Richard grew up in the South Yorkshire mining village of Askern. After leaving school he took a degree in physics at the University of Sussex and then worked for six years in the co-operative movement, mostly with "common ownership" businesses.

He studied for the ministry at the Queens College, Birmingham and has spent twenty years in Wales, serving in the Buckley & Deeside circuit for five years and then ten years in Swansea & Gower (where he was also Superintendent and university chaplain). Most recently Richard was part of the Wales Training Network, supporting candidates for ministry and providing training opportunities for ministers.

He is married to Jayne. They have two daughters and two dogs. Richard has kept a blog since 2002 (relaunched in 2022 at richardhall.online) and is an active user of social media: find him on Twitter as @richardhall.