Getting to know: Rev Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson

Churches Together in England welcomes Rev Dr Tessa, Free Churches Group CTE President for 2025 to 2028.

As her term of office begins, Rev Dr Tessa (TH-R) spoke to CTE’s Senior Communications Manager, Sarah Ball (SB)

SB: Welcome to the CTE Presidency Rev Dr Tessa. How did your ecumenical journey begin?

TH-R: My ecumenical journey began long before I understood the word. As a child in Trinidad and Tobago, I lived the beauty and complexity of the Christian tradition through my family. My father was born in Tobago and raised in the Methodist tradition. My mother was born in Trinidad and raised in a Roman Catholic and Pentecostal household. I was baptised in the Methodist Church, educated in Roman Catholic and Anglican schools, and worshipped in Pentecostal settings during holidays with my maternal grandparents.

From early on, I encountered difference as a gift. That beginning shaped my lens, and helped me to see the rich variety within the body of Christ as something to honour, not to fear. My journey continues to unfold as one committed to the hard work of shared mission, mutual respect, and spiritual integrity across denominational lines.

SB: What was your first ecumenical experience? How formative was this?

TH-R: My earliest (formal) ecumenical experience came in the early 2000s while I was a member of Christ Church Bellingham. I was part of a small team tasked with building relationships across five local churches. That experience was not only informative. It was deeply formative. It taught me that unity across Christian traditions is not just an abstract hope. It is a relational task that demands presence, humility, and trust.

As I worshipped, dialogued, and shared life with colleagues from a range of denominational backgrounds, I began to sense the Spirit moving in ways I had not seen before. I witnessed how God works through different liturgies, languages, and leadership models. Some tensions surfaced, of course. But they were not held as obstacles, they were used as invitations and opportunities to grow deeper in grace. Ecumenical work has never been about erasing difference, it is about honouring difference, engaging it with love, and letting it stretch us toward fuller faithfulness.

Unity, for me, is the hard and holy commitment to keep choosing one another because of our differences, not despite them.

SB: You are a URC Minister, how has being part of that church influenced your thoughts on Christian unity?

TH-R: The United Reformed Church is itself a living sign of ecumenical commitment. Its very formation brought together multiple denominations in pursuit of a more faithful expression of the Church. To be a URC minister is to have been shaped in the context of being reformed and always reforming in a denomination that not only values being reformed and building unity, but was born from “Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei”, “The church reformed, always being reformed according to the Word of God.” My ministerial formation has been rooted in the conviction that Christian unity matters—that we can be deeply faithful to our own traditions while also working generously across them.

The URC has given me space to live this conviction in practice: through shared worship, collaborative ministry, and openness to the Spirit speaking through other voices and traditions. I have been formed by a community that has moved from just talking about being a multicultural church with an intercultural habit, and becoming anti-racist, to being in the process of seeking, diligently, to embody these principles. This experience has instilled in me a deep hope that visible unity in the Body of Christ is not only possible, but essential to our witness in the world today. 

A Statement from the Moderator of the Free Churches Group on the Passing of Pope Francis

Today the Free Churches Group join many around the world in expressing condolences to the global Catholic community, and in recognising the life and work of Pope Francis, who carried out his duties as one whose witness was rooted in love and the boundless mercy of God.

 He was a pioneer of conscience, courage, and conviction—one who refused to look away from suffering. He turned toward the wounded people and places of the world as a Gospel imperative, reminding us that God’s presence is not found in the triumphs of power but in the cries of the poor.

 He was a listening Pope - a leader who will be remembered.

 For a life poured out in service, we give thanks.

 May he rest in peace.

Photo by Annie Chen from Pexels,com

An Easter Message from the Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson, Moderator of the Free Churches Group

Friends in Christ,

 Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed!

This Easter Sunday we are awakened to a gift in the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Friends, this is good news! Resurrection is a gift that keeps unfolding, challenging every assumption that tells us this is just the way it is.

 When I greet you with the familiar words ‘Christ is risen, He is risen indeed’ I do so recognising the momentousness of what Christ’s rising truly means every day that follows Easter Sunday. Resurrection is God’s realm breaking into the here and now. It is an event that presents us with opportunities to reshape our understanding of God’s revolutionary commitment to loving us, embodied hope, and what it means to follow Christ. Therefore, it is fitting that it begins with celebration. And if we confine resurrection to the empty tomb, we risk missing the revolutionary horizon it opens before us.

We are called into resurrection and as resurrection people, who live in a world where far too many of God’s children know rejection more than welcome, silence more than dignity, neglect more than care, we do not have the luxury of viewing the empty tomb as the conclusion to a well-told story. It begins the story of what ’doing a new thing’ looks like.

It tells us that the world as we know it, with its systems of exclusion, its economies of abandonment, and its hierarchies of worth, is not the world as it has to be. Jesus was not raised into comfort, as evidenced by the wounds that were still in his hands. The trauma had not magically vanished—it was transfigured.

The call to be resurrection people summons us to involve ourselves in this unfolding event with our whole selves—flawed, fractured, different, yet made new. And this is an opportune moment to challenge ourselves and reflect inwardly on what kind of people we are becoming, and outwardly, on the character we are forming in our households, in our churches, and on our streets.

Resurrection is a movement that calls us to participate in our own transformation towards mercy that is costly, justice that is disruptive, and love that is not afraid to touch what others deem untouchable. To be resurrection people in this world of ours, is to live in a way that enables us to truly notice the rough sleeping figure outside the station, the asylum-seeking neighbour unsure of their welcome, the teenager whose hunger is masked by anger. It is to refuse to walk past, and to stop believing that these realities are someone else’s concern.

The Resurrection movement insists that even death-dealing systems cannot contain the life God brings forth. And so we cannot be content with just being polite disciples. For, we are called to be bold reflections of the One who dismantled barriers by his very presence. The One whose Resurrection was not a retreat into safety, but a commissioning into a risen way of life.

Friends, Easter is more than a celebration, it is a time to confront who and what we are becoming, and to recommit to a discipleship that embodies love fiercely, and seeks justice relentlessly.

And so, may we be transformed by the Resurrection in the lived witness of our lives.

Christ is risen—and so we must rise and be transformed. For He is risen, indeed!

Yours in Christ

Tessa

Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson

Moderator of the Free Churches Group 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The Free Churches Group welcomes a new Moderator

On the evening of 13th April, the American International Church on Tottenham Court Road, London, hosted a special service to mark the induction of the 62nd Moderator of the Free Churches Group (FCG). The church, a local church of the United Reformed Church, was filled with representatives of FCG Group Members, along with Tessa’s family, friends and supporters, who enjoyed a reception before the service began.

 The central focus of the service was the formal induction ceremony. Revd Helen Cameron, who has faithfully served as Moderator for the last three years, welcomed Tessa into her new role. After formally asking her “Will you endeavour to fulfil the duties of the office to the glory of God?” Tessa responded, “I will, God being my helper.”

Helen presented Tessa with the medal of office and a specially commissioned preaching stole, which she had worn to the King’s Coronation while representing the Free Churches.

 Tessa expressed heartfelt thanks to all those who have supported her and will continue to do so as she exercises this important ministry. She was formally greeted by representatives from each Group Member, from Churches Together in England, Cytûn, and finally by Revd Paul Rochester, General Secretary of the FCG.

 Tessa’s inaugural message as Moderator focused on diversity and generosity. After singing the hymn “The Church’s One Foundation” and a prayer time, the church’s organist played a composition by Florence Price, an African-American composer.

 The service ended with an expression of gratitude to Revd Helen Cameron for her exemplary service as Moderator. The congregation joined in singing “You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace.”

We are delighted to welcome Revd Tessa Henry-Robinson as the new Moderator of the FCG and are grateful for Revd Helen Cemeron's faithful leadership over the past three years.

 We hope you will join us in praying for both of them as they enter into new phases of their respective ministries.

There will be fuller coverage of the Induction in due course, but you can find out more about Revd Tessa here. Please follow this link for Tessa’s inaugural message. You can watch the service Here.

 A thank you from Paul Rochester, Free Churches Group General Secretary

 I personally want to thank the FCG Group Members for supporting the Induction Service for Revd Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson. We had great support from across the Free Churches, and I know that Tessa and her family were grateful for that. It was wonderful to be with you all, and I wish to thank God for an inspiring and comforting service. God is doing a great work in our world despite all the challenges we face. I hope that the Free Churches will continue to pray and seek God’s will so that we can fully participate in God’s mission, as it pleases Him.

 I want to formally thank Revd Helen Cameron for her work. It was inspirational to work with her, and I saw up close the many sacrifices she made to support and spearhead the FCG's work.

 I am sure that Helen will continue to be a great advocate for the FCG and the work we do. She will continue on the Board and support the FCG as the past Moderator.

 Let us pray for Tessa in her new role and remember Helen's work with fondness.

Photo credit: Andy Jackson/URC

Revd. Dr. Tessa Henry-Robinson's inaugural message during her induction service as Moderator of the Free Churches Group

Photo credit to Andy Jackson/URC

Greetings all —it is good to see all of you -Family, Friends, Colleagues, Acquaintances — all esteemed.

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer ~ Amen!

Here we are, met as the Free Churches Group — a diverse body, formed by different histories, shaped by different traditions, yet united…

…united by one unwavering truth: that Jesus Christ, the one who emptied self for love’s sake, calls us to walk the same revolutionary path of love — and we are called to involve ourselves in a love-driven discipleship that is generous, remembering that we are a group of Free churches…

…and so we are shaped by freedom, which is about what we have the right and responsibility to do — such as, the right to possess priceless, grace-filled-independence from state control…and responsibilities to discern and to live the Gospel as communities of conscience, and to follow Christ outside of rigid structures that too often suffocate the Spirit’s movement…

It is also about being responsible for steering clear of things that restrict our generosity towards each other. Oftentimes, we offer each other a lack of generosity, the same lack that is readily adapted and experienced as an acceptable approach in some of our churches and church based institutions…

But, as we walk this journey together, who we are, and what we need to become as the Free Churches Group, should remain at the forefront of our minds.

As incoming Moderator— called by God’s grace and mercy, to serve in this role for the next three (3) years, I intend to be sensitive, aware, and generous in my conversations, my exchanges, and in bringing my experience to bear in the movements of my office. In this role, a broader impact is afforded, and I recognise that my human-beingness means that I have the ability to impact people — in both good and bad ways. I need help praying that my impact on the people and situations I encounter, will be good — and that I will be generous in allowing people and situations of concern, to have a good impact on my inner-script, and my outward reaches.