Brian Skinner

Brian Antony Skinner (1939 – 19 February 2026) was an English Anglican bishop who served as a missionary in Chile. From 1977 to 1986, he was the suffragan bishop of Valparaíso in the Diocese of Chile in what became the Province of the Southern Cone of America. He was known as an evangelical and charismatic clergyman within Anglicanism.

Early life, education and ordination Skinner was born in 1939. He graduated from University of Reading in 1960 and from Tyndale Hall, Bristol in 1966. He was ordained as a deacon in 1967 and a priest in 1968, serving his curacy in the Diocese of Guildford.

Missionary to Chile Skinner was a missionary to Chile from 1970 to 1986. Pytches became a charismatic while in South America and embraced healing ministry and speaking in tongues. Under Pytches's oversight, Skinner was named archdeacon of Valparaíso in 1976 and then made suffragan bishop the following year. While there, he and Pytches founded the Federation of Independent Anglican Churches. Formed over the concerns of Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, the federation was intended to link churches that could not exist within the diocesan and parish structures of the Church of England—for example, church plants done across diocesan boundaries. Skinner and Pytches also coauthored a book on planting churches across parish boundaries. Through their leadership at St Andrew's, Pytches and Skinner also continued advocating for lay presidency within the Church of England. The Skinners were survived by their four children.