- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday September 20 2000 03.52 BST
Born to industrious working-class parents in Crewe, Wakefield was steeped in Methodism. His childhood was marred by health problems, including a bout of rheumatic fever, the legacy of which he carried all his life. He began preaching at the age of 16 and, a year after being turned down for military service in 1939, was accepted as a candidate for the ministry.
In 1944, he worked as a pre-collegiate probationer in the Finchley and Hendon Methodist circuit and, in 1946, was sent to Wesley House, Cambridge. He served his first station as a probationer in Woodstock, on the Oxford circuit, followed by periods in Stockport, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Bristol.
Gordon's immense knowledge of English literature, and command of the language, found expression not only in the enormous range of literary references in his sermons, but also in his wonderful extempore prayers, which were filled with images from scripture and hymnary, in an age when many are thrown back on written anthologies.
In 1963, he became connexional editor of the Methodist church, a post he held for eight years and which brought him into close contact with John Bowden, of the SCM Press, and Noel Davey, of the Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). In this role, he scrutinised mountains of manuscripts and enabled the publication of many important texts.
His own literary production began with the published version of his Fernley- Hartley lecture on Puritan devotion. He wrote for many journals on a wide range of subjects, including a series in the Expository Times on modern English poets. His life of Bunyan, Bunyan The Christian, was published in 1993, and his Groundwork Of Worship is due to appear shortly.
In 1971, Gordon became chairman of the Manchester and Stockport Methodist district, a post in which he did more good work than he knew, although he seemed surprisingly uneasy in the role. He did not like to exercise discipline, but his unwillingness to be judgmental endeared him to many, for they knew that he would always listen attentively both to the troubled and the troublers.
This was true also of his relationship with ordinands and student ministers in his post at Queen's, where, as a passionate ecumenist, he found his real home. His immense contribution was recognised in 1986 by the then Archbishop of Canterbury in the award of a Lambeth DD. He was proud of his connections with the church of England; he knew more bishops than most bishops and delighted in his relationships with them. He was a great raconteur.Hundreds of students knew him simply as Gordon, and affectionately imitated his melodious voice in the college concerts.
Above all, Gordon Wakefield was a connexional person, in the Methodist sense of being very proud to be a preacher in connexion with the Methodist conference. He was also connexional in knowing how to hold together the Puritan and Methodist traditions. He was both a sacramentalist and skilled in leading free worship. He will be sorely missed, especially by those who depended on his sermons in the Methodist Recorder.
He leaves his wife Beryl - to whom he acknowledged his deep indebtedness for providing the stable, loving relationship which allowed him to achieve so much - and his children, Adrian, Helen, Pamela and Penny.
• Gordon Stevens Wakefield, clergyman and writer, born January 15 1921; died September 11 2000
