OXFORD, England — During the summer of 2017, Matthew S. Holland took a sabbatical to Oxford University in England. Amid the charm and character of English architecture — in a place where the educational tradition dates to the late 11th century — the president of Utah Valley University found “time to read and think and reflect and write.”

Then one day, while making his way to the dining hall, he noticed the word “chaplain” written on an office door.

“Here’s a man of God,” he thought.

And with his interest sparked, he knocked.

“I really just intended to make an acquaintance,” he said.

Instead, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal — a chaplain and theologian specializing in Christian church history at Oxford’s Pembroke College — “took in a stranger,” recalled Elder Holland, now a General Authority Seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The pair became friends — sharing “immediate rapport and interest” and then engaging in discussions about their disciplines and perspectives.

Crests are displayed at Pembroke College in Oxford on Friday, July 7, 2023.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

It is “nice to have a person of faith who is willing to share and explore,” said the Rev. Teal. “We used to meet regularly and have conversations.”

Elder Holland said he felt “a familiar spirit” the “moment I sat down in that chair and looked across at Andrew and we started to talk.”

Soon Elder Holland introduced the Rev. Teal to his father, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After spending time with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland at an event in London, England, the Rev. Teal said he realized these associations were “not just a sort of passing, fleeting encounter.” He was determined to try to “understand this community and its beliefs” — not only as a scholar of religion, but also because of the Church’s claims to be the restored Church of Jesus Christ on earth.

And so, said the Rev. Teal, he embarked on a “lifelong adventure.”

The Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal and Elder Matthew Holland, General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, laugh during an interview at Pembroke College in Oxford on Thursday, July 6, 2023.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Unity

In July of 2018, President David Checketts and Sister Deb Checketts arrived in London to oversee the England London Mission and were invited to participate in an “Inspiring Service” hosted by the Rev. Teal and involving religious leaders from numerous faith traditions, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As part of that event, the Rev. Teal and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland sat on a panel together. Joining the pair were the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams; Lord David Alton, a Roman Catholic; and the Rev. Frances Young, a Methodist scholar. They spoke of unity and service.

“And at the end of that evening, I was just overwhelmed by the notion of friendship,” said the Rev. Teal. “Friendship was the way to do it. Only friends will know how” to draw the world out “from self-obsessions.”

The Checkettses felt something too. They asked if they could bring their missionaries to Pembroke chapel.

When they inquired about having one of their missionaries play the organ so they could sing their mission hymn, the Rev. Teal asked if they would be willing to also sing “Come, Come, Ye Saints.”

The sun sets on the River Thames, Parliament and Big Ben in London, England, on Saturday, July 8, 2023.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The Rev. Teal — astounded that young people would “lay aside years of their lives to serve “ — took the opportunity to thank them for that sacrifice.

Then he allowed the missionaries to ask questions about English culture or the traditions of other faiths. Understanding grew.

The Rev. Teal found the missionaries to be “authentic, earnest, eager.” He observed the spectrum of personalities and marveled about how each — those who were shy or homesick or outward going — were respected and valued and found a place in the work of their mission.

“And it is friendship again,” he said, “another friendship in which I could not be without.”

President Checketts said it “was a pure gift from heaven to meet the Rev. Teal and then to meet his family. We constantly refer to it as the miracle of our mission.”

The Checkettses had a mission motto, said Sister Checketts. “We would say, ‘In the England London Mission, we follow Christ.’”

After meeting the Rev. Teal, Sister Checketts said her husband often noted: “Who better to expose our missionaries to than this lovely, lovely reverend, who follows Christ?”

The Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal, left, laughs with former London England Mission leaders President David Checketts and his wife, Sister Deb Checketts, during an interview at Pembroke College in Oxford, England, on Friday, July 7, 2023.

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

‘Unexpected journey’

The Rev. Teal first became acquainted with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an undergraduate student when his friend was baptized. But he did not come in contact with the Church again until Elder Matthew Holland knocked on his door.

As he started learning more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Rev. Teal — whose education had steeped in him Western and Eastern traditional Christianity — found some aspects of Latter-day Saint doctrine puzzling.

“There were loads and loads of questions and interest,” he said. “And I think the important thing was to face all that with openness and to start having conversations.”

He began attending an Oxford Latter-day Saint ward, traveled to Salt Lake City to attend general conference, and determined to study more during a sabbatical to Brigham Young University.

The Rev. Teal thought his time in Utah would include an exploration of faith and culture — writing about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from an outsider’s perspective. Instead, he found himself on an “unexpected journey.”

Very early in the sabbatical, the Rev. Teal walked on tiles heated by the blistering August sun and burned the bottom of his feet — spending three and a half weeks on his back in intensive care and then the burn unit of University of Utah Hospital. Eventually he lost several toes to amputation.

During that time he met health care professionals — a “whole spectrum of people whose professionalism and faith was sort of interwoven very closely.” They had meaningful conversations.

Instead of researching and writing, he absorbed and listened.

“Certainly, it wouldn’t have been on my bucket list, as it were,” he said. “But I feel that — perhaps in a way that I still don’t understand — more was achieved by that than any of the activities that I had planned. And hopefully, with God’s grace, more will be fruitful.”

The Rev. Dr. Andrew Teal has an honorary degree conferred upon him by Brigham Young University President Kevin J Worthen, left, and academic vice president C. Shane Reese during the university’s commencement at the Marriott Center in Provo on Thursday, April 27, 2023.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

Friendship

The Rev. Teal said through his friendship with the Checkettses and the Hollands he began to see a blossoming of connection with God’s children throughout the world. The question of identity is answered “perhaps most simply, but most profoundly, in songs like ‘I Am a Child of God,’” he said.

“We don’t need to have to know the temperature of hell or the furniture of heaven,” he said, noting that the most important thing to understand is the connection between God and His children. “We do need to know that. And I think that’s one of the things that I’ve loved about our friendships.”

While grand things have come from the friendship, it didn’t start out with a grand vision, said Elder Matthew Holland. “It just started with people who want to be kind to each other and learn from one another and understand each other — who want to break down barriers and reach across the aisle and do things that are getting harder and harder to do in the world today.”

The friendship, added the Rev. Teal, “has brought me to a deeper love of Jesus Christ than I have ever had.”