Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM) says it regrets not being firmer following a complaint it received in 2014 about Stephen Sizer.
In a statement to en, the organisation said: ‘Stephen Sizer volunteered with CEM, as a trainer and advocate, on several occasions between 2008 and 2020.
‘This month, Stephen was found by a Church of England Clergy Disciplinary Measure hearing to have engaged in anti-Semitic activity and has consequently been barred from public ministry for 12 years.
‘Our mission, at CEM, is to convey the hope found in Jesus to all people with gentleness and respect. Anti-Semitic behaviour, whatever the motivating intention, must rightly be condemned. After related complaints made to the board of trustees in 2014, CEM suspended Stephen from involvement in its ministry for a minimum of one year with effect from February 2015. We did not make this decision public. When the board received no further complaints over the following year, Stephen’s suspension was lifted in April 2016 on a probationary basis.
‘In June 2020 further concerns about Stephen’s behaviour were raised with CEM and in October 2020 the board informed him that he would not be permitted to engage in CEM activities unless and until these issues were resolved. In September 2022, Stephen was informed that his association with CEM was at an end.
‘In retrospect, we could and should have been firmer in handling this issue. We express our collective regret and sorrow, and apologise to those affected that we did not act more decisively.
‘Stephen is no longer involved with CEM.’
The Church of England Clergy tribunal ruled that Sizer had engaged in a ‘regrettable pattern of behaviour’ that fell short of the standard expected of an ordained minister.
Meanwhile, Nick Howard, a Jewish Christian and well-known voice against anti-Semitism, told en he had been informed his 2014 complaint to CEM about Sizer – relating, among other things, to anti-Semitism – had been rejected. Howard criticised CEM’s statement for not saying this and questioned why CEM had not told him the board changed its mind in 2015 about his complaint and decided to suspend Sizer.
He described CEM’s statement as ‘poorly-reasoned defensiveness’ – a ‘horribly familiar feature of recent British evangelical leadership’. He added: ‘We must learn how to repent properly.’
