He was born at Dursley, Glos. and educated at Truro School, St. John's College, Cambridge and Hartley Victoria College. From 1953 to 1955 he was an area secretary for the SCM. After circuit work in the north of England, he returned to Hartley Victoria College as tutor (1969-1973; senior tutor (1973-1978) and Principal (1978-1982). He was Chairman of the East Anglia District from 1983 to 1993. He served on several connexional committees and on the main committee for Hymns and Psalms, becoming its chairman in 1980. The book includes two of his hymns: HP 584 and 765 (678 in SF). He also chaired the MRDF Trustees and the Board of Management for Methodist Independent Schools and was co-chair of the Methodist-Roman Catholic consultations.
He edited Worship for Today (1968), contributed to Towards a Radical Church (1969) and published How Goes Christian Marriage? (1978), Groundwork of Worship and Preaching (1980), Groundwork of Chrsitian Ethics (1984) and What to Do? Christians and Ethics (1999). He gave the Peake Memorial Lecture on 'the many shapes and forms of the Christian mission' in 1980 and edited the Epworth Review 1992-2005. He was awarded an honorary DD by Hull University in 1989.