THE next Area Bishop of Bradwell, in the diocese of Chelmsford, is to be the Ven. Adam Atkinson, Archdeacon of Charing Cross, in London diocese, Downing Street announced on Monday.
Archdeacon Atkinson succeeds Dr John Perumbalath, who was translated to Liverpool earlier this year (News, 21 October 2022).
Archdeacon Atkinson, who is 56, has been Archdeacon of Charing Cross since 2020, and was Acting Archdeacon of Hackney from 2021 to 2022. He has served all his ministry in London diocese. From 2019 to 2020, he was the Two Cities Area Director of Mission Development, and, from 2018 to 2020, he served as Chaplain to the Church Revitalisation Trust, a charity that seeks “to further the church-planting activity which was previously undertaken by Holy Trinity, Brompton” (Features, 22 November 2019).
He was Vicar of St Peter with St Thomas, Bethnal Green, in east London, from 2011 to 2019, having been Priest-in-Charge the previous year. He was ordained priest in 2008, having trained for ordination at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. He served his title at St Paul’s, Shadwell, with Ratcliffe, in London diocese.
Archdeacon Atkinson said on Monday: “What a joy to be invited to join in with what God is doing here in Chelmsford. I pay tribute to the clergy and lay leaders and volunteers and servants of God in the parishes and ministries of the Bradwell Area. . . I come to serve alongside you who have also been called to work for the Kingdom of God to come in Bradwell as it is in heaven.”
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, said: “Adam brings great experience from his role as Archdeacon of Charing Cross, from his service in local parish ministry and from his work in mission development and church revitalisation. He is a priest with a great passion for mission and community service and his calling to this role is good news for the parishes of the Bradwell Area.”
Archdeacon Atkinson is married to the Revd Heather Atkinson, who succeeded him as Vicar of St Peter with St Thomas, Bethnal Green. He is due to be consecrated in the autumn.