Brian Carl Stiller (born August 10, 1942, in Naicam, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian evangelical leader, author, and Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). Known for building the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada into a national voice, leading Tyndale University through two decades of growth, and writing 14 books on global Christianity, Stiller is one of Canada’s most influential figures in modern evangelicalism.
Brian Stiller at a Glance
| Personal | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Brian Carl Stiller |
| Born | August 10, 1942, Naicam, Saskatchewan, Canada |
| Age | 84 (as of August 2026) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Spouse | Lily Muriel Stiller (née Rogers), m. August 31, 1963 |
| Children | Murray Carl Stiller; Muriel Joy Stiller Pascal |
| Parents | Carl Hilmer Stiller (Pentecostal minister); Mildred Ruth Stiller |
| Education | |
| Bible College | Central Pentecostal College, Saskatoon (B.Th, 1963) |
| University | University of Toronto (BA History, 1966) |
| Graduate | Wycliffe College (M.Rel, 1975); Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (D.Min) |
| Honorary Degrees | Briercrest College; Trinity Western University |
| Ministry | |
| Current Role | Global Ambassador, World Evangelical Alliance |
| Since | July 1, 2011 |
| Denomination Background | Pentecostal (raised); serves across evangelical/interdenominational bodies |
| Website | brianstiller.com |
| Career | |
| Past Roles | President, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (1983–1997); President, Tyndale University & Seminary (1995–2009); Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Faith Today (1983–1997) |
| Books | 14 published titles |
| Net Worth | Not publicly disclosed; no reliable figures available |
Early Life and Family Background
Brian Stiller grew up on the Saskatchewan prairies, in a home where faith wasn’t a Sunday activity. It was the family business. His father, Carl Hilmer Stiller, pastored Pentecostal churches. His mother, Mildred Ruth, ran the household. Stiller has said the fascination with “religious ideas and phenomena” started early, simply because he watched it lived out at the kitchen table every day. [IMAGE: Saskatchewan prairie landscape, representing Brian Stiller’s childhood setting]
That upbringing shaped his instincts long before it shaped his résumé. Growing up as a pastor’s kid on the prairies meant learning how small, under-resourced congregations survive. It’s a lesson that would matter more than he could have guessed, decades later, when he was handed institutions that were struggling to survive too.
Education and Early Training
Stiller trained for ministry at Central Pentecostal College in Saskatoon, earning a Bachelor of Theology in 1963. He then moved east, completing a BA in History at the University of Toronto in 1966. He later added a Master of Religion from Wycliffe College and a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. Briercrest College and Trinity Western University both later awarded him honorary doctorates, recognition of a career that by then spanned four decades of Canadian evangelical life.
Ministry Career and Professional Journey
Youth for Christ: The Founding Years
After finishing his degree in 1966, Stiller spent a year “floundering in ministry,” by his own account. Then two job offers landed at once: a Montreal church wanted a youth minister, and Youth for Christ wanted someone to run its Montreal chapter. He took the YFC role. His wife, Lily, was pregnant with their son Murray at the time, and the family’s car was already on its last legs. It wasn’t a glamorous start.
He later moved to lead Toronto’s YFC chapter, then became Canadian president of Youth for Christ in 1975, a post he held until 1983. Sixteen years in youth ministry. By the end of it, he had a national network of relationships and a reputation as someone who could build organizations, not just preach to them.
The Crossroads: A Pastorate or a Movement
When Stiller resigned from YFC in 1983, he had no job lined up. Days later, at a speaking event at Trinity Western University, a philosophy professor asked him point blank whether he’d consider becoming senior minister at Christian Life Assembly in Langley, British Columbia, then and now one of the largest churches in the province. Stiller seriously weighed it.
He went a different direction. That same year, he became president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), then a small, struggling coalition of evangelical leaders. He’s since described the choice as trading a stable pulpit for a “bankrupt college and seminary” of a different kind: an organization that needed someone willing to do the unglamorous work of rebuilding it from the inside.
Building the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (1983–1997)
Stiller led the EFC for 14 years. Under him, the organization grew from a marginal voice into the recognized national body for Canadian evangelicals, engaged in public policy, religious liberty, and denominational cooperation. In the same period, he founded Faith Today, Canada’s national evangelical magazine, and served as its editor-in-chief until 1997. He also hosted Cross Currents, a weekly television program addressing current issues from a Christian lens. [IMAGE: Faith Today magazine covers from the 1980s and 1990s]
Tyndale University: Two Decades of Growth (1995–2009)
In 1995, Stiller took on Tyndale University College & Seminary in Toronto, Canada’s oldest institution of its kind. The school needed direction and infrastructure. During his presidency, Tyndale purchased a new campus and grew into an institution now serving roughly 1,200 students. He was later named President Emeritus.
Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance
Stiller’s connection to the World Evangelical Alliance goes back to 1969, when he started as an administrative secretary and treasurer for the organization, entirely as a volunteer. Over the following decades he helped found the WEA’s Communications Commission, sat on its executive committee, and chaired its Religious Liberty Commission.
In 2011, the WEA named him Global Ambassador, a role representing the alliance to bodies including the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, and the United Nations. At the WEA’s General Assembly in Indonesia, leaders honored his decades of largely unpaid service, calling him “the best General Secretary we never had.” Colleagues who worked alongside him have said the WEA itself would likely not have survived a leadership crisis in the mid-2000s without the support Stiller and the EFC provided.
Books and Publications
Stiller has written 14 books over the course of his career, ranging from early ministry resources to recent global surveys of Christianity’s growth. Notable titles include:
- From Jerusalem to Timbuktu: A World Tour of the Spread of Christianity (2018, InterVarsity Press) — his most recent and widely cited work, tracing how Christianity’s center of gravity has shifted to the Global South
- An Insider’s Guide to Praying for the World (2016, Bethany House)
- Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century (2015, general editor, Thomas Nelson)
- Preaching Parables to Postmoderns (2005, Fortress Press)
- Jesus and Caesar: Christians in the Public Square (2003, Castle Quay Books)
From Jerusalem to Timbuktu argues that Christianity’s growth today is happening in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, not the West, and identifies five specific factors driving that shift: renewed openness to the Holy Spirit, Bible translation, indigenous leadership, re-engagement with public life, and a gospel that addresses the whole person, not just the soul. [IMAGE: Brian Stiller’s book “From Jerusalem to Timbuktu” cover]
Personal Life
Stiller married Lily Muriel Rogers, a music teacher, on August 31, 1963. They’ve now been married for over six decades. The couple has two children: son Murray, married to Catherine, and daughter Muriel, married to Jesse Pascal. Between them, Brian and Lily have five grandchildren. The family has lived in the Toronto area for years, a fitting home base for a career built on bridging Canadian and global evangelical networks.
Ministry Philosophy
Stiller has pointed to one Old Testament verse as the clearest summary of how he’s approached ministry: 1 Chronicles 12:32, describing the tribe of Issachar as men “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” It’s a fitting anchor. His career hasn’t been built on pulpit charisma. It’s been built on reading institutional moments correctly, then doing the patient work of rebuilding what’s broken.
That shows up repeatedly. He didn’t take the easier path of pastoring an established church in 1983. He took over a fragile alliance instead. He didn’t just write about Bible translation or indigenous leadership in From Jerusalem to Timbuktu. He spent years visiting the places where those shifts were actually happening.
Influence and Legacy
Stiller’s clearest legacy is institutional, not personal. The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada he took over as a struggling coalition is now the country’s established evangelical voice. Tyndale University, once financially uncertain, now serves over a thousand students on a campus his tenure helped secure. Faith Today, the magazine he founded, remains a going concern decades later.
On the global stage, his volunteer commitment to the WEA over 50 years, starting long before any title came with it, is part of what colleagues credit with keeping the organization alive through a difficult period in the mid-2000s. That’s a different kind of influence than a bestselling book or a viral sermon. It’s the influence of someone who shows up for institutions other people have given up on.
Interesting Facts About Brian Stiller
- He originally wanted to be a traveling evangelist and “great preacher.” By his own admission, it didn’t work out, and institution-building became his actual calling instead.
- He turned down a senior pastor role at one of British Columbia’s largest churches to lead a small, struggling evangelical coalition instead.
- He started volunteering for the World Evangelical Alliance in 1969, more than 40 years before he was named its Global Ambassador.
- He was raised Pentecostal but has spent most of his career leading interdenominational evangelical organizations that span far beyond any single tradition.
- He and his wife, Lily, celebrated over 60 years of marriage as of 2023.
Timeline of Key Events
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1942 | Born in Naicam, Saskatchewan |
| 1963 | Graduates Central Pentecostal College; marries Lily Rogers |
| 1966 | Completes BA in History, University of Toronto |
| 1967 | Becomes director of Montreal Youth for Christ |
| 1969 | Begins volunteering with the World Evangelical Alliance |
| 1975 | Named Canadian president of Youth for Christ |
| 1983 | Becomes president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada; founds Faith Today magazine |
| 1987 | Chairs the Lausanne Younger Leaders Singapore conference |
| 1995 | Becomes president of Tyndale University College & Seminary |
| 1997 | Steps down as EFC president after 14 years |
| 2009 | Steps down as Tyndale president; named President Emeritus |
| 2011 | Named Global Ambassador of the World Evangelical Alliance |
| 2018 | Publishes From Jerusalem to Timbuktu |
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Brian Stiller?
Brian Stiller is a Canadian evangelical leader who serves as Global Ambassador for the World Evangelical Alliance. He previously led the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and Tyndale University, and has written 14 books on faith and global Christianity.
What denomination is Brian Stiller?
Stiller was raised in a Pentecostal minister’s home. Most of his career, however, has been spent leading interdenominational organizations that work across evangelical traditions rather than within a single denomination.
What is Brian Stiller’s most famous book?
From Jerusalem to Timbuktu: A World Tour of the Spread of Christianity (2018) is his best-known and most recent title. It examines why Christianity is growing fastest in the Global South.
Is Brian Stiller still the Global Ambassador of the WEA?
Yes. Stiller has held the role since July 1, 2011, representing the World Evangelical Alliance to bodies including the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, and the United Nations.
Who is Brian Stiller’s wife?
He is married to Lily Muriel Stiller (née Rogers), a music teacher. They married in 1963 and have two children and five grandchildren.
What did Brian Stiller do at Tyndale University?
He served as president of Tyndale University College & Seminary in Toronto from 1995 to 2009, overseeing its growth and the purchase of a new campus. He was later named President Emeritus.
Brian Stiller’s story is a reminder that lasting influence often comes from rebuilding institutions others have written off. If his approach to faith and public life resonates with you, explore more Christian leadership biographies on Flicxa.
