Sam Wells has been Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, since 2012. He is a widely known preacher, pastor, writer, broadcaster, theologian, and institutional leader.

He was ordained in 1991, and served curacies in Newcastle and Cambridge. He was a vicar in Norwich from 1997 to 2003, and Cambridge from 2003 to 2005. From 2005 to 2012 Sam served in North Carolina as Dean of the Chapel at Duke University and Research Professor of Christian Ethics at Duke Divinity School.

Sam studied at Merton College, Oxford, at the University of Edinburgh, and at the University of Durham. His Ph.D. is in Christian Ethics. He is Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College, London. Since 2014, he has been a regular presenter of ‘Thought for the Day’ on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He has published 50 books, including studies in ethics, such as Transforming Fate into Destiny, Improvisation, God’s Companions and A Nazareth Manifesto, textbooks, such as Introducing Christian Ethics, an apologetics, Humbler Faith, Bigger God, collections of sermons, including Speaking the Truth, Be Not Afraid, Learning to Dream Again, and How then Shall We Live?, devotional works, such as Power and Passion, which was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book for 2007, and books to build up lay faith and ministry, including Living Without Enemies, What Anglicans Believe, Crafting Prayers for Public Worship, Face to Face and the trilogy Walk Humbly, Love Mercy, and Act Justly. He has also jointly written a collection of Eucharistic Prayers for every Sunday of the three-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle, published as Joining the Angels’ Song, and jointly created an enquirers’ course, Being With. One recent book is Constructing an Incarnational Theology (Cambridge UP: 2025).

Sam has long understood being with those experiencing social disadvantage as a significant dimension of his vocation. He has spent 11 years living and working in urban priority areas. In Norwich, he helped to found and lead the first development trust in the East of England. He jointly founded HeartEdge, an influential movement for church renewal, in 2017, and the Being With course, a faith-sharing initiative, in 2020.

Sam is married to Rt Revd Dr Jo Wells, who is Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion. They have two adult children.