About

Stephen is the vicar, or senior pastor, of Christ Church, the community church of Virginia Water in Surrey, UK.

Originally from Lowestoft in Suffolk (the most easterly point in England), he became a Christian at university (1973-1976). After graduation, he served for four years as an evangelist and student counsellor with Agape in the UK and Eastern Europe (1976-1980). In 1980 he was accepted for training for the Anglican ministry and studied at Trinity College, Bristol (1980-1983).

He was ordained in 1983 and has served as a curate in St Leonard’s on Sea, Sussex (1983-1986) and then as Curate-in-Charge, then eventually Rector of St John’s, Stoke, Guildford in Surrey (1986-1979). He was appointed vicar of Virginia Water in 1997 where he now leads a staff team of thirteen and church family of about 600 drawn from 25 or more different nationalities and church backgrounds.

Stephen is a Trustee of the Biblica Ministries Trust, who sponsored and publish the New International Version (NIV), the most widely read Bible translation in English.

He is an Advocate (trainer) for the Christianity Explored Course and assisted in the launch of the Buganda and Swahili translations in Uganda and Kenya as well as the Polish translation in Poland. This year he will be assisting with the launch of the French translation in Burundi.

He supports the Fellowship of Word and Spirit, New Word Alive, Reform, Keswick and UCCF. He is a member of the Executive of the Guildford Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship and Guildford Diocesan Synod.

Among his external commitments, he is:

He has Press Accreditation as a photographer from the Palestine News Network (PNN) and Holy Land Trust.  His photos have been used by:

His photo collections may be viewed here

He co-authored the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism for the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem in 2006, and the Bethlehem Evangelical Affirmation, endorsed by participants at the international Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 conference sponsored by Bethlehem Bible College in March 2010. He also co-authored the Seven Affirmations of the conference committee.

He was a consultant and contributor to the film With God on our Side and produced a Bible study guide to complement the film.

He is a contributor to Bridges of Faith, the international Evangelical-Muslim Dialogue Group. He has attended and contributed to their four annual consultations in Chicago, Tripoli, Pasadena and Toronto.

He is chair of governors of St Ann’s Heath School, Virginia Water.

Stephen gained his BA in Geography from Sussex University in 1976, a Diploma in Higher Education (Dip HE) in 1983 from Trinity College, Bristol, and his MTh (with distinction) from Oxford University in 1994. In 1998 he was awarded a doctorate of membership in Action Learning (DPhil) by International Management Centres Association (IMC). In 2004 he was awarded a PhD by Oak Hill College and Middlesex University. His thesis examined the historical roots, theological basis and political consequences of Christian Zionism in Britain and the USA from 1820.

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.

He enjoys photography, the gym, painting and golf and walking Dilly the family dog.

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