CHRISTOPHER HAFFNER, an architect and Reader, renowned among readers of the Church Times for his contributions to "Out of the Question", died on 24 July.

He was born in Tolworth on 8 May 1936, and was nicknamed Kit. His father, who saved him from being called Christopher Robin, was a scientist with a doctorate in chemical engineering from Imperial College, London, who had married a trainee teacher, and settled in Stoneleigh in Surrey. But in 1937 he won a year's scholarship to study in Germany, and so Kit's first birthday was spent there. During the war, the family moved to New Malden, in Surrey, and Kit Haffner attended Emanuel School, Wandsworth.

His father was fascinated by old churches. Under this influence, Kit decided to become an architect. In 1949, he was invited to Westminster Chapel by some friends in the Christian Union, who admired its minister, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. After attending for about six months, he decided that he was a believer. His parents were agnostics, if not atheists, and accepted his faith only because they thought it a phase that he would grow out of.

The two dedications, to architecture and God, remained in tension throughout his life, but were resolved in part by his seeing an architect's work in projects such as schools and rehabilitation centres as service to humanity.

With a state scholarship, Kit read architecture at Liverpool University. He took a year out in Germany, in the city where he had had his first birthday, and enjoyed the social life of his office staff and the local Ausländerkreis (a club for foreign and local students).

Back in Liverpool, he and a fellow student decided to drive out east after graduation, aiming for Hong Kong. They drove a refurbished war-surplus Jeep to Calcutta, by which time the car was a wreck, and then flew by Comet IV to Hong Kong.

Kit moved from being senior architect of a property firm to his own practice, and then became senior partner of an old established firm that had originated with two expatriates in Shanghai. He remained in that private practice for the rest of his time in Hong Kong, and carried out large and small projects, many with a social concern.

He shared his first office with a member of an old Hong Kong Portuguese family, married to a Eurasian girl who one day brought her sister, Maureen, to the office, on the way to an evening service. They were not introduced, because of religious differences, but four years later, in 1965, they married in her family's Roman Catholic church.

Kit entered Freemasonry in 1962, and enjoyed both the fellowship and the formal ritual. He made his way up the offices of his lodge and then in the district body that governed all the English-attached lodges in Hong Kong and Japan, until he became District Grand Master. He studied the history of lodges in the region, and wrote on the subject. He chaired or founded several masonic charities, strongly supporting moves to open them up to outsiders. One of these was set up to support research in Hong Kong University, and played an important part in research into Asian flu.

He took a full part in the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, working his way through its committees and boards, and eventually becoming its president, as well as founder chairman of the Architects' Registration Board. He was a keen supporter of arbitration for dispute resolution, lecturing on the subject to architectural students, and chaired the local branch of the Institute of Arbitrators.

He and Maureen had three children, who, with grandchildren, remained a great source of pride and joy to him throughout his life.

In 1994, he retired, and returned with Maureen to London, and a flat in Kensington. The tension between architecture and faith had come to the fore, and Kit gave up architecture to study for a degree in theology and pastoral studies at Oak Hill, with a view to ministry in the Church of England.

He continued his studies, obtaining a Master's degree in early church history and liturgy at Heythrop College, thus balancing Evangelical and Catholic traditions. A tension between the officialdom of the Church and Freemasonry was evident; so, with great trauma, Kit resigned from his beloved Craft and settled into church life as a Reader.

He supported organisations that unified people, and was soon on the national councils of the Council of Christians and Jews, the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary, among others. He enjoyed being a volunteer guide to Lambeth Palace.

The couple then moved to East Molesey, where they jumped into church life with both feet. Kit's ministry as a Reader was appreciated, and he was asked to lead services and preach as far away as Chelsea, Ashford in Kent, and Haslemere, as well as neighbouring parishes. But this drew to a gradual end from 2010, as he suffered from prostate problems. A year later, he fainted after a sermon, and his leadership of worship came to an end.

The Revd Paul Webb adds: I first met Kit in September 2010, when I came for interview for the post of Vicar of East Molesey. I was initially somewhat intimidated by the very knowledgeable contributor to the Church Times, but Kit soon became a good and supportive friend and colleague. He was a valued member of the ministry team - his sermons were erudite and intelligent, even if, to quote St Peter of St Paul, "There are some things in them hard to understand."

His Christianity was affirming and inclusive. Many a good theological and philosophical conversation was had with Kit at the local greasy spoon. For years, he led a much appreciated Bible study at home. It was a great privilege to know and work with Kit, and to minister to him at the end of his life. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

Glyn Paflin adds: The "Out of the Question" column was tentatively announced on 17 March 1995, and the first answers appeared on 31 March, but Mr Haffner's début was not until 12 May, on a question about calling priests "Father".

Concerned that I was not getting enough answers of publishable quality, and that questions were going unanswered, and impressed by the way he addressed each topic, I sent him a note of encouragement, which bore fruit. We experimented briefly with the pseudonyms "Chris Oke" and "Kit Alban", so as not to deter others, but in due course his careful and thorough work always received the credit it deserved.

By 2010, he was such a fixture - from time to time, someone would submit a question along the lines of "Who is Christopher Haffner?" - that we asked him for a Christmas quiz. It was fiendishly difficult, but we decided that readers would enjoy the compliment. This was the only contribution for which he was paid. We already miss him.