'Image Bearers' - Rachel Atkinson & Michael Lloyd

Event details

Date: Tuesday 13 May 2025

Time: 5:15 - 6:30 pm

Venue: Wycliffe Hall, 52-54 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6PW

The event includes:

• A Welcome
• Rachel Atkinson and Michael Lloyd talking about their book
• Opportunity for questions from the audience
• Drinks and nibbles
• Book signing and sales

Getting here: Wycliffe Hall is on major bus routes. Limited parking may be available on site (please contact us by email if you have any special access requirements) and pay-and-display on-street parking is available close by in Norham Gardens. 

All are welcome: the event is free to attend and booking is not required. 

About the authors

Dr RACHEL ATKINSON is Principal of St. Marks Academy, Coventry, which brings together her love of theology and teaching with her passion for the Church. Previous roles include tutor in Mission at St. Mellitus College and at Spurgeon’s Theological College, and serving on the staff of St. Andrew’s Chorleywood, All Saints’ Peckham and St. Aldates Oxford.

Rachel especially enjoys acting as a ‘knowledge-broker’ – applying theological insights to practical mission, ministry, and work situations. She holds a Master’s degree in biblical studies and a doctorate in ministry.

Revd Dr MICHAEL LLOYD is the Principal of Wycliffe Hall and was formerly the chaplain at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford and the Director of Studies in Theology at Christ’s College, Cambridge University. He has taught theology and doctrine at the University of Oxford, Cambridge University and St Paul’s Theological Centre, London.

He has published the popular introduction Café Theology and has a particular interest in the doctrine of evil, the problem of pain - and an inexplicable love of cricket and Handel.

About Image Bearers

Restoration is one of the basic building-blocks to Christian growth: it affects the way we relate to God, to ourselves, and to others. When we allow God to restore us, shape us and refine us into the people we were made to be, we can enjoy His presence more fully, live more freely, and reflect His image more closely.

Drawing on the work of a close friend and counsellor, Ruth Miller, who died in 2013, Image Bearers has been inspired by Ruth’s significant ministry of individual counselling and pastoral healing. Beginning with a theological framework for restoration, each chapter builds on the brokenness we experience in life – our anxieties, fear and failures – and equips us with spiritual practices to improve our prayer, evangelism and pastoral care, giving us a greater vision for God’s restoration in our own lives.

Image Bearers is written for anyone wishing to grow into greater Christian maturity. In this joint venture, Rachel Atkinson and Michael Lloyd encourage us to live lives that are theologically grounded and practically applied; restoration cannot simply be taught but must be experienced, lived and modelled.

Endorsements for the book:

"The brilliance of this book is that it approaches this most important subject via the head and the heart. It is full of deep insights and practical wisdom and a must-read for anyone wanting to walk more fully themselves, or lead others, into the freedom that comes from knowing whose image we've been created in."
--RACHAEL HUGHES, Senior Pastor of Gas Street Church Birmingham

"While some books concentrate on theory and theology, and others on experience and practice, what is so appreciated about this book is its refusal to choose between the two, but to plumb the depths of both . . . Take this book seriously, allow yourself space and time to live in it slowly, and I believe it will change your life."
--JITESH PATEL, Assistant Director, St Mellitus College East Midlands

"Ruth Miller walked closely with God and walked closely with people. She had a remarkable ministry bringing God's restoring love to scarred places in wounded souls. Theologians Dr Rachel Atkinson and Dr Michael Lloyd, in this labour of love, have transformed Ruth's assorted lectures, notes, letters and testimonies, into a wonderful pastoral and practical theology for helping us fractured ones journey in Christ towards soul wholeness."
--SIMON PONSONBY, St Aldates Oxford: