The Prime Minister’s Office has announced that the next Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich will be the Rt Revd Joanne Grenfell, currently Area Bishop of Stepney in the diocese of London. Details are in the press release copied below. The diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich has more here, and the diocese of London has this.
Appointment of Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich: 27 June 2025
The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Dr Joanne Woolway Grenfell, Area Bishop of Stepney, in the Diocese of London, for election as Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP
Published 27 June 2025The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Dr Joanne Woolway Grenfell, Area Bishop of Stepney, in the Diocese of London, for election as Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, in succession to The Right Reverend Martin Alan Seeley, following his retirement.
Background
Joanne Grenfell was educated at Oriel College, Oxford and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She trained for ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge. She has a DPhil from Oxford and was Lecturer in English at Oriel College before ordination.
She served her title in the Kirkby Team Ministry in the Diocese of Liverpool and was ordained Priest in 2001. In 2003, Joanne was appointed joint Priest-in-Charge of Manor Parish in the Diocese of Sheffield with responsibility for Ripon College Cuddesdon’s urban theology placement programme. In 2006, Joanne became Diocesan Director of Ordinands and Residentiary Canon of Sheffield Cathedral, and in 2008 she took on the additional role of Dean of Women’s Ministry.
From 2013, Dr Grenfell served as Archdeacon of Portsdown in the Diocese of Portsmouth. In 2019, she took up her current role as Area Bishop of Stepney, in the Diocese of London. She has been the lead Bishop for safeguarding since May 2023.
Alongside the comments that may be made offering congratulations to + Grenfell; a wonderful appointment etc, I offer some sadness. I imagine this will mean that, rather as with a Cabinet Reshuffle, the Safeguarding brief will now fall to another lowly Suffragan.
Perhaps if the CofE’s ‘civil servants’ remain in position only the brass plaque will change. I hope this will not add to the delays in making the changes needed in Safeguarding.
This is a hugely good nomination. Not sure what God ‘elp us all means by a ‘lowly suffragan’. Usual pejorative TA post. The Bishop of Stepney is an Area Bishop in the Diocese of London, with full delegated authority for an area the size of some dioceses. She is also an elected member of the House of Bishops. She will be very good news for her new diocese, and will have much to bring to the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, when she enters. What is done with her key safeguarding brief I have no idea. It has… Read more »
Anthony, I understand that a ‘lowly Suffragan’ is under a Diocesan bishop. +Grenfell’s predecessor in the role of Lead Bishop for safeguarding was Jonathan Gibbs, who was Sufffragan Bishop of Huddersfield when appointed. The current Deputy safeguarding lead bishops are also Suffragans (Bishops of Birkenhead and Tewkesbury). I have nothing against any of these as individuals. My ‘objection’ is that since the then Bishop of Bath & Wells relinquished the lead safeguarding role, the church has not thought it important that this significant role should be filled by someone with the status of a Diocesan bishop. To my mind this… Read more »
Two previous Bishops of Stepney went on to become Archbishop of York. Lang, of whom is was said that he was too young to become Ebor and too old to become Cantuar. More recently, Sentamu became Primate of England via Birmingham.
Yes, I think Lang’s biography by Lockhart says that he went to York too early and to Canterbury too late. There is something about his having been considered for Bishop of Montreal when he was at Stepney. Two Bishops of Stepney became archbishops in other provinces: Joost de Blank (Cape Town) and Trevor Huddleston (Indian Ocean). de Blank was considered for Melbourne in 1957. If that had happened, Ric Thorpe would have been the second London suffragan to become Archbishop of Melbourne.
I agree. I suggested to Archbishop Cottrell several years ago that the Safeguarding lead bishop should be a diocesan, because a suffragan will always be cautious about rocking the boat – particularly if their diocesan is accused. Bp Bev’s recent experience in Liverpool shows suffragans’ vulnerability in such a case. In addition, suffragans tend to move on and we have had little consistency in recent years. I have to say that though Bp Joanne may well have been excellent in her other roles, she has had no discernible impact as safeguarding lead – possibly for the reasons I give above.… Read more »
Janet, I declare an interest first, as having been a diocesan member of the CNC that nominated Bishop Joanne to be the next Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. (We met on 28 & 29 April, so we have had to keep the decision confidential for the last two months.) Your comment about suffragans moving on and “little consistency in recent years” overlooks a decision that (as I understand it) Archbishop Justin made when the Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, held the role as safeguarding lead bishop, namely that due to the increased burden and intensity of the role, it… Read more »
I was privileged to hear Bishop Joanne preach at the opening service of this year’s Aldeburgh Festival – one of the best I have heard in a long while. She spoke on the theme of God’s power being of love not force and was highly critical of most in authority. It was almost revolutionary/close on pacifist/anti-establishment. Her warmth and sincerity were apparent. We will be lucky to have her and I could easily see why some thought she should be the next Archbishop, and equally why there is no way she would be.
I think that was a grave mistake on Justin Welby’s part. It has ensured that none of the safeguarding leads have had time to master their brief before being moved on. But maybe that was the intention?
Thank you David for this background to the Safeguarding Lead role. I note that Bishop Joanne’s appointment to that role was announced in January 2023 and that she was to take over from +Gibbs at the end of March that year. I imagine that if she were to see through her three-year safeguarding term to the end of March 2026, that would give her successor time to get up to speed with this burdensome brief. As with Janet Fife, I am unsure of the then Archbishop Welby’s wisdom in limiting the tenure of this role rather than seeking some greater… Read more »
Before disappearing down a rabbit hole I would like to add this note of admiration for Bishop Joanne. I note that she has produced a paper for this month’s General Synod GS Misc 1417 Update on future of Church Safeguarding I note that she includes a note regarding her wish to continue: 6 The current lead safeguarding bishop’s three-year term of office ends in April 2026 and the intention, with the permission of the archbishops, is to continue to hold responsibility for the safeguarding structures work after that point. I wish Bishop Joanne well as she takes up her Diocesan role… Read more »
As I read footnote 6 to GS Misc 1417, what Archbishops’ Council propose (with the permission of the archbishops) is for Bishop Joanne to retain responsibility for the work on safeguarding structures (the “operational delivery of church safeguarding”), and, with it, being a member of the Programme Board, but not the Scrutiny Board, whose terms of reference include “Delivering the implementation of the design and foundation of the external Scrutiny Body” – effectively implementing the decision of General Synod in February 2025 to vote for ‘Model 3+” Indeed, the ‘timeline’ graph on page 10 of the paper describes Bishop Joanne… Read more »
Thank you David for your information and interest. I wonder how many members of General Synod will have taken the time needed to have read GS Misc 1417, and how much time will be allocated or spent on its consideration at Synod? I note that 40 GS papers have been issued and a further 20 GS Misc papers. I hope i may be forgiven for not reading or calculating the total page count let alone word count. I recognise the wish for transparency and accountabiliity, but … how many hours of reading (and of prepartion)? And that’s without the Questions,… Read more »
Reply to ‘God ‘elp us all’ (why the pseudonym?): For information (having just uploaded, but not yet read), the 62 GS and GS Misc papers included in the 26th June send-out total 808 pages: all for General Synod members to read ahead of the first day of the July group of sessions on 11 July – effectively, if printed double-sided, a lever arch file full. Prior to Covid, and when I was a member of General Synod in the last (extended) quinquennium 2015-2021, the first (and main) tranche of papers for a group of sessions was published and sent to… Read more »
David, thank you for this informative data- hundreds of pages, at a mean 500 words per page, 400 000 well-chosen words, to be drafted, redrafted, summarised, edited, read, reread, considered, actions determined, timescales, … You ask about my pseudonym. I note I am not the only one and plead in my ‘defence’ awareness of a propensity of some to ‘shoot the messenger’. I appreciate that for some, ‘hiding behind a shield of anonymity’ takes away from the message. I value my ‘permission to officiate’ which you will know can be withdrawn at any time, without reason and without recourse to… Read more »
I am afraid I disagree. This is yet another promotion that will speed the spiritual bankruptcy of the C of E. Yet again a bishop from the 44 signatories that call for heretical change in the C of E’s historical position on accepted teaching regarding human sexuality. Do the committees in the C of E back rooms really believe that by elevating liberal academics into high office will be the salvation of declining attendance and relevance within the church. A poor choice for St Ed’s and Ipswich in my view.
Bishop Grenfell spent eighteen months tutoring at Oxford helping to pay her way whilst studying for a doctorate. After training at Westcott House she then spent the next twenty-five years providing ministry and loving care to her respective flocks in the rougher parts of Merseyside, Sheffield, Portsmouth and the East End of London. How convenient for you to ignore the latter and then to dismiss her as a mere “academic”.
Merseyside, Sheffield, Portsmouth and the East End of London – good experience for leading a rural diocese!!
In other words, in your view she can do no right.
Well, I believe that David Lamming and his diocesan colleagues knew what they were looking for when they chose Bishop Grenfell: she may not yet be familiar with the cost of producing sugar beets and cereals, but I reckon she will soon adapt to Suffolk’s rural ways. In any case, many will surely welcome her understanding of the problems of declining congregations, poverty, homelessness and unemployment etc – these are far from unique to to the inner cities in which she has served.
Agreeing with John, there is a world of difference on the one hand between someone who does have rural knowledge (i.e. is by no means simply a ‘townie’) who comes from work with and among deprived urban communities, and on the other someone who comes from conspicuous suburban affluence and/or big ‘successful’ multi-staff churches. The former are far more likely to be in sympathy with the challenges of rural ministry (and ministry in the pockets of substantial deprivation in the bigger towns too).
If you think elevating anyone to ‘high office’ will be ‘the salvation of declining attendance and relevance within the church’, I fear you’ll be disappointed. It’s not within the power of the bishops to reverse the trends and make the church grow. It will take major culture change within the church itself, and it’s clear to me that western Anglicanism, on the whole, is not willing to make that change.
Dream on wanting a smaller (pure) tent. Maybe another denomination will meet your needs.
Another one to strike off the Canterbury short / long list, then!!
It is good to see the Bishop of Fulham offer prayerful congratulations.:- to some one who is a woman whose orders he refutes, and whose episcopal role he believes to be impossible.
Was that real, or a parody account?
Prayers, love and best wishes to Bishop Joanne as she prepares for this new ministry.
I suspect that bishops in the contemporary church have some rather limited scope for doing very much good, either in the life of the church or in the world. But I pray she will use that scope wisely and faithfully. I suspect bishops in the contemporary church also have some limited, but real scope, for doing harm in the church and in the world. Perhaps especially when they try to do too much. I pray she’ll be preserved from this.
A good prayer.
The appropriateness of this comment is also applicable to a piece on ‘Surviving Church’, ‘Safeguarding And ‘The Falsely Accused’. https://survivingchurch.org/2025/06/23/safeguarding-and-the-falsely-accused-2/#comment-25687 I intend therefore to copy this comment to that item as well. The King has approved the nomination of The Right Reverend Dr Joanne Grenfell, Area Bishop of Stepney, in the Diocese of London, for election as Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. At Synod, February 2025 I was in the public gallery and heard Bishop Joanne,lead Bishop in safeguarding, say that every complainant should be listened to. To remind regular readers,Kenneth was falsely accused in March 2020 and I… Read more »
Actually it was my mistake and my comment was an independent one and not a specific reply to Tim Chesterton. Apologies.