A controversial retired evangelical minister is facing a new Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM).
Church of England authorities have told en that Stephen Sizer, former vicar of Christ Church Virginia Water, will face the CDM later this year.
Details about the CDM remain sketchy, but it is the latest episode in a long-running saga. Sizer, a well-known conservative evangelical who retired from parish ministry in 2017, has been at the centre of controversy for many years because of his writing about and activities related to various Middle Eastern causes. He has vehemently denied allegations of anti-Semitism, and lists various Jewish and evangelical defenders among supporters on his website.
The new CDM comes against a backdrop of persistent allegations that the conservative evangelical constituency has consistently failed to address concerns about Sizer’s views and behaviour. Whereas Jewish organisations, Jewish Christians, the Church of England and others have spoken out against or taken action against Sizer over the years, conservative evangelical organisations and leaders have been almost entirely silent.
Background
In March 2012, Sizer was accused of posting anti-Semitic content online. The Council of Christians and Jews alerted the Bishop of Guildford, Christopher Hill, about its concerns. Two months later, Surrey detectives said, following a review of the material and discussion with the Crown Prosecution Service, that ‘no criminal offences’ had been committed.
In October 2012, the Board of Deputies of British Jews made a complaint, alleging that Sizer had made anti-Semitic statements and published links to anti-Semitic web sites. The matter was resolved through conciliation in 2013 under the CDM process. Sizer did not admit culpability but agreed to have his online web usage monitored. The conciliation report stated: ‘Without accepting the substance of the complaint, Dr Sizer regrets that on occasions his use of language has caused offence to some and agrees that he should have reflected on his choice of words more carefully.’
‘Appallingly poor judgment’
In 2015, Sizer apologised for posting a link on social media to an article, ‘9/11: Israel did it.’ Holocaust Memorial Day fell in the same week as his post. Sizer later denied that he himself thought the Israelis were involved in the attack. Bishop Andrew Watson, Bishop Hill’s successor at Guildford, said then: ‘I do not believe that [Sizer’s] motives are anti-Semitic; but I have concluded that, at the very least, he has demonstrated appallingly poor judgment. By associating with, or promoting, subject matter which is ambiguous in its motivation … he has crossed a serious line. I regard these actions as indefensible.’ He added: ‘It is my view that Stephen’s strong but increasingly undisciplined commitment to an anti-Zionist agenda has become a liability to his own ministry and that of the wider church.’
The Church Times reported that as a result Sizer ‘promised Bishop Watson in writing that he would not speak or write about anything connected to the conflict in the Middle East, nor would he attend or promote conferences about the issue. If he breaches this agreement, he has agreed to tender his resignation to Bishop Watson. He has also agreed to stop using all social media for the next six months.’ In September 2015, the social media element of the ban was lifted, and Bishop Watson said he wished to ‘reiterate’ he did ‘not believe Stephen’s motivation to be anti-Semitic’.
Further reprimand
In October 2016, Sizer attended a meeting organised by the Palestine Return Centre (PRC) and wrote about it online. He did not resign, nor was he sacked by Bishop Watson. However the Bishop reprimanded Sizer for breaking his promise concerning engagement with the Israel-Palestine conflict and said ‘any further breach would lead to his immediate dismissal’. In November that year, IVP, the evangelical publishing house, announced it would no longer publish Sizer’s books.
In March 2017, the Jewish Chronicle reported that Sizer had ‘again … posted statuses on Facebook about the Middle East, once more breaching the terms of his agreement.’ Bishop Watson confirmed that Sizer had ‘again contravened the agreement he made in February 2015’ – and he was ordered to ‘cease all preaching, teaching and leading of services with immediate effect’. However, he was then allowed back over Easter as he was retiring from the church, and the Bishop said the parish should be allowed ‘to say a proper goodbye’. The Board of Deputies said the Jewish community felt ‘let down’.
In 2019, left-wing Labour organisation Momentum withdrew an invite for Sizer to be guest speaker at a Gaza fundraiser after learning of his record. Momentum told the Jewish Chronicle: ‘We weren’t aware of Stephen Sizer’s past comments. After having been made aware of them we have rescinded his invitation.’
‘Consistently failed’
Last summer, two Jewish Christians, James Mendelsohn and Bernard Howard, said conservative evangelical groups and organisations had ‘consistently failed to speak out or take timely and decisive action’ in relation to Sizer.
Their criticisms, many in considerable detail, were levelled at the South-East Gospel Partnership, Christianity Explored Ministries, GAFCON, Christ Church Virginia Water, ReNew, Church Society, Reform, IVP – and en. The extent of Sizer’s involvement with and connection to these different bodies has varied considerably. Comments from these organisations – including the en board – are now being sought. Mendelsohn and Howard claimed that ‘vanishingly few senior conservative evangelical leaders or organisations’ had spoken out against Sizer’s views.
In relation to en, Mendelsohn and Howard make a number of criticisms, including the fact that while the Jewish Chronicle published 51 articles on Sizer between 2012 and 2020, en only published two – both of which were quite short.
Mendelsohn and Howard also alleged that when they approached other evangelical bodies, ‘they too displayed the same reluctance to act.’ For example, they claim evangelical vicar Angus MacLeay, who they commend, requested that the steering Committee of the South-East Gospel Partnership (SEGP) take action against Sizer in 2016. However they then allege: ‘The Steering Committee simply acknowledged receipt of Revd MacLeay’s correspondence, without offering any substantive response. The SEGP maintained its support for Dr Sizer right up until his retirement in 2017, upholding ‘gospel partnership’ (that is, friendly working relations) with him even during the final months of his incumbency, when he was banned by his bishop from all preaching, teaching, leading of services, and social media activity.’
They also commend Mike Ovey, former Principal of Oak Hill, who – commenting on some of Sizer’s online posts – said: ‘If a member of my Faculty had made these links, I would have had no course, nor inclination, but to dismiss them.’ In an online article, Mendelsohn and Howard wrote: ‘Dr Ovey, who died in January 2017, was highly respected within British evangelicalism. His words kept Dr Sizer’s conduct on the radar of those within the conservative evangelical movement who were best-positioned to act against him, had they been so inclined.’
Mendelsohn and Howard say: ‘Several senior conservative evangelical leaders were asked by the authors, at various times, to intervene or provide behind-the-scenes assistance. They all declined, apart from … Angus MacLeay … and … Mike Ovey.’
‘Gospel issue’
On his blog, Matthew Mason, tutor in Christian ethics at the Pastors’ Academy, wrote of Mendelsohn and Howard’s allegations: ‘I am unaware that anything even approaching a satisfactory response has yet been given to their concerns … Ongoing silence simply will not do … Of course this is a gospel issue. For if Jews do not count, there simply is no God, no Christ, no gospel, no church that is worthy of the name.’
And influential evangelical pastor and writer Stephen Kneale, commenting on the same allegations, said on his blog: ‘Are we in danger of sending the implicit message that Jews don’t matter? Because we owe rather a lot to our Jewish Christ and his Jewish Apostles, who were also quite keen to see their Jewish compatriots recognise that Jesus was the fulfilment of the Scriptures God gave first to the Jews.’
Legal issues
Reporting of the Sizer story is covered – as are all items – by the Defamation Act 2013. When Premier Christian News published one story last year it was forced to publish a retraction and pay legal fees. Sizer has indicated that while he is reluctant to take individual believers to court, his ‘forbearance does not extend to secular or other religious media’.
Sizer: ‘I repudiate anti-Semitism’
Posting on his website after the Premier apology, Sizer said: ‘Racism is a sin and without excuse. Anti-Semitism must be repudiated unequivocally. However, we must not confuse apples and oranges. Anti-Zionism is not the same thing as anti-Semitism … I respect Judaism, repudiate anti-Semitism, encourage interfaith dialogue and defend Israel’s right to exist within borders recognised by the international community and agreed with her neighbours.’
He added: ‘I concur wholeheartedly with John Stott. In a sermon entitled ‘The Place of Israel’, which he graciously allowed me to include in my book, Zion’s Christian Soldiers, he said, ‘Away then with anti-Semitism! It has been an appalling scandal in the history of Europe, and even the Christian church has been implicated. Christians should be ‘pro-Semitic’, in the sense that we recognise how the people of Israel have been highly favoured by God. We Gentiles are their debtors, Paul wrote (Rom. 15:27). We owe them a huge spiritual debt, especially in their bequest to the world of both the Scriptures and the Christ’.’
On Sizer’s website, dozens of prominent supporters are listed, including Rabbi Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok, former Archbishop George Carey, evangelical theologian Martin Davie, Michael Lawson, a former chair of the Church of England Evangelical Council who is himself Jewish, and ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
