Stephen Cottrell Appointed Next Archbishop of York

The Rt Revd. Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford has been announced as the next Archbishop of York. He will take up the role when the incumbent Archbishop, Dr John Sentamu stands down in June 2020.

In response to the announcement, Mr Cottrell described the role as “not only big shoes to fill but a big vision. However, I am not daunted. I hope to build on the work of Dr Sentamu and help the church to be more effective in bringing hope and unity to our nation.”

Mr Cottrell further pledged to bring about “hope and unity” to the nation while “looking forward to being the voice of the North and helping to address the discrepancies of wealth and opportunity that too often favour the South.”

Rt Revd Cottrell once called on the Church of England to move away from its Marks and Spencer’s image, implying, its middle-class image, and embrace all-comers.

His appointment came as a surprise given the speculation that the second most-senior position in the Church of England would go to a female-clergy.

The Profile of Stephen Cottrell

Stephen Cottrell is currently the Bishop of Chelmsford and was formerly Bishop of Reading. He has worked in parishes in London and Chichester, Peterborough and Canterbury.

Stephen was ordained deacon in 1984 and priest in 1985. An ordinand of the diocese of Chelmsford, he served his title at Christ Church & St Paul’s, Forest Hill in the diocese of Southwark, having trained for ordination at St Stephen’s House in Oxford.

He went on to become Priest-in-Charge of St Wilfrid’s, Parklands, a small council estate parish on the edge of Chichester, and later Assistant Director of Pastoral Studies at Chichester Theological College.

In 1993 he became Diocesan Missioner for the Diocese of Wakefield. It was there that he was part of a group that wrote and developed the Emmaus programme for evangelism, nurture and discipleship which has since been translated into several languages.

In 1997 he began working for Springboard, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s and York’s initiative for evangelism and consequently was involved in speaking on evangelism and leading missions and conferences in England and within the Anglican Communion.

In 2001 Stephen Cottrell became Canon Pastor and Vice-Dean of Peterborough Cathedral, where he was responsible for the pastoral care and faith development of the congregation, and the Cathedral’s links with the local community.

In 2004 he was appointed Area Bishop of Reading in the diocese of Oxford, where he would be actively involved in ecumenical developments and mission, and where he chaired the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education.

Currently, he is the Bishop of Chelmsford.

Stephen’s passions for ministry have always involved evangelism and teaching and commending the Christian faith. Stephen is a founding member of the College of Evangelists. He has also served on the Church of England’s Mission, Renewal and Evangelism committee.

He currently chairs the Church of England’s Religion in Media group. And also serves as Warden of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin in Wantage and Visitor to the Society of the Precious Blood.

He has written widely on evangelism, spirituality and discipleship. Among his most recent books are a series of Lent and Holy Week meditations, The Things He Carried (2008), a follow up of reflections for Easter Day, The Things He Said (2009), The Nail: Being part of the Passion (2011) and Christ in the Wilderness: Reflecting on the paintings of Stanley Spencer (2012),among others.

Stephen’s interests include writing, reading, cooking and music. He is a keen Spurs fan, but also supports his local team wherever he lives, so at various points has followed Southend United, Leyton Orient, Portsmouth, Huddersfield, Peterborough and Reading. He is married to Rebecca, who is a potter and they have three sons.

We wish for him a successful tenure of office.