Trustees

Nominated by the Board of Trustees

The Revd Dr Adrian Burdon has been a presbyter in the Methodist Church in Britain since 1988. After a first appointment in Rochdale, Adrian served as a Mission Partner in the Kingdom of Tonga where he was Principal of the Methodist Theological College. Returning to the UK in 2000, he has served as a Superintendent Minister in County Durham, Leeds, the Fylde Coast, Manchester and Shropshire. Adrian has chaired the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Writers’ Group since 2016. He has served in a number of positions with the Methodist Church in Britain at a national level. He has been a member of the Faith and Order Committee and convenor of its Liturgical Subcommittee, chair of the World Church Scholarship Programme and member of the Methodist Diaconal Order Support Group.

Nominated by the Board of Trustees

Born in 1941. Educated at English College Valladolid Spain and Christ’s College at the University of Cambridge. Ordained priest 1964. Financial Secretary for Diocese of Southwark from 1968 to 1998. Part of Millennium team at Church House 1998-2000. Parish Priest St. Mary’s Blackheath 2000 to date.

Trustee and Administrator of a number of charities, Chair of Governors of two schools, Member of Scrutiny Committees of two London Boroughs and Chair of the Historic Churches Committee for South of England.

Nominated by Unification Council of Cherubim and Seraphim Churches UK

Special Apostle Dr Richard Fasunloye is a member of the Unification Council of Cherubim and Seraphim Churches UK. He has previously represented his Church on a variety national and international ecumenical bodies, including the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe.

Nominated by the Church of Ireland

Rt Rev Andrew Forster was consecrated as the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe in the Church of Ireland in 2019. He was appointed Vice President of the Irish Council of Churches in 2020, and has served as President since 2022. He was appointed a trustee of CTBI in September 2020.

Nominated by The Methodist Church of Great Britain

Bala Gnanapragasam is a Sri Lanka-born British professional with a career spanning telecommunications, public service, and charitable governance.

He built a career in telecommunications, working with colleagues across the globe. Alongside his professional career, he developed a deep commitment to public service and social justice, which led to a wide range of governance and leadership roles.

He served two terms as a Labour Councillor in the London Borough of Lewisham, including a term on the Inner London Education Authority, where he played a key role in developing and implementing the Anti-Racist Statement for Schools, Colleges and Polytechnics in Inner London. He served as Vice chair of the ILEA and Vice-Chair of the Court of Central London Polytechnic.

He has also served as Chair of University Hospital Lewisham for 8 years.

His trustee and governance experience spans the charitable and healthcare sectors.

He has served as a Trustee of Methodist Homes.

He was a Trustee of Christian Aid for 8 years and Chaired Change Alliance Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned Indian subsidiary of Christian Aid.

He was a Trustee of the London HIV Chaplaincy.

He is the Chair of Dalit Solidarity Network UK -a small UK human rights advocacy charity.

Bala was elected Vice-President of the Methodist Conference for 2018–2019, through which he championed issues of poverty, refugee support, and social justice both in the UK and internationally.

He co-presented to The Methodist Churches conference the Church’s Justice Dignity Solidarity strategy having co-chaired the committee that developed the strategy.

More recently he chaired the Methodist Church’s Nominations Committee for the appointment of members of the significant committees of The Methodist Church.

He is the Secretary of the Westminster Central Hall Trust.

He brings to all his roles a collaborative, people-centred approach, a strong commitment to good governance and safeguarding, and extensive experience of working across cultures, faiths, and sectors.

Bishop Paul is auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and a member of the Bishops’ Conference Department for Dialogue and Unity. Within the department he has specific responsibility for engagement with the Ecumenical Instruments, and therefore ideally placed to act as a Trustee of CTBI.

Nominated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

Marc is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Leeds, ordained in July 2014. He is the National Ecumenical Officer for the Catholic Church in England and Wales (since 2025). He is also the Catholic chaplain to the universities in Leeds – a role he has held since 2019. Prior to his ecumenical role, he has served as the Director of the Youth Service in Leeds for nine years.

Having grown up in Kent, he moved to Leeds to study Mathematics and Primary Education at Trinity and All Saints College (now Leeds Trinity University). He was a primary school teacher before realising his call to the priesthood. He has studied at seminaries in Spain and in Rome.

Whilst he was born in England, his parents are Egyptian and Armenian-Lebanese. He speaks French at home, and has also learnt Italian and (some!) Spanish.

Nominated by ICC

Gillian was born and educated in Cork, Ireland, and has a degree in English from Trinity College, Dublin University. She is a Local Preacher in the Methodist Church in Ireland and a former Lay Leader of the Conference of that Church. She has been a member of the European Methodist Council and was Vice President of the World Methodist Council from 2014 until 2024. A former President of the Irish Council of Churches, she was Moderator of the Church Representatives’ Meeting of CTBI for a number of years. Having a life-long involvement in things ecumenical, nationally and further afield, she emphasises the significance of ecumenism at local level.

Nominated by The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)

A former clerk of the Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR), Mark represented The Religious Society of Friends as a member of CTE’s Enabling Group. Mark is currently Co-Chair of Churches Together in Lincoln and District.

In an earlier career as a lecturer in history, Mark’s work focussed on Reformation print media and, latterly, on representations of peace and conflict. Mark currently serves as a Quaker chaplain in higher education, working within a team of faith traditions in providing support to university members and promoting dialogue within the local community.

Co-opted – nominated by the Board of Trustees

Rosemarie has lived in the UK most of her life, after moving here from Barbados as a child. Her career post-University started in Tanzania, East Africa, where she worked as a historian and development sociologist. She also worked in Ethiopia as a gender and development consultant. She then moved back to Barbados and worked there as a Research Fellow in gender and development. After 2 years, she returned to the UK to undertake doctoral studies at the University of Warwick (1991 – 1994). This was undertaken alongside working as a Research Sociologist for the Medical Research Council, based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College in south London.

Through her commitment to bringing faith to the public square, Rosemarie discerned a call to ministry, and after ordination training was ordained in 2004. For 16 years, she served as a parish priest in inner-city churches in south London, and as chair of the board of governors of two local church schools. From 2015 to 2020, she also served as the Director of the Department of Justice, Peace & the Integrity of Creation in the Diocese of Southwark. In March 2021, she was appointed Archdeacon of Croydon, and in June 2022 was consecrated as Bishop of Croydon.

From 2010 to 2021, Rosemarie served as a member of the General Synod of the Church of England, as one of the Synod Chairs for 5 years, and on several Archbishop’s council committees, including Turning Up the Volume, the Women in the Episcopate Steering Committee and the Pastoral Advisory Group. Rosemarie is chair of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education and also Chair of the Church Commissioners’ Oversight Group Oversight Group to advise on response to historic links to transatlantic slavery.
Rosemarie is a Fellow of the Westminster Abbey Institute and a Visiting Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge.

Nominated by the Baptist Union of Great Britain

Rev Andrew Openshaw is currently a Regional Minister of the Central Baptist Association. He has been active in the life of the wider Baptist denomination throughout his ministry, serving both the Central and Eastern Baptist Associations in a variety of roles. He currently represents the Baptist Union at the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity.

Nominated by the Salvation Army

Jonathan has been The Salvation Army’s Divisional Commander for Wales since January 2024 and is a trustee of Cytûn.

After gaining a BA in Economics he entered the Salvation Army officer training college in 1984 and, following his commissioning and ordination in 1986, he led corps (local churches) for the next 19 years in South London and South Wales. During this time he gained a BA in Theology.

In 2006 Jonathan became the Divisional Commander (regional leader) in the East Midlands before moving to The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters in 2010 to take on a role in the Europe Department. While there he completed an Mth in Applied Theology.

Moving to Edinburgh in 2014 he became responsible for The Salvation Army’s public affairs and ecumenical work nationally, including as a trustee of Action of Churches Together in Scotland.

During the past decade Jonathan’s roles have included being editor of the Salvationist magazine and National Ecumenical Officer for The Salvation Army. He has also authored a book titled On the Altar.

Since 1986 Jonathan has been married to Jayne, who is also a Salvation Army officer. They have four adult children. He enjoys reading, writing, running and cycling.

Nominated by Cytûn, Churches Together in Wales

Kathryn Stowers is a Salvation Army officer, currently serving as Corps Officer (church leader) of the Newport Citadel Salvation Army and Denominational Ecumenical Officer for Wales.

Before entering fulltime ministry, Kathryn worked in Communications across the heritage sector in Wales and latterly as Communications Officer for the Monmouth Diocese of the Church in Wales. She has achieved degrees in Welsh Studies and Theology and a post-graduate diploma in Heritage Tourism. She entered training for ministry in 2016 and was ordained in 2018, commencing her officership by leading a small corps in Eston, on Teesside, for five years, and in 2023, was appointed to Newport and the Ecumenical role in Wales.

Kathryn was installed as the first ever Ecumenical Canon of Newport Cathedral in September 2024 and is active across ecumenical life in Wales, including representing on various national partnerships and is part of the Chaplaincy team at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show. In June 2026, she was appointed Chair of Trustees of Cytûn (Churches Together in Wales).

When Kathryn isn’t involved in ministry, she lives in Newport with her husband, 19yr old daughter and two beloved and extremely mischievous Yorkshire-born cats!

Co-opted – nominated by the Board of Trustees

Jamaican by birth, Pat grew up in Brixton in south London. She is a member of Brixton Baptist Church (Kenyon) where, as a teenager, she came to faith.

Having initially trained in art and design Pat later gained a degree in Psychology followed by a Diploma in Youth and Community Studies. After working in interior design for a period of time she responded to her Christian calling to work with young people. This career path saw Pat giving a significant period of her professional life to that of being Principal Youth Officer for a local authority. Pat went on to become a part time tutor and lecturer at the Oasis College on their Youth Work and Ministry Course.

Reflecting on her professional life, Pat’s work in her local church has been in children and youth ministry. She has served as a member of the Baptist Union Council and also as a Trustee and held the role of Moderator for the Union’s Racial Justice Working Group for a number of years. During this period she contributed a great deal to the enormous expansion of the Baptist Union’s race justice work, the two most significant being (i) the various proactive work which led to the Union’s appointment of its first National Secretary for Racial Justice and (ii) the Baptist Union Council’s Apology for Denominational perpetuation of Transatlantic Slavery. The Apology was presented in 2007 to the Jamaican Baptist Union.

Ecumenically Pat has had an active involvement in the Council of European Churches Assemblies and with the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) where she served as Deputy Moderator for two terms. Her earlier involvement in Churches Together in Britain and Ireland was through the Race Justice Desk, namely, The Churches’ Commission for Racial Justice.

Pat was, for a number of years, Deputy Moderator for the CCRJ and Moderator for CCRJ Ecumenical Racial Justice Fund.

Pat’s personal interest in race justice matters, over a number of years, continues to be a subject she takes into all areas of her voluntary work.

She serves on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU) Writers Group. Pat also supports CTBI’s partnership work with The Synergy Network; this initiative aims to address the problem of serious violence affecting young people.

Pat is a Lay Magistrate on both the Youth and Adult Benches, having served in this capacity for a number of years.