John de Beer is passionate about supporting congregations to strengthen the vocation of all members. This interest in the ministry of the laity has been a constant theme in his own vocation.

John is currently serving St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Weston, Massachusetts, as Interim priest, a position he has held since May 2005. Previously he was Rector of St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal Church in Severna Park, Maryland, together with his wife Tricia de Beer, who is now the Rector at the Church of Our Redeemer in Lexington, Massachusetts. Tricia and John have two grown sons and one granddaughter.

Prior to moving to Maryland, John served as Congregation Development Consultant for the Diocese of South Florida. For eight years before that he was the Education Director for the Theology Extension Center at the University of the South, where he participated in the development of the Education for Ministry Program.

John was born and ordained in South Africa, where he served as an assistant priest in a parish and on the staff of the Diocese of Johannesburg.

Highlights of his education and writing are as follows:

• Doctor of Ministry in Congregational Development, 2005 Seabury Institute, Evanston, Illinois
• Master of Arts, Theology, 1969 University of Oxford, England
• B. Sc., Mathematics, Physics, 1966 University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

• The Art of Theological Reflection , Crossroad, New York, 1994. (With Patricia O’Connell Killen)
• Congregation as Sacramental Community, OACES Inc., Tulsa, 1991. (With Richard Brewer and Angela Hock)
• Until We Are Free: A Study Guide to South Africa’s Moment of Truth. Friendship Press, New York, 1988. (With Patricia de Beer)

John’s hobbies are kayaking, reading, movies, scrabble and hiking.

You may contact him at connect.john@gmail.org or at 781-652-1502