Ruth Harvey

Born and brought up in Scotland, with stints in Glasgow, Iona, Stirling, South India, Aberdeen, Germany, Amsterdam and Edinburgh, Ruth now lives in Cumbria, NW England with views of the northern fells and Ullswater where she swims when she can. Having been brought up in faith-based intentional community, Ruth is passionate about the power of intentional community, gathered and scattered, to model that hope to which we are called in the face of so much fracture. 

 This early immersion in community led Ruth to train as a mediator. She worked for many years in faith-based conflict situations and continues to volunteer with Place for Hope as a Practitioner/Mediator, facilitating large and small group mediations. Ruth is also an editor and a writer, contributing prayers, poems and liturgies regularly to Wild Goose Publications and other outlets.  

In 2023 Ruth took part in a nine-week listening pilgrimage across these lands now called Australia with the Wellspring Community, and in Aotearoa/New Zealand. She met over 30 indigenous Christian leaders and explored with them questions about creation care, climate justice, and first nations indigenous rights. You can read her pilgrimage reflection here. 

Ruth is an ordained Church of Scotland minister and a Quaker (Religious Society of Friends). She enjoys paddling a canoe and walking in the mountains.