Christian Institute (CI) founder John Burn has died aged 86 following a long illness. His death on 25 October comes eight months after the sudden death of CI director Colin Hart in March.
Originally a science teacher, John’s work in improving standards in schools brought him an OBE for services to education. While a lay reader in the Diocese of Newcastle at Jesmond Parish Church, John was invited to be a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Urban Priority Areas.
Speaking into the public square
In the late 1980s, he hosted an education conference for Christians where he met Colin, who was beginning his teaching career in Gosforth. They felt too few Christians were speaking out faithfully in the public square, and with John’s encouragement, Colin left teaching to set up The Christian Institute. John became chairman and Colin was the director.
The two also formed a Christian school in Gateshead (Emmanuel City Technology College) with funding from Christian businessman Sir Peter Vardy. John became its Principal in 1993 and established its reputation as an outstanding institution with a clear Christian ethos and excellent academic results.
He stepped down in 1998 to became an education consultant and went on to establish three more academies. John chaired the CI until 2021 but continued his involvement with CI as a trustee. He left no surviving family.
Simon Calvert, deputy director if the CI, said: ‘It has been a difficult year for the Institute… But we know that both of them [John and Colin] now stand in that great cloud of heavenly witnesses to God’s saving and sustaining grace.’
Tributes to John can be found on the CI website.
