THE next Suffragan Bishop of Swindon in the diocese of Bristol will be the current Archdeacon of Bristol, the Ven. Neil Warwick, it was announced on Thursday morning.

Archdeacon Warwick succeeds Dr Lee Rayfield, who retired on 30 April (Gazette, 10 March).

Archdeacon Warwick was ordained priest in 2006 and served his title at St Laurence’s, Towcester (the Tove Benefice), in Peterborough diocese before becoming Vicar of St Nicolas’s, Earley, in Oxford diocese, in 2009.

He became Archdeacon of Bristol in 2019, since when he has worked on the discernment, shaping, and implementation of the diocese’s mission plan, Transforming Church Together. He has also served on the Archbishops’ Racism Taskforce, which produced the report From Lament to Action.

Before training for ordination at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, Archdeacon Warwick worked for World Vision, and studied for an MBA, at Eastern University, in Philadelphia, with a focus on community and leadership.

On Thursday, he expressed his “delight” at his new appointment. “I’m enthusiastic about supporting Swindon’s churches in their God-given mission to build community, form local partnerships, and be a positive presence across the town and beyond,” he said.

The Bishop of Bristol, the Rt Revd Vivienne Faull, said that the diocese would benefit from Archdeacon Warwick’s “gifts as a change-maker” and that “He attracts others to the Christ he serves through his deep faithfulness, his broad sympathies, and his enjoyment of the overflowing life God brings.”

He will be consecrated in Canterbury Cathedral on 30 November.