Rod Thomas (bishop)

Roderick Charles Howell "Rod" Thomas (born 7 August 1954) is a Church of England bishop. Since September 2015, he has been the Bishop of Maidstone, a provincial episcopal visitor for conservative evangelical members and parishes of the church.

Thomas was born in 7 August 1954 in London, England. He was educated in Ealing, West London. He studied economics at the London School of Economics, and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree.

Having completed his degree, Thomas joined Her Majesty's Civil Service. He left the Civil Service to become a researcher for the Institute of Directors. 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.

His early years were spent as a member of the Exclusive Plymouth Brethren. At the age of 12, under the influence of Billy Graham, John Stott, Maurice Wood and having attended Emmanuel Church, Wimbledon, he became an Anglican. In 1991, he entered Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, a Church of England theological college, to train for 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. He served his curacy at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth. He remained at St Andrew's Church as a curate from 1995 to 1999. From 1999 to 2005, he was priest-in-charge of St Matthew's Church, Elburton. From 2005 to 2015, he was vicar of Elburton. In 2012, he was additionally appointed a Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral.

Outside his parish ministry, Thomas holds a number of appointments. He has been a member of the General Synod of the Church of England since 2000. He has been a member of the Reform organisation for nearly two decades and chairman since 2007. Reform is a conservative evangelical Anglican organisation that opposes the ordination of women to the priesthood and promotes conservative attitudes to homosexuality. He has served as chairman of the organisation since 2007. He is a member of the executive committee of the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE), a missionary society set up by the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

Episcopal ministry

On 5 May 2015, he was announced as the next Bishop of Maidstone, a provincial episcopal visitor for conservative evangelical members and parishes of the church. On 23 September 2015, he was consecrated a bishop at Canterbury Cathedral by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. As of 19 December 2016, 95 parishes have passed resolutions for conservative evangelical reasons, of which at least 31 have requested Alternative Episcopal Oversight (AEO) from the Bishop of Maidstone.

Thomas has been described as a complementarian evangelical and as a conservative evangelical.

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." 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".

In 1981, Thomas married Lesley Easton. They have three children: two sons and one daughter.