A Tribute to Peter Maiden

Peter Maiden – A Radical Disciple

When I met Peter Maiden in a Keswick teashop last summer, he was wearing a red t-shirt and commenting on the stairs. A few months earlier he had been running miles – now stairs represented a major effort. Driven, focussed and unsentimental, he was nonetheless unwavering in his determination to embark on his next book project.

Radical Gratitude was a subject that had been bubbling away inside him – he wasn’t going to abandon it now. We talked about the tricks of the trade and how we might best craft his manuscript. His pen flew across the page as he ate his sandwich and asked lots of questions.

Six months later chemotherapy and prayer seemed to have confounded the experts - and sceptics. Peter seemed very much himself and alive. His humour was back (and sometimes black), much of it self-deprecation, his e-mails short but always a joy and a blessing, outward-focussed and others-centred. And unfailingly courteous, of course. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. ‘Yes, I want to rewrite… Don’t forget that I love re-writing.’ And, yes, there was quite a bit of re-writing to do!

I will never forget the day when the e-mail flashed through: ‘Catastrophe’. His latest manuscript had had the cheek to disappear into thin air. It now needed to be rescued by some clever IT detective work at OM. The cover design was a triumph: ‘Win and I both like it.’ Expressing appreciation was always a Peter Maiden trademark.

Little did we know that COVID-19 would make the subject of Peter’s book painfully and poignantly relevant. With its themes of contentment and gratitude, resisting entitlement thinking and recalibrating our hearts, the message came very much into its own.

Peter’s genuine submission to Christ in the face of a cancer diagnosis shamed us all. Yet he was realistic (and biblical) enough to insist on building a significant ‘lament’ section into the book. Peter was keen to write about those times in his career when things had been tricky or had gone badly, and to share the lessons he had learned about trusting God. His ego wasn’t ever going to get in the way of writing the best book possible.

Anyone who knows Peter well will tell you that he was the real deal: a man of total integrity. When he had written Discipleship Matters: Dying to Live for Christ, we knew that he not only believed passionately in its message, but that he had lived it out over many years. There was always a soft heart behind those steely eyes and the wiry frame. Peter’s concern went way beyond the editing and the books to those who no longer worked with the company – ‘How are they getting on, and could you please send them my greetings?’

Thank you, Peter, for your unforgettable example. I cannot imagine that anyone you knew will have failed to love Christ more deeply because of you.

Eleanor Trotter, Peter’s Editor at IVP UK 14th July 2020

From Operation Mobilisation (OM), where Peter served for many years: "On 14 July 2020, our friend and dear brother in Christ Peter Maiden met his Saviour face to face. With his passion for exegetical preaching and his shepherd’s heart, Peter leaves a legacy of sharing God’s truth with love and compassion that will live on within Operation Mobilisation (OM) and the wider missions world."