‘The last two years have been the most encouraging... of the past 30 years’

en Reviews Editor John Woods speaks to John Stevens about his time thus far serving with the FIEC.

en: You have been serving as National Director of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FIEC) for 15 years. What was you first experience of the FIEC?

JS: I became a Christian through the witness of friends in my final year as a student at Cambridge. I went to an Anglican church at that point, but had friends who went to FIEC churches. I very nearly became an Anglican vicar, but having been selected for training I realised that I was not an Anglican. That was bound up with baptism, ecclesiology, and the desire to be involved in a church that was not compromised and mixed. At first, I attended an independent Baptist church, but ended up in Birmingham where I was involved in planting a church which become a part of FIEC. We found them helpful and supportive as we planted a church. In the 11 years of being the pastor of City Church Birmingham we had the support of other FIEC pastors in the area. Gradually I became more involved through attending their Easter conference and becoming part of the FIEC training team that was thinking about raising up a new generation of gospel workers.