The Revd Keith Foster BD: 1937-2023

'A man of vision, ably supported by a woman of vision. Keith was an amazing pastor, a very gifted teacher and preacher, intelligent, winsome and approachable'

Based on the funeral reflections by Clive Doubleday, Paul Foster and Graham Warmington


On 16 February 2023, the funeral of the Revd Keith Foster took place at Newark Evangelical Church in Nottinghamshire. The service was led by myself, with Clive Doubleday preaching and the family eulogy being given by Keith’s younger son, Paul. Keith died during the early hours of Sunday 1 January while his wife, Gwen, was convalescing in hospital.

Keith was born on 4 July 1937 in the lower working-class area of Sheffield. He was the younger son of Walter (who worked on the steelworks weighbridge) and Doris Foster. His brother, Dennis was 13 years older than himself and was a plumber’s mate. By all accounts, the family shared a bathroom at the end of the street with their neighbours, and it is alleged that he was raised on just bread and dripping.

Living in Sheffield during the Second World War, the area suffered terrible devastation, with Keith losing several childhood friends in the city’s Blitz. In the meanwhile, brother Dennis was part of the tank brigade in Burma serving with the Royal Armoured Corps.

Passing his eleven plus exams, Keith went to Firth Park Grammar School in 1948, gaining six O-levels in 1953 before starting as a commercial student at Steel, Peech and Tozer, which later became part of British Steel.

Due to the influence of some of his work colleagues (including Gwen Mann, who he was wanting to court) Keith made the biggest decision in his life: accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. This also led to him actually courting Gwen and asking her to become his wife.

With National Service looming, and the knowledge that financially it was to his advantage to be a married man, they were wed in early 1956. Serving with the RAF in Germany, he established a local branch of SASRA (Soldiers’ & Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association), and was appointed as its organiser and speaker – thus marking the beginnings of his bible teaching ministry.
           
After National Service in 1957, he returned to the steelworks at Park Gate in Sheffield as a departmental supervisor. At the same time, he was studying to become an accredited local Methodist preacher. Their home was in Maltby, with the local Methodist Church as their place of worship, and where he served as a local lay preacher for ten years. Their son, Mark was born in 1958, with Paul following him in early 1961.
           
Leaving the Steel industry in 1963, Keith went on to train as a teacher, before teaching Religious Education at a secondary school in Rotherham. However, he was increasingly feeling the call to full-time ministry and although his Christian service had been with the Methodists, it was with the Baptists that he was sensing such a call. This involved the family moving to the South Norwood area of London in order for him to commence his studies at Spurgeon’s College and be a student pastor at Frindsbury Baptist Church.
           
Keith’s first pastorate, following accreditation, was at Dorking Baptist Church where he served from 1972 to 1977. In 1977, he accepted the call to Albert Street Baptist Church in Newark, (later just Newark Baptist Church). Although his time in Newark was less than seven years, they were influential days for those involved in the church at the time. In one year more than 50 people were baptised as believers at the church - mainly as a result of a spiritual renewal amongst the members of the local Salvation Army Corp. Under Keith, the church learned about the Holy Spirit and experienced a depth of Christian worship that had not been experienced previously in the church.

Under his leadership many in the church were encouraged to get involved in the Sunday services, leading worship and prayer meetings, etc. Keith’s gentle guidance and willingness to embrace the Baptist principle of the “priesthood of all believers” led two members of the diaconate at the time to train as Baptist ministers themselves, i.e., Clive Doubleday and myself, with Dave Clarke (now at Malvern Baptist Church) to follow in the wake of Keith’s ministry. Also, Ian and Jan Harrison, who after leaving Newark went on to be Methodist local preachers in the Sheffield Methodist Circuit. This highlights the influence of Pastor Keith Foster, and his beloved Gwen, during the late 1970s and early 1980s in a small church, in a small East Midlands town.

After a break from ministry in 1983-1984, when they moved to Worksop, Keith accepted the call to Princes Drive Baptist Church in Colwyn Bay. During his time at Colwyn Bay, the congregation grew to about 300 people, and so a modern church was built to replace the old one that could no longer support such a large congregation.
           
Keith was forced to retire at the age of 58 years in 1995 due to his failing health through the stresses and pressure of work. To some extent this was aggravated by not being able to personally pastor every member of such a large congregation.
           
Upon leaving Colwyn Bay, Keith and Gwen moved back to the Sheffield area, but with the family living so far away in London and Bexhill, they were able, with the help of the Retired Baptist Ministers Housing Organisation (previously, the Retired Baptist Ministers Housing Society) to move to Bexhill a couple of years or so later. Again, with thanks to the Housing Organisation they were able to follow their son, Paul and family, as his work took him to different places until they eventually followed them back to Newark in April 2005.
           
Despite continuing to struggle with health issues, he became an active church member at Newark Baptist Church, before attending the more reflective services at the Everyday Champions Christian Centre in the town. However, in more recent years due to his health and lockdown, both of them have increasingly become house-bound. Over the years, Keith and Gwen have faithfully supported different Christian organisations including Smile International that was founded by Clive and Ruth Doubleday.
           
Finally, in Clive’s words, 'Keith was a mover and a shaker, and not afraid to face challenges, taking pews out of the church, modernising buildings, undertaking huge building projects, etc… He was a man of vision, ably supported by a woman of vision. Keith was an amazing pastor, a very gifted teacher and preacher, intelligent, winsome and approachable.' 

At the close of his eulogy on behalf of the family, Paul read part of a letter from Baptists Together which ended with, “Keith has shared the gospel faithfully in words and actions, touching innumerable lives in many ways. Some of these we have known about, while others are no doubt only now being revealed to us.'
           
I simply wish to conclude with the fact that I, like many others, had my Christian life enriched because of knowing Keith Foster as my minister, and that “Keith was Keith, and we loved him because of that, as friend, pastor and brother in the Lord.”

 

Graham Warmington
(Westbury, Wiltshire)