The Death of Very Rev Patrick Sookhdeo, Ph.D., D.D.

Issued by The Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life (with permission from Dr Sookhdeo’s family)

Anglican Mainstream I May 19, 2026

The board of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life heard with great sadness the news of the death (May 18) of Dr Patrick Sookhdeo at the age of 79. Dr Sookhdeo was Executive Director of OCRPL, and Founder of Barnabas Fund, now called Barnabas Aid.

Dr Sookhdeo’s family came to the UK in the 1950s from Guyana. He left his Islamic background and became a Christian at the age of about 16 or 17. He studied at London Bible College where he met his wife to be, Rosemary, who had come from New Zealand.

Together they founded In Contact Ministries ( later called Servants Fellowship International) in 1975 in St Andrew’s. a redundant church building in Plaistow, East London to promote evangelism and compassionate ministries in multi-cultural urban contexts.

In 1989 he created the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity. He and Rosemary also founded the Barnabas Fund to give practical help to persecuted Christians around the world.

In 2000 he obtained a doctorate from the London School of Oriental and African Studies. He is the author, co-author or editor of over 40 books.

Nic Ng from Olive Aid Malaysia said: “Dr Sookhdeo dedicated much of his life to a cause that the world too often overlooks – the suffering and persecuted Church. His deep compassion for Christians facing hardship, discrimination, and persecution across the globe was the driving force behind the work he helped establish here in South East Asia through Olive Aid Trust. Dr Sookhdeo once said ‘My inspiration has always been Barnabas, the encourager. Who stood up for the suffering saints of the early Church’”.

Bishop Yassir Eric, presiding bishop over the Anglican Church’s Global Ekkios diocese for Muslim Background Believers and an OCRPL Board member, said: “I will always remember his love and concern for believers from Muslim backgrounds. He stood with us, encouraged us, strengthened us, and gave dignity and attention to many of us whom many others overlooked… His legacy will endure. His witness will endure. His love for Christ and His Church will continue to bear fruit.”

Metropolitan Philoxenus Mattias Nayis, the Patriarchal Vicar of the Archdiocese Germany of the Syrian Orthodox Church wrote: “During some of the most painful years endured by the peoples of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and the Middle East in general he stood steadfastly beside the poor, the displaced, the persecuted and the needy”

In recent years Dr Sookhdeo developed and grew the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life which had been founded in Oxford in 2005. It currently runs theological training for people in grassroots ministries in Africa and Asia, as well as graduate programmes at Masters level with the North Eastern Christian University, Nagaland, India and a doctoral programme with Stellenbosch University in South Africa, providing theologically orthodox, biblical leaders for parts of the church ravaged by persecution, war, migration and natural disasters: indeed a fitting legacy for him, providing for the persecuted church into the future!

In the midst of this great loss, the Trustees of the OCRPL entrust Rosemary, his family and colleagues into the care and sustaining power of the Lord whom Patrick loved and served with energy, integrity, and self-sacrifice: . ‘Rest eternal grant unto him O Lord and may light perpetual shine upon him.’

Further information can be obtained from Canon Dr Chris Sugden, Secretary and Acting Chair of OCRPL via csugden@ocrpl.org