William L. (Bill) Wallace

William Livingstone Wallace (Bill) is a retired Methodist Minister from Aotearoa/New Zealand who has spent all his working life in parish ministry. However, he has always sought to reach beyond the boundaries of the parish and of his own denomination into ecumenical and latterly inter-faith activities. He has been described as a prophet and a mystic and despite Bill's reluctance to accept such designations there are undoubtedly prophetic and mystical elements in many of his hymns. In recent years one of Bill's main concerns has been to attempt to bridge the gap between the thought world of traditional Christianity and the thought world of the new scientific view of human beings and the universe.

Some of Bill's hymns have found their way into a range of North American hymn books and have also been included in publications in England, Germany, Latin America and Asia. Nevertheless, The Mystery Telling is the first substantial collection of his work to appear outside of Australasia.

In addition to hymn writing, Bill has produced worship resources which have appeared in anthologies. The two major ones are Gifts of Many Cultures edited by Maren Tirabassi and Kathy Wonson Eddy (United Church Press, l995) and A World of Blessing, compiled by Geoffrey Duncan (Canterbury Press, 2000).

Bill has also composed melodies, designed sculptures and church windows and created a garden of spirituality.