Vaughan Roberts

Vaughan Roberts
Vaughan Edward Roberts (born 17 March 1965) is a Church of England clergyman. Since 1998, he has been the rector of St Ebbe's, Oxford. In 2009, he became Director of the Proclamation Trust.
Early life
Roberts was born on 17 March 1965 in Winchester, Hampshire, UK. He was educated at Winchester College which is an all-boys public school in Winchester.
He studied law at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1988; as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA (Cantab)) degree in 1991. In 1987, he was President of the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union.
After graduation, he spent a short time in student ministry in South Africa. Roberts then moved to Oxford and in 1989 entered Wycliffe Hall, an Anglican theological college. There, he studied theology and undertook training for ordained ministry.
Ordained ministry
Roberts was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1991 and as a priest in 1992. In 1991, he joined St Ebbe's Church, Oxford, a conservative evangelical church, as a curate under David Fletcher. From 1995 to 1998, he was the Student Pastor with special responsibilities for students and student ministry. In 1998, when Fletcher retired, Roberts was appointed Rector of St Ebbe's.
In October 2021, he was elected a member of the General Synod of the Church of England.
Since 2009, Roberts has also been Director of the Proclamation Trust, an evangelical Christian association dedicated to training preachers in expository preaching. He has written a number of Christian books, including Turning Points, Distinctives, Battles Christians Face, True Worship, Life's Big Questions and God's Big Picture (an introduction to Biblical theology).
Views
In 2017, he was among the initial signatories of the Nashville Statement.
He believes that marriage is between one man and one woman: "marriage of a man and a woman is the Bible's greatest unchanging picture of Christ and his love for the church and is not something we are at liberty to redefine".
Personal life
In the fifth anniversary edition of Battles Christians Face a new preface was added in which Roberts acknowledged struggles with unwanted same-sex attraction. He later publicly confirmed this in an interview, adding that he does not define himself as homosexual. He has chosen to remain celibate.
Works
Turning Points (1999: Authentic)
True Worship (2002: Authentic)
God's Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible (2002: Inter-Varsity Press)
Life's Big Questions: Six Major Themes Traced Through the Bible (2004: Inter-Varsity Press)
God's Big Design: Life as He Intends It To Be (2005: Inter-Varsity Press)
Distinctives (2006: Authentic)
Battles Christians Face (2007: Authentic)
Christmas in Three Words (2007: Inter-Varsity Press)
Missing the Point? Finding Our Place in the Turning Points of History (2007: Authentic)
True Spirituality: The Challenge of 1 Corinthians for the Twenty-First-Century Church (2011: IVP)
Transgender (2016: The Good Book Company)
Co-authored
Workers for the Harvest Field, with Tim Thornborough (2006: The Good Book Company)
References
Living people
British religious writers
British evangelicals
21st-century English Anglican priests
Evangelical Anglican clergy
1965 births
Clergy from Winchester
People educated at Winchester College
Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge
Alumni of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford
20th-century English Anglican priests
LGBT Anglican clergy
Members of the General Synod of the Church of England