THE next Bishop of Exeter will be the Suffragan Bishop of Dunwich, in St Edmundsbury & Ipswich diocese, Dr Mike Harrison, it was announced on Tuesday morning.
He was consecrated bishop in February 2016. Last year, Dr Harrison’s home in Suffolk was flooded during Storm Babet (News, 23 October 2023).
He studied mathematics at the University of Cambridge, before training for ordination at Ripon College, Cuddesdon. He was ordained deacon in 1990 and served his title at St Anne and All Saints, South Lambeth, in Southwark diocese,.
After four years in the diocese of Bradford (now part of the diocese of Leeds) as a university chaplain, he returned to Southwark as Vicar of Holy Trinity, Eltham, from 1998 until 2006, when he was appointed Director of Mission and Ministry in Leicester diocese. He also serves as the Diocesan Warden of Readers and licensed lay ministers.
On Tuesday, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, the Rt Revd Martin Seeley, said that Dr Harrison had arrived in Suffolk with “a keen focus upon mission and evangelism, discipleship, engaging children and young people, and cultivating vocations.
‘‘He has admirably delivered on these promises and his care and compassion for the communities in Suffolk have shown through — particularly during the challenging years of the pandemic, economic downturns and international conflicts.”
The Bishop of Crediton, the Rt Revd Jackie Searle, who has been Acting Bishop of Exeter since the retirement of the Rt Revd Robert Atwell (News, 12 May 2023), congratulated Dr Harrison.
“He comes with wide and varied experience that is hugely relevant to our diocese, a lively and attractive faith in Jesus Christ, and a gift for leadership in mission. He will be a superb Bishop of Exeter and I look forward to working with him,” she said.
Dr Harrison said that he was “looking forward to providing oversight, pastoral care, prayer, fellowship, and partnership in the gospel across the whole breadth of the diocese.
“We are a broad church with a diversity of traditions and views, and I am committed to working together and being united in our shared mission to grow in prayer, make new disciples and serve the people of Devon with joy.”
Last year, in a joint statement with Bishop Seeley, Dr Harrison expressed his support for the introduction of blessings for same-sex couples. They wrote that, through the Living in Love and Faith process, they had “both reached the view that the faithful, pastoral, loving and just way forward is to extend Holy Matrimony to same-sex couples”.