Roger T Forster

Roger Thomas Forster is the leader of Ichthus Christian Fellowship a neocharismatic Evangelical Christian Church that forms part of the British New Church Movement.

Earlier life

Forster became a Christian in the 50s whilst at Cambridge University, where he studied mathematics; [Ronald Sider "Bread of Life: Stories of Radical Mission" (London: Triangle,1996) 18 ] He was a contemporary of David Watson, Michael Harper Michael Green and David Sheppard. By the standards of his later evangelical beliefs, he considered his Methodist upbringing to be both liberal and without a clear presentation of the Christian gospel. When he heard an explanation of it by an Anglican bishop at the Christian Union, he decided, (to use his own idiom) "to follow Christ." [ ibid.] Whilst in fellowship with the Plymouth Brethren [http://www.apocalipsis.org/supernatural-gifts.htm] , a generally non charismatic movement, he reported an experience of being baptised in the Spirit which he described as "sine curves of love going through the room." [Ronald Sider "Bread of Life: Stories of Radical Mission" (London: Triangle,1996) 19 ] Sider observes that the foundations of later commitments began to take shape at this point: a commitment to combine evangelical ministry with social action emerged. [ ibid. ] After graduating, he became an officer in the RAF. [ibid.] His commitment to evangelism led him first to the work of University missions, then later into urban mission. [ "Christianity Today" 5 February 1990, 30 ]

In September 1974 Forster began Ichthus Christian Fellowship in his front room with 14 people. [Ronald Sider "Bread of Life: Stories of Radical Mission" (London: Triangle,1996) 22 ]

According to Andrew Walker, a leading commentator on the British New Church Movement he is considered to have "one of the finest minds in the Evangelical constituency." [ Andrew Walker "Restoring the Kingdom: the Radical Christianity of the House Church Movement" 3rd Ed (Guildford: Eagle, 1998) 37 ]

Books by Roger Forster and V Paul Marston

* "God's Strategy in Human History: God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility" (Godalming: Highland, 1989) ISBN 0946616558
* "Reason and Faith: Do Science and Theology Really Conflict?" (Oxford: Monarch, 1989) ISBN 1854240544

References