Father, whose Son called children to him,
we pray for boys and girls everywhere,
that their childhood may be filled with laughter and happiness.
As they learn so many facts
and enter into so many new experiences,
may they learn of your love,
and how to serve Jesus as Master and Lord.

This simple prayer is one of the many written by Bernard Thorogood (1927-2020). Ordained as a minister in the Congregational Church he opted to serve as a missionary in the South Pacific for many years. He then served as General Secretary of Council World Mission from 1970 to 1980 and General Secretary of the newly formed United Reformed Church from 1980 to 1992. He encouraged many Local Ecumenical Projects (LEPs) with the Methodists and other denominations and served with the British Council of Churches (now Churches Together in Britain and Ireland) and the World Council of Churches. Described as a multi-talented gentle giant, who was both gracious and godly, Thorogood retired to Sydney in Australia in 1992 but then wrote extensively. He was keen to unearth new ways of being the Church in the twenty-first century.