in 2019.
I have a keen interest in meteorology and an ever-increasing love of travel. I have developed particularly strong links with a community in Mbale, Eastern Uganda, and also organise and lead regular pilgrimages to the Holy Land. I enjoy reading good crime fiction (there will never be another PD James!) and taking walks with our Labrador Honey (although she tends to take me rather than the other way around).
My ministerial interests
Throughout my parochial ministry I always placed great emphasis on pastoral care, and never more so than accompanying families at times of acute distress and bereavement. I have particular interest in the ecclesiological role and engagement of the church in wider society, and this is one of the key reasons for my taking up my post here at St Padarn’s.
My duties revolve around supporting and equipping ministers, clerical and lay, as they seek to work out the Mission of God in their own particular contexts.