THE number of Church of England women bishops is to rise to six, after it was announced last week that the Vicar of St Peter’s, St Albans, the Revd Anne Hollinghurst, is to be the next Bishop of Aston.

She worked previously as a youth worker in West Sussex and then Nottingham, and was Chaplain at the University of Derby and Derby Cathedral. She is married to the Revd Steve Hollinghurst, a part-time tutor
with the Church Army and a consultant, trainer and researcher in
mission and contemporary culture.

“Each step of my journey has been enormously exciting and stretching, and now I take a rather large gulp as I look towards this next step in ministry, to which I believe God is calling me,” she said. 

The Revd Dr Graham Tomlin was announced as the next Bishop of Kensington, in the diocese of London. He is the Principal of St Mellitus College, a theological training centre in west London.

Dr Tomlin trained at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, before returning there as a tutor in historical theology and later becoming vice-principal. In 2005 he founded the St Paul’s Theological Centre, which eventually became part of the new St Mellitus College.

Married to Janet, and with two adult children, Dr Tomlin will take up his new position in the autumn. The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, said that, in both his teaching and his writing, Dr Tomlin demonstrated his “generous orthodoxy”. Dr Tomlin said that it would be a privilege to serve a part of the diocese that was dynamic.

Yesterday, two more bishops for London diocese were unveiled - the Rector of St John-at-Hackney, the Revd Rob Wickham, will be the next Bishop of Edmonton, and the Revd Ric Thorpe will be the first Bishop of Islington for almost a century.

Mr Wickham, who has been Area Dean for Hackney since 2014, has offered a "distinctive Christian contribution to the regeneration of his community" in his eight years as a parish priest in east London, Bishop Chartres said.

The dormant see of Islington has been revived to create a "bishop for church plants". Mr Thorpe, currently Rector of St Paul's, Shadwell with Ratcliffe St James and the Bishop of London’s Adviser for Church Planting, will mentor and support those involved in planting churches, including projects outside the diocese (News, 6 March).

"My prayer is that God will continue to guide us to new places, in new ways, and give us boldness to proclaim this good news in our generation," Mr Thorpe said. 

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