George Bailey, M.A., Ph.D., Lecturer in Mission and Wesleyan Studies, Cliff College

George is a Methodist minister with ten years’ experience in urban and suburban churches in Leeds. Since 2014, his ministry comprises two half time roles, as lecturer at Cliff College, and as a minister in the Leeds North and East Circuit of the Methodist Church. Before entering ministry he worked as a primary school teacher and for the Probation Service. However, prior to these roles, he began as a student of theology; seeking a systematic, relevant, contextual theology to underpin and shape the mission of the Church and his own various roles within it is a consistent passion. George has an MA in Contextual Theology, and developing themes from within his research for this degree, which was associated with his Probation Service context and the rehabilitation of offenders, explored deeper into the contours of Wesleyan theology. This led to a Ph.D. thesis on the systematic relationships between the experience and theology of sanctification, in discussion with John Wesley on perfection and Gregory Palamas on deification. He continues to develop research interests in Wesleyan theology, and theologies of sanctification and holiness across a spectrum of Christian traditions. For four years, George was a District Ecumenical Officer for the Methodist Church, and has been minister for three Local Ecumenical Partnership churches; he is committed to establishing practical and theological partnerships for mission and holiness.

Publications

“’But Jesus concealed himself – Probably by becoming invisible’ (John Wesley’s NT Notes: John 8:59). Making the invisible Christ visible: problems and opportunities for Wesleyan Christology," in Holiness: The Journal of Wesley House Cambridge, Oct 2017

“Entire Sanctification and Theological Method: A Wesleyan Dynamic for discovering good news in every context” in Greggs, T., ed., New Perspectives for Evangelical Theology: Engaging with God, Scripture and the World, London: Routledge, 2010.