Roderick Charles Howell Thomas (born 7 August 1954) is a retired Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Maidstone, a provincial episcopal visitor for conservative evangelical members and parishes of the church, from 2015 until his retirement in 2022.
Rod Thomas | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Maidstone (PEV) | |
| Church | Church of England |
| Diocese | Diocese of Canterbury |
| In office | 2015–2022 |
| Successor | Rob Munro (as Bishop of Ebbsfleet) |
| Other post(s) | Vicar of Elburton, Diocese of Exeter (1999–2015) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1993 (deacon) 1994 (priest) |
| Consecration | 23 September 2015 by Justin Welby |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roderick Charles Howell Thomas 7 August 1954 |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination | Anglicanism |
| Spouse | Lesley |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics Wycliffe Hall, Oxford |
Early life
Thomas was born on 7 August 1954 in London, England.[1][2][3] He was educated in Ealing, West London.[3] He studied economics at the London School of Economics,[4] and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree.[2]
Having completed his degree, Thomas joined the Civil Service. He left the Civil Service to become a researcher for the Institute of Directors.[3] He ended his business career as Director of Employment and Environmental Affairs at the Confederation of British Industry, before leaving in 1991 to train for ordained ministry.[5]
His early years were spent as a member of the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren.[6] At the age of 12, under the influence of Billy Graham, John Stott and Maurice Wood, and having attended Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, he became an Anglican.[3] In 1991, he entered Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, a Church of England theological college, to train for ordained ministry.[2]
Ordained ministry
Having completed his training, Thomas was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1993 and as a priest in 1994.[2] He served his curacy at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth. He remained at St Andrew's Church as a curate from 1995 to 1999.[4] From 1999 to 2005, he was priest-in-charge of St Matthew's Church, Elburton.[2] From 2005 to 2015, he was vicar of Elburton.[4] In 2012, he was additionally appointed a Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral.[7]
Outside his parish ministry, Thomas held a number of appointments. He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England from 2000 to 2015.[7][8] He has been a member of the Reform organisation for nearly two decades, and its chairman from 2007 to 2015:[8][7] Reform is a conservative evangelical Anglican organisation that opposes the ordination of women to the priesthood and promotes conservative attitudes to homosexuality.[9] Up to 2015, he was a member of the executive committee of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), a missionary society set up by the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans operating outside the Church of England.[10]
Episcopal ministry
On 5 May 2015, Thomas was announced as the next Bishop of Maidstone, a provincial episcopal visitor for conservative evangelical members and parishes of the church.[4][11] On 23 September 2015, he was consecrated a bishop at Canterbury Cathedral by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury.[12][13]
By 19 December 2016, 71 parishes had passed resolutions for conservative evangelical reasons, of which 31 had requested Alternative Episcopal Oversight (AEO) from the Bishop of Maidstone.[14] By January 2018 there were 114 parishes with 53 receiving AEO,[15] and by January 2019 there were 133 parishes with 63 receiving AEO.[16]
Thomas is additionally an honorary assistant bishop in the dioceses of Birmingham, Bristol, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Chester, Ely, Exeter, Lichfield, London, Manchester, Norwich, Oxford, Rochester, Sheffield and Southwark.[16][17][18][19][20][21] Thomas additionally is recorded as exercising AEO in the dioceses of Carlisle, Derby and Portsmouth, but is not listed by Crockford's as exercising AEO in those dioceses.[16]
In January 2022, it was announced that Thomas would retire as Bishops of Maidstone on 2 October 2022.[22]
Views
Thomas has been described as a complementarian evangelical and as a conservative evangelical.[23][24] He has expressed his support for the Nashville Statement, describing it as a "wonderfully clear statement about God's design for His creation insofar as it relates to marriage, sexual relationships and gender identity".[25]
In 2006, it was announced that Jeffrey John (Dean of St Albans) had entered into a civil partnership with his male partner. Thomas replied to this news: "It is something that will only serve to deepen the crisis that the Church of England faces over the whole issue of human sexuality."[26] He stated in December 2016: "I continue to believe that God's Word is clear that sexual intimacy should be experienced only within heterosexual marriage and not otherwise".[27]
Personal life
In 1981, Thomas married Lesley Easton.[28] They have three children: two sons and one daughter.[4]