Robin Dowling, a well-known former Grace Baptist pastor, missionary and theologian, departed to be with Christ on 31 July 2020.
He will be sorely missed as a much-loved husband, father and grandfather. He served his generation in the ministry of the gospel from the 1970s till fairly recently. Coming from Bristol, he was well known amongst churches there when he took on the pastorate at Salem Baptist Church in Kew, Richmond, Surrey in the late 1970s. He immersed himself in encouraging Grace Baptist Churches, serving the Association of Grace Baptist Churches (South East).
He served for some years as Chairman of the Association of Grace Baptist Churches, and was involved with the Grace Baptist Assembly in the 1980s. He and Clara became missionaries, serving with Grace Baptist Mission in the late 1980s, with Robin serving as Theological Lecturer at the Biblical Seminary in Medellin, Columbia.
Family issues brought them home in the late 1990s where he was called to the pastorate at Titmuss Avenue Baptist Church in Thamesmead. Together with a local pastor, Simon Bowkett, he pioneered a training ministry called ‘The Divine Relay’, and he was much used to help and equip young men for ministry – then and now, the baton always needs to be passed on. He returned to ministry back in Bristol in Pucklechurch.
A unique opportunity came, tying in with family needs, when in 2007 he became pastor at High Road Baptist Church, North Finchley, and also lectured on the faculty at Oak Hill College on a part-time basis. He retired in 2014.
