Press release from 10 Downing Street. Further information from Winchester diocese.
Appointment of Suffragan Bishop of Southampton: 13 September 2024
The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Rhiannon King, Archdeacon of Ipswich and Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, as Suffragan Bishop of Southampton, in the Diocese of Winchester.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 13 September 2024The King has approved the nomination of The Venerable Rhiannon King, Archdeacon of Ipswich and Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, as Suffragan Bishop of Southampton, in the Diocese of Winchester, in succession to The Right Reverend Deborah Sellin, following her translation to Bishop of Peterborough.
Background
Rhiannon was educated at Exeter University, has two Master’s degrees and trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. She served her title in the Huntingdon Team Ministry in the Diocese of Ely and in 2001 she was ordained priest. From 2004, Rhiannon served as Rector of Fulbourn and the Wilbrahams, a rural multi-parish benefice outside Cambridge, during which time she was elected to General Synod. In 2010 she was appointed Transforming Church Co-ordinator/Diocesan Mission Enabler in the Diocese of Birmingham and, from 2014, she served as the Director of Mission.
In 2019, Rhiannon took up her current roles as Archdeacon of Ipswich and Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’, in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.
Three former Bishops of Southampton had previously been diocesans overseas, Macarthur at Bombay, Boutflower at Tokyo and Karney at Johannesburg. Interestingly in the light of the recent appointment of Rhiannon King, in 1906 George Fisher was translated from the suffragan see of Ipswich to the suffragan see of Southampton. There has not, of course, been a Suffragan Bishop of Ipswich since the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich came into being.
Bps of Southampton have, in recent years, moved on to Diocesan posts – Jonathan Gledhill to Lichfield, Paul Butler to Southwell then Durham, Jonathan Frost to Portsmouth (via York Minster),Debbie Sellin to Peterborough
And John Perry to Chelmsford in 1996 after leading Winchester diocese in a lengthy vacancy following Colin James’ retirement.
What an absolutely brilliant appointment. I came across Rhiannon when she was in Birmingham and was so impressed by what a wise and joyful priest she was and how perceptive she is. She is one impressive person and I am sure she will be brilliant in Winchester Diocese. Whilst there is low trust in episcopacy in the church at present, I think that people like Rhiannon will be part of rebuilding that through the quality of her ministry.
Another woman Bishop appointed As a lay woman this is great news Thanks be to God
What a refreshing video message on the diocesan website!
Rhiannon is excellent. This is good news for Winchester.
I recall first meeting Rhiannon King (nee Jones!) when she was a proctor representing Ely, on the General Synod during the 2005-10 quinquennium. She is excellent, and I am delighted her ministerial career has led to her nomination for episcopal office.
I am sure she is wonderful but yet another evangelical
In my country, I find that if I just take it for granted that every bishop elected is going to be at least moderately Anglo-Catholic and then focus on praying for a prayerful and godly person, I’m a much happier person.
Here we can assume nothing but fear the cold hand of church politics.
I’m sure you complained of imbalance when most bishops appointed were some shade of catholic.
If they were of the ABC brigade you would be quite wrong.
You should not be so sure!!
What is the ABC brigade? I’m afraid I was guilty of using irony without an emoji. For my first decade or so after ordination, it was quite rare to hear of evangelicals being made bishops. Evangelicals complained about it, but I seldom if ever heard catholics support them. It was also true that evangelicals considering ordination were usually advised to gain experience of other traditions, whereas catholics and liberals weren’t. I think senior appointments ought to be balanced between all parties, where suitable candidates are available, and as long as those candidates have demonstrated the ability to respect and treat… Read more »
Resolutions A,B and C….the Forward in Faith bunch who cannot cope with the ordination of women and opt for alternative episcopal oversight….sort of congregationalism in the name of catholicism.
I have to say I really am quite hard to pigeon hole….and tend to avoid being pigeon holed when possible!!!
You and me both!
Re your ” yet another evangelical” barb:
1 CVs tend to say quite a lot.
2 I am not obsessed with labels.
3 You seem very angry…is that a problem?
4 Our baptismal faith is not our sole identity…at least it is not my SOLE identity
5 We are all very wonderful.
6 Let’s all care and rejoice together
I know nothing of Rhiannon King, but I offer my congratulations to her on her appointment and wish her well.
However, I have to be honest and admit that my heart sank when I read that we are to have a bishop whose CV includes such opaque job titles as ‘Transforming Church Co-ordinator/Diocesan Mission Enabler’ and ‘Director of ‘Inspiring Ipswich’’. I have no idea what such job titles mean or what the holders of such titles actually do.
The jargon could extend to ‘measuring outcomes’ but I don’t suppose anyone does.
I feel sure that the churches in Ipswich are undergoing a revival after Archdeacon King’s time there. We have more bishops, archdeacons and cathedral dignitaries than at any point in the CofE’s history and yet we’re still haemorrhaging membership. Parishes are endlessly amalgamated and then offered a part time or house for duty cleric who cannot hope to turn the tide; meanwhile the Leeds diocese has more senior clergy than ever before. At what point will the management realise that there’s no one left to manage?
Hopefully the pendulum will begin to swing back to the point where the press releases say things like ‘the new bishop of Barchester is a very pastoral person’ ‘s/he has a track record of calling out managerialism’ ‘believes that the gospel is the church’s strategy’ ’ ‘will be avoiding meetings of the House/College of Bishops in order to focus on local ministry’ ‘will happily attend pet blessings and commission eco toilets on request’.
A bishop who understood just how much time has to go in to making sure that church toilets work would be no bad thing. My church has just had a fortnight of back and forth with plumbers to get one of ours sorted. I don’t suppose anyone will care about that when it comes to the stats or an MDR.
A bishop who can also fix the plumbing in under 2 weeks is my kind of bishop! Perhaps that should be added to the selection criteria?
I once heard it said that the measure of performance for the Finance and Estates Bursar at All Soul’s College, Oxford was whether the Warden’s toilet was properly maintained, and whether s/he could unblock it when necessary!
At Westcott House I was told that ‘toilet’ was a common word and one should use ‘loo’ or ‘WC’ instead.
Good grief.
Until I went to Wycliffe, I didn’t know anyone who had a dinner jacket. There, DJs were required for end of term meals. There’s a lot of unthinking classism in the C of E.
There was a shop in Leeds run by Charlie Gould, where one could hire formal evening dress. I think it must have derived quite a bit of its revenue from the formal balls at the University’s halls of residence. To attend a ball wearing a lounge suit and tie was acceptable.
At King’s we just called it a bog.
WC sounds a bit Hyacinth Bucket