About The Author
Steve P. Jakeman
Rev. Steve’s career is certainly an eclectic one. He was born in 1958 in Leamington Spa, which is in Warwickshire, ‘Shakespeare Country’, in the UK. At the age of seventeen, he felt called to Ministry, but life took another direction. Whether it was selling things in shops or working for the Ministry of Defence, a brief period in life assurance sales, an even briefer period as a painter of ceramic figurines and miniatures, and an unforgettable year as a motorcycle courier. – it seems that Steve has experienced almost everything, yet through all the years the whisper about the ministry never stopped.
After thirty years, Steve finally decided to take his call seriously. He pursued ordination in the Methodist Church, filling his life with all things holy and letting Christ take care of everything. Methodism places the Sacraments (Baptism and Holy Communion) and the Word of God at the forefront of the Christian life. We learn what it means to live in the presence of Christ and to realise the power we have in our baptism. The Christian life revolves around these holy mysteries in which God has revealed himself and given himself to us. He empowers us to live a life of holiness. God is with us, and God empowers us.
A Pilgrimage Begins
The turning point came in 2018, when a seminar held at Jerusalem’s International School for Holocaust Studies reawakened Steve’s long-time interest in the Holy Land. He knew he had to make a return visit, so decided to take the next step and make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Galilee, which he did in January 2020, just before the Covid epidemic took hold across the planet. The epidemic, and the subsequent conflict in that part of the world, put paid to Steve’s next step of leading his own Pilgrimage tour to the Holy Land. A further opportunity to lead an organised pilgrimage, this time to Italy and Germany for the 2020 Oberammergau Passion Play was also postponed. Eventually he was able to lead this memorable and spiritually uplifting trip in June 2022.
Reflections and New Insights
Steve was upset not to be able to take a band of pilgrims to visit the Holy Land, due to the tense circumstances in the Middle East. He pondered on ways that he might be able to share the experience with others, an encounter that has a profound effect on those who experience it.
In 2022, the Methodist Church granted Steve a three-month sabbatical. This gave him the ideal opportunity to reflect on his travels. He had a revelation – he could distil his insights about the Holy Land – the so-called “Fifth Gospel” – into writing. Thus, enabling readers to have a vicarious experience of a pilgrimage that was unattainable for those who cannot visit the Holy Land physically, for whatever reason.
Family
Steve lives in the small Northumbrian coastal port of Amble by the Sea, sharing his life with his wife Sue. The rest of his family reside in Warwickshire – a stepdaughter, Sarah; four grandchildren, Michael, Harriet, Zachary, and Finlay; two great-granddaughters; and two great-grandsons. He has a sister, Chrissie, living in Cornwall.
Born in Leamington Spa in 1958, Rev. Steve P. Jakeman felt a calling to Ministry at 17 but did not pursue it as he did not feel ready. He went on to have careers in retail and the Ministry of Defence, as well as a failed attempt at selling life insurance and a brief stint as a motorcycle courier. However, Steve felt numerous nudges from God over the years and finally put himself forward as a candidate for Ministry in the Methodist Church 33 years after his initial calling.
Steve’s love for the Holy Land was reignited in 2018 when he attended a seminar at the International School for Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem and had the opportunity to visit the Old City and the Israel Museum. This led him to take a clergy familiarisation pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Galilee, and its surroundings in January 2020 to relate the Gospel writings to the landscape.
In May 2022, Steve P. Jakeman was granted a three-month sabbatical by the Methodist Church to share his experiences and studies of the Holy Land and the Fifth Gospel in a book. Steve is married to Sue and has a stepdaughter and four grandchildren now i also have two great granddaughters.
