The Revd Robert Martin CMP is the priest-in-charge of Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong and is available at any time in an emergency. He is available in Pokfulam or at his St John’s Anglican Cathedral office at: 4-8 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong. His mobile is: 6893 7715 and his office number at St John’s Anglican Cathedral is: 2523 4157. If you cannot reach him directly there is always a St John’s Anglican Cathedral priest-on-call via the above number.
Our priest Fr Robert can also be contacted via e-mail using the Emmanuel Church – Pokfulam contact us page. Fr Robert is also available by appointment to discuss your wedding plans, baptism, confirmation or any kind of spiritual or pastoral support you may need.
Fr Robert Martin was licensed by the Archbishop as Priest in Charge of Emmanuel Church on Ascension Day in May 2015.
Fr Robert came to Hong Kong in 2009 to take up the post of Chaplain of St Paul’s College and Honorary Chaplain of St John’s Cathedral.
Since 2012 he has been a full time chaplain at St John’s and is at present Co-ordinator for Worship and Music. He also is chair of the Cathedral Worship Committee, working alongside other clergy and lay people, to develop the liturgical life of St John’s. Alongside this, he also shares in the pastoral ministry of the Cathedral and in 2015 became Priest in Charge of Emmanuel Church, the daughter church of St John’s Cathedral in Pokfulam.
Before ordination, Fr Robert worked for 4 years with the Church Army and Southwark Cathedral, as the assistant warden in a project for homeless street sleepers. After being selected for ordination he trained for the priesthood at Chichester Theological College and Southampton University, spending a semester in Egypt studying Coptic spirituality. He was ordained into his home Diocese of Liverpool in 1983 to serve in the Parish of St Columba, Anfield and lived next door to Liverpool Football Club.
After serving curacies in Anfield and St Margaret’s, Orford, Fr Robert moved to the Diocese of Manchester to become Rector of the Most Holy Trinity, Blackley, an urban priority parish in north Manchester. During this time he was also Chaplain of the newly established AIDS unit at Monsall Hospital.
In 1990 Fr Robert was invited to join the Kentish Town Team Ministry in the Edmonton Area of the Diocese of London, also working part-time for the CARA Trust, an Anglican HIV/AIDS Pastoral Project.
In 1996 he became incumbent of the newly built church of St Paul the Apostle, Harringay, a multi-cultural parish in north London. In the parish he worked alongside Sisters from the Community of St Mary the Virgin, Wantage and the team extended the parish to include Christ Church, West Green.
During his time in the Edmonton Area, Fr Robert was appointed Bishop’s Advisor for Christian Spirituality and was responsible for fostering spiritual formation within the parishes of the Episcopal Area. He is a trained spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition and taught Christian Spirituality on the Edmonton Area Christian Studies Course. He has a particular interest in Liturgical Spirituality and the interface between Worship and Christian formation.
Fr Robert is a professed member of the Company of Mission Priests, a recognised Anglican Religious Community, dedicated to the service of the poor and living under the rule of St Vincent de Paul.
On a lighter note, Fr Robert collects Chinese Yixing teapots and occasionally sings karaoke, but only the Mandarin songs of Teresa Teng! He is also addicted to watching Cantonese soap operas on TV (TVB Series) but only with English subtitles!
He really likes the old adage: Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi
As we Worship, So we Believe, So we Live!