Dr Patrick Sookhdeo

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo was born in , South America, of South Asian parentage. He was ordained in the Church of Pakistan, and gained a Ph.D. from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies. In the USA he has received a doctorate from Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary, Wisconsin, for his work in the area of human rights and religious liberty and also from Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon, for his work in the area of pluralism.

Dr Sookhdeo is the International Director of Barnabas Fund, an aid agency that works in over 80 countries to assist the persecuted Church, with a particular emphasis on Islamic contexts. He is also Director of the Institute for the Study of and , a UK-based Christian research institute which focuses on the situation of Christian minorities in Muslim- majority contexts and current trends in Islam. He was for 23 years minister of St Andrew’s Church, Plaistow, in a multi-cultural area of east London, UK.

He has been a visiting lecturer at various theological institutions around the world including Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and Oak Hill Theological College, London, in the UK; Western Seminary, Portland, Oregon and the Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, Florida in the USA; and the Bible College of Victoria.

With more than 40 years’ experience as pastor, evangelist, Bible teacher and author, he regularly speaks at Christian conferences worldwide and lectures on Islamic, multicultural and race issues. He is the author, co-author or editor of 23 books.

He is Dean-Theologian of Abuja (Church of ) and Non-Residentiary Canon of Peshawar (Church of Pakistan).

He was awarded the 2001 Coventry Cathedral International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation and the Spring 1990 Templeton UK project award to an individual, for work in the community. In 2010 he was awarded the St Ignatius Theophorus Decoration as Commander (the highest honour of the Syrian Orthodox Church).

Patrick is married to Rosemary from New Zealand, and they have three grown up daughters.