Former Methodist minister Jim Rea pens book for the people

GRAEME COUSINS talks to Jim Rea about a new book he has written celebrating everyday people he has met over the years
Rev Jim ReaRev Jim Rea
Rev Jim Rea

Former Methodist minister Jim Rea has north Belfast woman Hilda Kennedy and obstetrician Jack Pinkerton to thank for the fact he is able to sit in his east Belfast home and talk to journalists like myself about the collection of stories he has recently published.

In April 1945 it looked unlikely that Jim or his mother would survive a seriously complicated pregnancy.

Jim’s father Billy turned to Hilda for help.

The Rev Jim Rea signs copies of his new book 'Stories from the Streets and Beyond' at a Portadown receptionThe Rev Jim Rea signs copies of his new book 'Stories from the Streets and Beyond' at a Portadown reception
The Rev Jim Rea signs copies of his new book 'Stories from the Streets and Beyond' at a Portadown reception
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Jim said: “Hilda was a neighbour of my grandmother. She lived in Ottawa Street, in a two up, two down house.

“When this situation arose he went in to speak to her with a view of sharing his burden. She got down on her knees and prayed with my father.

“Later that day he went off to the maternity hospital. When he got to the Royal this obstetrician had a baby in his arms, just born – this was me.

“My father was told the situation was pretty grim because my mother couldn’t have a natural birth.

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“You have to remember that a caesarian section which is a common thing to do these days, in 1945, was not.

“That obstetrician – Professor Jack Pinkerton – became a pioneer of that kind of surgery.

“I never met him but my father always told me about him.

“Then one day in 1969 I was at Queen’s Theological College and he was giving a lecture on medical ethics. I took him aside and thanked him for saving my life.

Jim (centre) and fellow colleagues at Ordination in Bangor in 1973Jim (centre) and fellow colleagues at Ordination in Bangor in 1973
Jim (centre) and fellow colleagues at Ordination in Bangor in 1973

“He went on to become the chair at Queen’s University in gynaecology and obstetrics, a world leader in his field, and also a generous supporter of East Belfast Mission (of which Jim was a founder).

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“Every now and again I’d get a cheque from him to support the homeless work that we were doing with the East Belfast Mission.”

Shortly after Jim was born his father brought him to Hilda’s house where their prayers had been answered: “Hilda prayed again that I would be a preacher.

“That was never my aspiration. Although I was brought up in a religious background I never saw the possibility of entering the ministry.

“I knocked about with fellas who mitched school, I was a bit of a rascal. I left school at 15 without any qualifications whatsoever.”

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He continued: “My call to the ministry came when I was converted through the Pentecostal church. I met up later with a man called Sydney Callaghan from Dublin who became a very radical minister on the Shankill.

“Whatever he had, I felt God was calling me to the ministry through Sydney.

“Over a period of years I studied and made it into the ministry.

“It’s something I’ve never ever regretted. It’s been a great privilege to be a minister and a pastor and care for people.”

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Jim worked on the Newtownards Road for 21 years where he founded the East Belfast Mission in 1985.

He was later stationed in Portadown and was involved in mediation to diffuse the impasse at Drumcree.

“I’ve been in all sorts of difficult situations,” said Jim, who worked almost exclusively in conflict areas during the Troubles and witnessed some of its most horrific events.

“I was ministering through the worst of the Troubles and experienced the death and destruction that was happening on all sides.

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“Some of the stories are quite horrific. One of the most memorable tragedies that I experienced was how this young man – he was the goalkeeper for our old boys football team – became friends with the security man who worked at the Iceland store in the Orby area. The security guard was a Catholic, the young man was a Protestant. They were both fans of Manchester United, the security man would have brought him programmes and stuff from Manchester.

“One day someone on came past on a bicycle and shot him dead. The young goalkeeper has missed it by a matter of seconds. He was in absolute trauma over all of this.

“I went to the parish priest to try to talk it out, the young fella came with me to say to Father Eamonn O’Brien with whom I was very good friends, that he did not want to be associated with this murder. He said the man was his friend.

“When the Ormeau Road situation arose I remember a nurse who was part of our congregation, she stayed in the City Hospital in the room of a 15-year-old boy who had been shot dead. She had to wait until the family came to get the bad news.

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“That led to me taking her to see a parish priest to allow her to express how traumatic and awful the situation was.

“These were people who had real compassion and love and no sense of bigotry. There were people like that all over the place.

“I think there were lots of people in east Belfast who wanted to get on with their neighbours but they were frightened, intimidated by paramilitaries. That was true of both the IRA and the UVF and UDA.”

Jim interjects: “But that’s not what this book is about. Not much of my experience of the Troubles is in this book because I want it to be an uplifting book.

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“It is essentially a Christian book but it’s not hitting you up the face with the Bible. It’s trying to engage with people about the Christian faith in a way which might make them think.

“There’s a lot of people out there who don’t read very much, this book is for them. I want this book to be something that will help people, encourage them, make them think. It’s not a book about me. The stories relate to me but the book is not about me.”

He added: “The other aspect to the book is to give honour to some ordinary people, people like Stevie Rutherford who discovered George Best.

“History will record that Manchester United scout Bob Bishop discovered George Best, but in the first instance it was Stevie, my old friend who lived beside him in the Cregagh estate.

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“What I discovered after this book is that Stevie bought George Best his first pair of football boots. It was pointed out to me by his grand niece when she read the story.”

Jim was elected president of the Methodist Church in Ireland in 2003, prior to being awarded an MBE in 1995.

He is a regular on BBC Radio Ulster’s Thought For The Day and Downtown’s Just A Moment as well as writing a religious column in the News Letter.

In 2014 his portrait featured in a ‘Quiet Peacemakers’ art exhibition by Susan Hughes.

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Jim’s book contains a series of great chapter titles like ‘Albert The Nazi And The Mystery New Testament’ which demand further investigation. It provides much humour, for example in the story of the man who couldn’t reverse his car.

Jim said: “His brother used to said to me, ‘I’m going mad about our Jack he’s pulling the car out of the driveway with a rope’.”

Jim spoke of one story that didn’t make the book about the importance of generosity “in the now”.

He said: “My grandad was a poor man. His watch was probably the most valuable possession he had. I remember he said to me, ‘when I die you’ll get this watch’.

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“One day I’m sitting in the house with him and he said to me, ‘what’s that watch you’re wearing?’ I took off this old cheap Timex watch and handed it to him. He handed me his watch and said, ‘I’ll take your watch and you have mine’. I resisted, but he said, ‘I want to have the joy of giving it to you now’.

“The idea is if you’re prompted to do a generous thing, don’t delay, do it. I’ve given the watch to my son. I’ve found that through life there’s a joy in doing something for a person in the now.”

Jim said the original inspiration to write a book came from a former member of his congregation: “Many years ago there was a young woman at a church where I was minister in Co Fermanagh. Many years later she sent me a gift of money and said I should write a book. How she had come to that conclusion I wasn’t sure but she’d probably heard some of my stories in the pulpit.”

In his book Jim recounts a Bible story with a twist: “One of my friends Roy, now a Methodist minister, tells a hilarious story of his early days working in Sandy Row in Belfast. In a local primary school he asked the class this question: ‘What is the purpose of the Bible?’

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“Quickly a wee lad responded, ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘it’s to houl open the windy to help my granny breathe’.

“Roy confirms that later he walked down the little street where the wee boy lived, only to see, much to his amazement, a wee Bible propping up the window.

“Every time I recall that story I rock with laughter.”

Elsewhere in the book Jim tells the story of Harry Toft, a pastor at the Pentecostal Church in Ballysillan, whose father – known as ‘The Human Corkscrew’ – had been a rugby union player in the Swansea team who beat Australia on Boxing Day 1908.

As his life came to an end he told his son, ‘I used to think that the greatest moment of my life was the day when we beat Australia, but Harry, I tell you, the greatest day of my life was when I met Jesus Christ’.