Paul passed into the Father’s house a few days ago, and it is still quite hard to grasp the fact that someone who had so much life in him is no longer here. He leaves behind his wife, Avril, sons Andrew and Mark, their wives Emily and Abby, daughters Julie and Anya and Julia’s husband Peter, and two new grandchildren, Luca and Rosie, as well as his elder brother Stephen and younger sister Rosemary.
The very large crowd at his Thanksgiving Service on 27th June testified to the huge respect in which he was held, and the tributes to him were sincere and moving.
Many will know Paul from the eight or so years that he spent as the FFTN Grants manager. A generous gift from the Genesis Foundation in Sydney, Australia allowed us to employ him on a 3-day-a-week basis to see if this fledgling FFTN vision could work. He came from the YFC EMENA Area Team Eastern Europe office, where he served with distinction for around ten years. He began with FFTN in October 2016, only stepping back at the start of 2024, by which time he had given his full approval to the man he had mentored as his replacement, Micheal Oluwafunmilade.
For me, Paul was the ideal right-hand-man, taking ideas and turning them into working procedures, and meticulously overseeing every aspect of the funding process. He was a genius with detail – “he had spreadsheets for spreadsheets” as someone said – terrific to work with, tech-savvy, clear-thinking and precise.
Some of the words used to describe him at the service were:
• Godly
• Kind
• Generous
• Loyal
• Conscientious
• Humorous
• Self-effacing
• Sensitive
Besides YFC and FFTN, he was involved in several other areas of Christian service:
- Secretary of Ballynahinch Baptist Church for many years
- Executive Officer of the annual New Horizon Bible-teaching week
- Mentor with CAP (Christians Against Poverty)
Paul was also co-founder (with Malcolm Johnston, former Regional Director for YFC Eastern Europe) of Oak House in Moldova, a home and transition-support base for more than 120 vulnerable girls since it began. As a measure of the respect in which he was held, a number of Oak House graduates came to the service from as far away as Italy and Qatar, accompanied by Vitalie Pupazan, YFC Regional Director for Central Europe, and Eugenia Clapaniuc, Head of Operations in Moldova.
Paul leaves behind a rich legacy for his family and in the hearts of all who knew him – of humble servanthood, spiritual maturity, open-handed generosity, unfailing faith under fire, ever-loyal friendships, concern for the poor and marginalised, others before self, fun and the joy of life. His time on earth was shorter than those who loved him would have liked, but in in the eternal scale of Heaven, I don’t think it will matter whether some of us had 58 years, some 78 or some 100. What will matter is what we did with those allotted to us – and by almost any measure, Paul by the grace of God used his years supremely well.
Now Paul is, more than ever….In His grip and grace!
John Duncan
4 July 2025 (would have been his 59th birthday)