Why we support The Christian Chronicle: Philip and Patricia Slate

Did you know that 111 donors (individuals, couples and families) have contributed to The Christian Chronicle for 20 consecutive years — or more?

Philip and Patricia Slate are among them. 

The couple of 60 years met on a blind date. Patricia (Pat) later quoted the book of Ruth at their wedding, saying, “Where thou goest I will go.” Little did she know that meant Asia, South America, Africa and Europe.

Philip Slate began preaching at age 16. The Tennessee native attended Lipscomb University, where he found his first copy of the Chronicle lying on a table in the student center. The newspaper, along with The California Christian, influenced his decision to work wherever the Lord needed him.

He married Pat shortly after graduating in the spring of 1957. They began a lifelong partnership of sharing the Good News. They taught Bible classes in North Carolina — during the second week of their honeymoon.

“We did expect to do church work in an area that was not saturated,” Pat Slate said. “We talked about that before we married, but we were thinking more domestically, like the Northeast.”

Instead, the pair served for 10 years in the British Isles, where they helped plant the Wembley Church of Christ. They spent seven years in London and three at Oxford University, where Philip Slate studied while the couple worked with a small church.

During their time in Europe, “I used the Chronicle first to inform me about what’s going on in the brotherhood at large,” Philip Slate said. He and his wife continued to use it — through six decades of teaching, preaching and evaluating missions in 40 nations.

“Peter said, ‘Love the brotherhood,’ and I feel that we need to know what’s involved in the brotherhood,” Philip Slate said. “So it’s been my chief means of knowing what’s going on in the world. I have used stories from The Christian Chronicle in my sermons and classes to try to broaden other people’s views of the church. I think it’s good for people to know they’re part of a worldwide brotherhood.”

The Slates worship with the Germantown Church of Christ in Tennessee, and they make sure a copy of the Chronicle always is available in the church library.

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