THE Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, is to retire in September, he announced in Lichfield Cathedral on Monday, during the St Chad’s Day festal evensong. His announcement was exactly ten years since his nomination.
Dr Ipgrave referred to St Chad as a “constant inspiration” during his episcopate in Lichfield. The 99th Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Ipgrave said that he had been “humbled to be amongst one of the successors of St Chad, our first and greatest Bishop”.
He continued: “Chad was the first to bring to Mercia the life-giving, peacemaking, soul-restoring gospel of Jesus Christ. As we face the challenge of re-evangelising our contemporary Mercia, I am convinced that we can only do that by walking in his steps of kindness, friendliness, and humility in the service of others.”
Dr Ipgrave trained for the priesthood at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, before his ordination as deacon in 1982 and priest in 1983. His first degree, gained at Oriel College, Oxford, was in mathematics. In 1999, he completed a Durham doctorate on “Trinity and inter-faith dialogue: plenitude and plurality”.
He served his title at All Saints’, Oakham, in Peterborough diocese, before moving, in 1985, to a chaplaincy in Japan. He returned to England in 1987, serving in parish ministry in Leicester diocese for 17 years. This included eight years as the Bishop’s Adviser on Relations with People of Other Faiths. He was appointed an honorary canon of Leicester Cathedral in 1994.
He also served as adviser on interfaith relations to the Archbishops’ Council and was secretary of the Churches’ Commission on Inter-Faith Relations, from 1999 to 2004, when he became Archdeacon of Southwark, in the Woolwich Area of Southwark diocese. In 2012, he became the Area Bishop, and was translated from there to Lichfield.
In the House of Lords, he has contributed on a range of issues, most recently on the social-security system and AI (News, 23 May 2025), and social cohesion, particularly with regard to relations between different faiths (News, 13 December 2024).
Speaking of his ministry in Lichfield, Dr Ipgrave said on Monday that he had been “blessed” to work in “one of the friendliest, most down-to-earth, and least pretentious parts of the Church of England; thank you from my heart”.
The Dean, the Rt Revd Jan McFarlane, said: “As Bishop Michael prepares to retire, we know already just how very much he will be missed.” He had, she said, “modelled true servant leadership, as a prayerful, wise, and learned teacher and pastor.
“We will always remember his openness and honesty following the death of his son, Frank, when even in the very depths of his bereavement he courageously shared with us what he’d learned of God. A prayerful bishop who loves God and loves his flock is a true gift. We will be holding Bishop Michael and Julia in our prayers as they prepare to say their farewells to a diocese they’ve served with distinction.”