The task of autobiography is not lightly to be undertaken, but when done well as it is exceptionally well accomplished here, it brings together in very creative form the insights of analyst, observer and participant. The journey too is significant, from birth to China Inland Mission parents in war-torn China, life in frugal post-war Baptist manses, an educational flourishing at King Edward vii school, Lytham, on the Lancashire coast leading to ‘A’ levels in science and a state scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, changing to theology for part ii of the Tripos. Thereafter he trained for the Baptist ministry and served for ten years in local pastorates before thirteen years on the staff of Bristol Baptist College, seven years working for the Council of Churches in Britain and Ireland and finally eight years as General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches, 1997–2005. As with his outstanding biography of Joseph Oldham, not only is the named subject well served, but wisdom is shed more widely on the history of developing ecumenical relationships. Thus what we have here is a work which is part history, part theology, part autobiography and part criticism and confession.

A perceptive undergraduate's view of the challenging theological scene in the Cambridge of the 1960s sheds important light on a critical period of English church history as it also reflects his own intellectual wrestling with difficult theological issues in which figures like Barth and Bonhoeffer played an increasingly important part. But mental exploration is never undertaken in a vacuum – it is either prompted by experience or leads to changed commitments. Thus ministerial formation in Oxford was soon tested in pastoral experience, first in the north of England and then in greater Bristol, with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. This second pastorate led almost seamlessly into the next phase of ministry as he came to combine his pastoral duties at Downend with a part-time appointment as Tutor in Lay Training at Bristol Baptist College which after six years led to a full-time appointment at the college.

In this process much ecumenical experience was garnered alongside the need to engage in realistic evaluation of the role of Christian laymen in secular life, though submitting the so-called ‘secular theology’ of the time to critical scrutiny in one of his earliest publications. Taking the laity movement seriously necessarily meant contact with Germany with its more developed programme of lay academies and of the large-scale Kirchentag movement. This deepened his European perspective on Christian witness and chimed with his increasing interest in Bonhoeffer, strengthened by his meeting with Eberhard and Renate Bethge, respectively Bonhoeffer's biographer and niece.

Visits to the German Democratic Republic and to South Africa both gave him first-hand experience of Christians living under oppressive regimes and raised questions about what might be proper Christian patriotism in the context of western democracies which became particularly important in the context of the Falklands War. Championing the cause of the black and ‘coloured’ people of South Africa led to a need to challenge existing denominational attitudes which were slow to perceive the failure of an inherited pietism which failed to see that retreat to such language masked a lack of realistic understanding of and challenge to systems of oppression. But this was no mere frothy activism, for alongside this engagement was an increasing involvement with the work of Faith and Order.

All this was excellent preparation for fifteen years of outstanding ecumenical leadership, first as International Secretary of the newly-established Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, and then as General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches. In these positions. rather than recorder and analyst he became a participant, not just in his own name, but in helping the Churches of Britain and Europe to find a voice in public affairs. The geographical scope of the work widened, and since he was never satisfied with the superficial he was led to further study of the witness of the Churches in the Middle East, in East Africa and the Balkans and further deeper reflection on the nature of faithful discipleship in a world of multiple contradictions. Whilst formal achievements may be listed, such as securing the reception of the Charta oecumenica by the Churches both of CEC and those associated with the (Roman Catholic) Council of Episcopal Conferences in Europe, there is a deeper level at which his tireless travelling, listening, writing, speaking and developing of relationships brought life and strength and vision to the European oikoumene.

From such an advantage point of expert participation in both building routine but crucial relationships, and handling ever-emerging crises, both ecclesiastical and global, Clements offers an incisive analysis of ecclesial involvement in international affairs in a vital period of developing politics, finding religious integrity in the struggle to uphold the human rights of all peoples rather than championing confessional chauvinism, thereby providing an account that no historian of the Church in this period can afford to ignore.