OUR BISHOP
The Right Reverend Dr Michael Ipgrave, 99th Bishop of Lichfield, grew up in a small village in Northamptonshire. He studied mathematics at Oriel College, Oxford, and, after a year spent as a labourer in a factory in Birmingham, trained for the ministry at England’s leading theological college – Ripon College, Cuddesdon, Oxford.
He was ordained Deacon in 1982 and Priest in 1983 in the Diocese of Peterborough. After more than twenty years of ministry in Leicestershire and japan, he became Archdeacon of Southwark in 2004. He was Canon Missioner at Southwark Cathedral from 2010 to 2012, chair of the Southwark and London Housing Association, and Anglican Borough Dean of Southwark. Prior to this he had been Inter-Faith Relations Adviser to the Archbishops’ Council and Secretary of the Churches’ Commission on Inter-Faith Relations.
Bishop Michael was awarded the OBE in the New Year Honours list in 2011 for services to inter-faith relations in London. From 2012 he was Area Bishop of Woolwich in the Diocese of Southwark and also the Diocesan Warden of Readers.
He chairs the Council of Christians and Jews, is co-chair of the Anglican-Lutheran Society and the Church of England’s Mission Theology Advisory Group.
Bishop Michael has written extensively on inter-faith issues and on questions of religion and human rights. He has edited six volumes on Christian-Muslim relations, is the author of ‘Trinity and Inter-Faith Dialogue’ (Peter Lang 2003), and has contributed thirty journal articles and book chapters.
Bishop Michael is married to Dr Julia Ipgrave, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Humanities at Roehampton University. Michael and Julia have three grown-up sons, one of whom is married to a German and another to a Russian. They have a grand-child in Germany. Michael and Julia are keen on all-things Japanese, and also enjoy walking and exploring Staffordshire and Shropshire on foot. This includes pilgrimages around the Diocese.
Come follow Christ…in the footsteps of Saint Chad
St Chad was the first Bishop of Lichfield. St Chad’s Day is 2nd March and the prayer appointed for that day is:
From the first fruits of the English nation who turned to Christ, you called your servant Chad to be an evangelist and bishop of his own people: give us grace so to follow his peaceable nature, humble spirit and prayerful life, that we may truly commend to others the faith which we ourselves profess…
Find out more in the booklet below…
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