At the 2024 Sea of Faith AGM it was agreed to set up a new 12-person Steering Group to facilitate activities of the Network. The SOFN Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are all ex officio members of the Group and the remaining members are elected. Here is some information about the Group members. If you feel that you are not represented by these people, please get in touch and offer your services!
Martin Spence, Chair of the Steering Group, spent most of his working life in the film and TV industry, initially in production and then as a trade union official. He has published articles and books on a range of topics from political economy to film history. He regards himself as a humanist, but no longer an atheist. He has been involved in the Sea of Faith Network for over a decade and belongs to the group of members who organise monthly ‘In Conversation’ Zoom meetings, as well as chairing the Steering Group.
Sam Alexander is an actor, French translator and writer—usually in that order—and this is his first year’s membership of the SOFN. His son became a chorister at Southwark Cathedral a year and a half ago and that meant the regularity of his church going went from ‘never’ to ‘two services most Sundays’. He says it was quite a shock to the system. All sorts of old questions, objections and confusions about his attitude to God and the Church came rushing to the surface. One day he idly Googled “Is there such a thing as a Christian atheist?” and soon found himself watching Don Cupitt’s 1984 TV series The Sea of Faith in full on YouTube. Then he found himself reading theology, not something he’d done before, and joining the SOFN, where, intellectually, if not spiritually, he feels right at home. His Sundays at Southwark are far more enjoyable now he’s learned there’s a well-trodden path towards a type of faith that makes sense to him. He had no idea such a path existed.
David Chapman took over as editor of Sofia starting with the March 2025 issue. His brief biography is here.
Clem Cook has had a portfolio career, with teaching/training/writing the common thread, and with business employment and ownership to put bread on the table and a pension in place. After secondary school teaching (Maths, English, RE), he worked as a clergyman (moving from Conservative Evangelicalism to Christian Liberalism to Radical Christian Atheism). Then, after resigning from the church, he pivoted to a business career via an MBA and City employment. His career has included: university lecturing; magazine editing; employment agency ownership; and Investment Bank training. Although also a member of Humanist UK and the Progressive Christianity Network UK, Clem’s ‘Church’ has been mainly the Sea of Faith Network for 25 years including a decade plus as Website Editor and Trustee. Its many books, magazines and articles have been his ‘Bible’. Tottenham Hotspur is not his church despite his regular attendance as a season ticket holder.
Oliver Essame is a retired cabinet maker. Raised as an Anglican, educated in that tradition at boarding schools. His parents, however, were looking elsewhere and he went with them to summer schools at Combe Springs, where he was introduced to the works of George Gurdjieff, JG Bennett and Subud. Nevertheless, he briefly succumbed to the charms of Anglicanism and went to Oxford. Then, armed with his theology degree, became a stage manager for a while and then a teacher for a year at a school in India. He learnt there that the practical life suited him and when he came home he retrained as a woodworker. His mother gave him Taking Leave of God for his birthday in 1981 and asked him to accompany her to the Sea of Faith Conference in 1995 and he has been an active member ever since.
Dave Francis is a former RE teacher and adviser, Chair of the RE Advisers Association, Deputy Chair of the REC and Lead Consultant for REonline. He’s written a handful of (now out-of-print) RE text books, as well as several practical guides for primary and secondary RE teachers. He is the founder and editor of ‘Solarity’, which is the Sea of Faith Network’s online resource for the provision of out-of-school-hours Religion and Philosophy Clubs. He now works with Dr Barbara Wintersgill and Prof Denise Cush on the ‘Big Ideas for RE’ project: https://bigideasforre.org/. He is a supporter of Southampton FC, currently by some margin the 20th best team in the country.
Andy Kemp has been involved with SOF nationally for over 30 years, is a member of the Merseyside and North Wales local group, and helps to organise the ‘In Conversation’ series. He has served as a Trustee, ‘Portholes’ editor, and conference booking secretary, and is an occasional contributor to Sofia. Andy’s current work life is in managing charities involved in the relief of poverty and deprivation; this has become his passion, as, like his inspiration, Don Cupitt, he sees religious faith as essentially ethical practice. Having dodged the bullet of ordained ministry, he worked as a lay pastor in Liverpool, Warrington and the Wirral, and was an active Methodist Local Preacher for 25 years. He remains a committed Methodist who can no longer make sense of ‘worship’. Interests in theology, history, archaeology, music and art fill his leisure time, when not walking in the hills with his wife.
Stephen Mitchell is a retired Anglican priest and founder member of the Sea of Faith network. He helped organise its first conference and was the first Steering Committee chair. He’s always seen the network as common ground between atheists, agnostics and people of faith. Even the most fundamental of believers will acknowledge the human and creative side of faith. He’s explored and worked out his faith through writing a few books – Agenda for Faith, God in Bath, Past Perfect – and a recently created blog www.canonfodder.co. Before becoming a priest he taught music and he continues to arrange, compose and make music in retirement. As a priest he ministered in schools, cathedrals, and village churches. He recently rejoined the Steering Committee and is keen to see the network grow through the enthusiasm of its new members, and the development of its impressive website, magazine and educational activities.
Edward Nickell was raised in an Irish Presbyterian background in Belfast. He doesn’t remember ever believing in God, but he has always been fascinated by religion. Edward calls himself a Christian Atheist. He is a member of Humanists UK and was a humanist celebrant and pastoral carer, but also attends a liberal, East London anglo-catholic Anglican parish, where he has served on PCC and as Deanery Synod representative. Edward joined the Network, becoming its then youngest member, in 2018 and has since served as a Trustee and Secretary, presented at conferences and written for the Sofia magazine. Edward’s other interests include music and queer culture and his day job is working for the NHS in quality improvement. He has a website at www.edwardnickell.co.uk
Steve Regis has lived out his working days in four main areas: first as a minister, which included creating and producing many acts of worship and drama for his local Council of Churches; then as a social worker, developing models of working with specific client groups; thirdly facilitating psychotherapeutic training and practice in various settings; lastly in gathering together all the writing involved, both for and about these work arenas, along with other productions over the years. Having emerged from the confines of a more secured belief in his earlier days, he continues to explore secular ways of expressing the significance of our humanity on planet earth.
Janet Seargeant has now been completely retired from her job as a consultant psychiatrist for 13 years. A member of the SOF Network since about 1990, she convenes the North London local group which meets at her home in Highgate/ Muswell Hill. She grew up in the Congregational Church, which in 1972 merged with the Presbyterian Church to form the United Reformed Church. She began to have more radical liberal ideas about Christianity in her late teens but was still very involved in the church and wondered how her beliefs, as they were developing, could fit in. As a medical student she discovered Honest to God and later Don Cupitt’s Sea of Faith TV programmes and book, and she joined the Network. Although still a member of the United Reformed Church, she rarely attends services, but instead finds that her inspiration comes through the discussions and ideas of SOF. Her other great love is theatre where she often finds the depth of thought about life and people very inspiring.
Stephen Williams is a widower with three children and seven grandchildren. Most of his working life was in the probation service, in London and latterly in Birmingham. Apart from its intrinsic interest, the experience has shaped his thinking on a range of issues. He has had no church involvement since his early twenties and doesn’t miss it. He had been active as a student, however, and still carries a lot of religious baggage. He joined SOFN in about 1992 and found it very helpful in processing the psychological and philosophical implications of all of that. When the network was looking for a new treasurer, Stephen saw it as an opportunity to give something back, and apart from a couple of short breaks he has been treasurer for most of the last eighteen years.