The Christian Ministry of Michael Buss

March 1958:
Religious conversion at the age of 16 years.
Joined Rosehill Methodist Church, Derby. Became Sunday School Teacher.
Trained and qualified as a Methodist Local Preacher.

September 1962 - June 1966:
Undergraduate at London Bible College, Marylebone Road, London. Gained London University Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) and Associate Diploma of London Bible College.

October 1966:
Ordained to the ministry by the Rev. Jack Graham of Highgate Chapel and inducted as Pastor of Tollington Park Baptist Church, Islington, London. Served here for 8 years.
During this time taught Religious Education at Holloway Comprehensive School for one year, lectured at the Kensit Memorial College (North London Theological Seminary) for one year, then worked for three years at an editor of The Evangelical Times, with Peter Masters and David Potter.

April 1975 to 1980:
Commenced ministry at Kingston Reformed Church, Hull, and served there for five years. The church has now been renamed to Kingston Evangelical Church.

1980 to 1982:
Moved to Foston-on-the-Wolds, East Yorkshire, to run our own family business and do freelance ministry.

Autumn 1982 to 1986:
Accepted an invitation to be the pastor of Lansdowne Baptist Church, Bournemouth, in succession to the Rev. Harry Kilbride. Worked here for four years.

October 1986:
Left Lansdowne Baptist Church under a cloud big enough to swamp the entire south coast (when I discovered Harry Kilbride getting wet under the same cloud), and also quit the Christian ministry.

Post Christian Liberation: 1986 -
Since then life just got better! Moved to Shaftesbury and discovered real people. Ran my own contruction company for a few years before re-training as a Systems Analyst/Programmer. Worked for several years in Trowbridge with Wiltshire County Council and Capita Group plc before taking the plunge to sell up everything and become a computer contractor in the United States. Apart from missing my family, this was a good move - and nine years later am married again, with a great home and a great life.

Tollington Park Baptist Church - 1966 to 1974

I was fresh from Bible College in the fall of 1966 when I became the pastor of Tollington Park Baptist Church, Islington, North London. A mere lad of 24, I had been married for only three months to Jill Preston, who also graduated from London Bible College that same hot summer.

By October, the nights were drawing in. We had no car - indeed, I had not even got a driving licence - so travel was an almost never ending trail of buses, the tube and walking: miles and miles of walking. On an evening in that October people crowded into the pine pewed church to hear the preaching of the mighty Jack Graham from Highgate Chapel, where I had become a member during my time at London Bible College. He asked me searching questions about my sense of call to Christ and the Christian ministry. The Church Secretary, John Richardson, gave an account of how the church sensed its leading to call me to be its new pastor. And then they all gathered round me as I knelt on the platform in front of the congregation. Hands pressed upon my head and shoulders - and they prayed. I was now in the ministry, appointed by God to preach the Gospel, minister the Word and build the church in Tollington Park.

The people dissolved into the darkness and Jill and I walked through the darkness to Finsbury Park underground station to catch the tube train back to Balham where, for a few more days, we would live in our little apartment. Standing on the platform, waiting for the rush of air laden with the smell of oxone and oil that signalled the arrival of the next train, came one of those moments when you know life has suddenly changed. I was no longer just Michael Buss, student, from Derby. I was now a married man, a Baptist Minister, The Reverend Michael Buss, B.D., A.L.B.C. The shy, embarrased boy from Derby Central School had become a professional man enlisted in the holy service of the living God.

I could never have believed I would have survived at TP (Tollington Park) for eight years. My much revered Principal at London Bible College, Dr. Ernest Kevan, had shared this wisdom: go to your first church for about 3 years, make all your mistakes, then move on and get settled into a long pastorate. Naturally I didn't share this with the deacons, but the three year escape window became my first survival target in the event of things not going too well. It was a wise dictum anyway. How can any church or new minister have any idea what may happen with a raw, untried pastor? I was soon to join the FI.E.C. - the Fellowship of Independent Churches, which body also required a 3 year probationary period before a new minister would be on its books as fully accredited.

By the end of October Jill and I had moved to a sweet little manse in Hornsey, about 2 miles from the church. Second in a row of town houses with roses in the front garden, and a small concrete yard, lawn and flower beds in the rear, this house would be our home for the entire period. Our starting salary, was £12 a week. If that sounds very low - it was. But the house was free, and the household bills (telephone, gas and electricity) were paid for by the church. I also had a book and travel allowance, and a three weeks vacation a year. It was still barely sufficient, and were it not for my taking additional work to supplement our income we would never have survived.

The duties of my first pastorate were genial enough. But more of this later ...

Kingston Reformed Church - 1975 to 1980

I arrived at Kingston Reformed Church, Hull, in 1975, not long after its first pastor, the Rev. Terence Aldrich had resigned. Aldgridge had succeeded in splitting Trafalgar Street Church - only a mile or so away - over the issue of Reformed doctrine. He and his break away bunch negotiated the purchase of a small sanctuary, originally built by the Christian Brethren.

Terence Aldridge's pulpit manner was that of a mighty Teutonic Luther. His brisk, clipped delivery and ample knowledge of Reformed and Puritan history combined to make his ministry both inspiring and erudite - though at times incomprehensible to the common man. His ego was not satified in such a small, out of the way, location and it became known to me that his heart was set on the pulpit of Westminster Chapel, London which had been the scene of the world famous labors of Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones. If he (MLJ) has risen to this pulpit from the back woods of Wales as a physician, then Aldridge saw a certain symmetry in his hoped-for succession to the same pulpit as a dentist from Hull!

But too many people saw through the pretence and sham of this man. As the one who followed him as pastor at Kingston Reformed Church (KRC) I had only to spend time with the members to uncover a litany of complaints about his arrogance, bullying methods and insensitivity. Here was the paralled - I could see the quality of the dentist's works by looking in the mouths of his patients - the lives of his church members.

I passed on the opinion that from what I had seen at KRC Aldrich was in no way qualified to succeed the Doctor at Westminster Chapel. Somehow this reached Aldrich's ears, and a few days later he was on the phone to me threatening to sue me if I did not withdraw those remarks. Exactly why I agreed to meet his at a service station half way down the M1, on the way to London, I'm not sure. But I met him there anyway and the argument was resumed face to face. I was not going to back down on what I said, and Aldrich ranted on about the high standing he held in the esteem of such man as Ian Tait - the highly revered pastor of a church in Welwyn. At least the treat of a law suit was withdrawn!

He was really pissed off because his father - who also lived in Hull not long before I was called there, had married a young lady by the name of Barbara Staines and changed his will in her favor. Aldrich senior had become wealthy by the invention of the machine that pressed aluminium tops on to milk bottles. His inheritance was of no small value, and Aldrige saw it all going to the new young woman who now attended KRC. When the old man died, Terence Aldrich pursued a most scurrilous personal campaign to have Barbara give up part or all of the money to himself. This may even have included the house in Hessle in which she now lived as a widow.

In any event - Aldrich left the scene and I'm not sure he ever got a call to any other church.

After Aldrich went I pastored the church for 5 years during which time the initial dream descended into a nightmare.

I resigned in 1980, after which the Rev. Paul Cook eventually became the pastor. He brought a great deal of life and attention to the church, especially when he organised his Heritage Day in Hull.

An article from the (Nov 2002) Evangelical Times details the events leading up to the induction of the present pastor, the Rev. Dennis Hill.

Somewhere down the line the church saw fit to drop "Reformed" from its title and became Kingston Evangelical Church.

Grace Christian Church - 1980 - 1982

A touch of sweetness.

Landowne Baptist Church - 1982 to 1986

Crescendo and crash.

Escape from the Ministry

The best was now to come.