John Stevens: The former lawyer is now helping 600 independent evangelical churches flourish

John Stevens is the national director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC), a family of 600 local churches who are "united by the gospel and by a common purpose". In this in-depth interview with Premier Christianity's editor Sam Hailes, John explains how he first came to Christ and how early on in his Christian life, thought he might be ordained in the Anglican church. As time went on, John came to the realisation he "wasn't an Anglican". As well as explaining the theological and doctrinal reasons for this, he also clears away some common misconceptions regarding what FIEC believes and stands for. According to John, the spiritual situation in the UK is "desperate" with "no more than 3% of the British population" being "Born-again Christians". When challenged that other statistics show 11% of the country attends church, John argues that attending church doesn't make you a Christian, and that in his view, some churches are not remaining faithful to biblical instructions on topics such as same sex relationships. Looking ahead, he says evangelical Christians need to have a greater impact outside of London and the south east, and plant more churches in deprived and multi-ethnic contexts.  Follow John on Twitter @_JohnStevens. For more information on FIEC visit fiec.org.uk To take advantage of Premier Christianity's limited HALF PRICE subscription offer visit premierchristianity.com/subscribe