by David Mansfield
Not everyone has a friend who wants to write his story. At first I was uneasy about the whole idea—frightened actually. My full story is not yet told; who knows if it will turn out well? Like many Christians, I have a dodgy past; what if someone comes up with some dirt? But David persuaded me, and I am glad he did. In the prime of life, days pass quickly and there is little time for reflection before the next task is upon you. But as age advances (“like an armed man”), there is less accomplished, and more time to reflect back on what has been done. The problem now is that memories fade. David Mansfield has done two things for me for which I am deeply grateful: he has restored a lot of lost and almost lost memories, and he has put all the pieces together, as I have never done, and made a story.
David Mansfield, The Secco Collection: An Unconventional Biography. Published 2026 Grace Abounding Books 616a Lawrence Hargraves Drive Wombara NSW. 371 pages. RRP AU$35.
Orders (enquire regarding discounts for multiple copies))
Australia (including postage): AU$45: Grace Abounding Books P.O. Box 392 Lancelin WA 6044 ()
A Review by Simon Manchester
David Seccombe is known and loved around the world – and deservedly so. He trained and began ministry in Sydney, pastored St Matthew’s Shenton Park into wonderful influence and became the second (long-serving and extremely effective) Principal of George Whitefield College in Cape Town. He has written excellent books, touched the lives of people everywhere and yet manages to do everything with a disarming and highly misleading ordinariness.
His good friend David Mansfield has brought together an “unconventional biography” which is really a collection of events, achievements, milestones, memories, anecdotes, mishaps, lessons and delights of this remarkable servant of God. I know it’s a standard line to say “I couldn’t put it down” but I read it through in a long afternoon and I loved every page. It helps that David Mansfield is himself a very good writer and he weaves everything together with warmth and affection.
Some of the things that stand out in this book are:
- From the time David (Seccombe) became a Christian he seemed to go straight in to ‘the deep end of the pool’ of believing, learning, praying, trusting and seeking the extension of God’s Kingdom. This is why so many in the book thank God for his teaching (“riveting”) and his praying (“like…a man who knew and trusted [God] completely”).
- The honesty in this book is refreshing. So many are grateful for his care and kindness but there are also the temptations, failures, accidents, mistakes and tensions that make you know that here is a man who knows the real world and who is genuinely not interested in presenting a saintly façade. I found the whole picture of “Secco” liberating and it made the man (I know and love) even more attractive.
- It was good to read of someone loved by his parishioners (and then by the Africans for his “colour-blind” relationships), yet also providing leadership in parish initiatives or College expansions. I was in South Africa when he talked of moving the College campus closer to the Cape Town CBD, and it always seemed to me that he would get an idea, speak to God and then someone would walk in with the money. When he sometimes seemed to be bumbling along it was probably in more intimate fellowship with Jesus than I ever experienced.
Kanishka Raffel writes in the book that “Secco” did not doubt God’s ability “to do things that, for the rest of us seemed humanly impossible. Develop and launch…a continent-wide theology correspondence course for African pastors? Why not? Purchase a multi-story heritage building on the Muizenberg beachfront as a student residence for ministers in training from all over Africa? Of course! Write a 600-page work of outstanding biblical scholarship on the person and work of Jesus Christ…A must! Build two cottages, largely out of local material—in your holidays and in your spare time? A cinch. (P.310)
The book follows “Secco’s” life chronologically – early years, student years, parish years, South African years and retirement years – but dotted through the book are so many snapshots of people, that the book is a feast of facts and fun. Where else will you find treasures about Tony Doran and Ken Frewer and so many delightful African saints unless you buy the book? How else will you know how “But-Har-Gra” got its name (P.122)? In a way the sub-title “An unconventional biography” is a warning not to expect some neat and pious story but rather you will find a picture as stimulating and searching as the subject himself.
One of the first cars that “Secco” owned was a 1953 Chevy with no reverse gear. In some ways this great brother has been much the same, for which we give huge thanks to his Saviour and Master, Jesus Christ. And to Dave Mansfield for harvesting the riches.