Stephen Sizer

Stephen is the vicar, or senior pastor, of Christ Church, Virginia Water.  He became a Christian at university and served as an evangelist with Agape in the UK and Eastern Europe for four years before training for the Anglican ministry at Trinity College, Bristol.

Originally from Lowestoft in Suffolk (the most easterly point in England), he has served as a curate in St Leonard’s on Sea, Sussex and then was Rector of St John’s, Stoke, Guildford in Surrey for eleven years. He was appointed vicar of Virginia Water in 1997.

He is a member of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), formed at the Global Anglican Futures conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem in June 2008. He has endorsed the Jerusalem Declaration and supports the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and the Third Province Movement.

Stephen is a Trustee of the International Bible Society – Send the Light (IBS-STL) Ministries Trust, who sponsored and publish the New International Version (NIV), the most widely read Bible translation in English as well as many others.

He is an Advocate (trainer) for the Christianity Explored Course and has assisted in the launch of the Buganda and Swahili translations of CE in Uganda and Kenya.

He is a member of Anglican Mainstream, Reform and Church Society. He supports the Fellowship of Word and Spirit, New Word Alive, Keswick and UCCF. He is a member of the Executive of the Guildford Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship as well as Guildford Diocesan Synod.

He is a Patron of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD-UK), a founding member of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism (ISCZ), a member of the Advisory Council of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding (EMEU) and the UK Board of Reference for the Mar Elias Educational Institutions, in Ibillin, Galilee, founded by Bishop Elias Chacour.

Stephen gained his BA in Geography from Sussex University in 1976, a Diploma in Higher Education (Dip HE) in 1983, his MTh (with distinction) from Oxford University in 1994 and his PhD from Middlesex University in 2004.

Stephen has served as an external examiner for post-graduate degrees (MPhil and PhD) awarded by the University of Wales, the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies (OCMS) and also Tyndale-Carey Graduate School, Bible College of New Zealand.

He is the author of three books, In the Footsteps of Jesus and the Apostles, (Eagle, 2004) Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon (IVP, 2004) and Zion’s Christian Soldiers: The Bible, Israel and the Church (IVP, 2007). He also writes occasionally for various journals and magazines.

For about eight weeks of the year he teaches in churches, seminaries and universities, mostly in the USA, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

In his spare time, he enjoys photography, painting and golf, although not very well, and walking Dilly the dog.