The Rt Revd Dr Emma Ineson, currently Bishop to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, has been announced as the next Bishop of Kensington, an area covering the London Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Hounslow, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Richmond-upon-Thames.

On the day of the announcement, she met clergy and members of the congregation at St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park, together with clergy from St Nicholas Church and St Peter’s Southfield Road. The photo shows her with Fr Kevin Morris, the vicar of St Michael’s, and other west London clergy.

Bishop Emma will formally take up her post in spring 2023 and will join the College of Bishops in the Diocese of London. She succeeds the Rt Revd Dr Graham Tomlin as Bishop of Kensington, who stepped down in August to lead the Centre for Cultural Witness.

Bishop Emma was ordained in 2000 and served her curacy in Christ Church, Dore in the Diocese of Sheffield, before moving to Devon where she was a Chaplain to the Lee Abbey, an ecumenical Christian community. She was appointed as Tutor of Practical and Pastoral Theology at Trinity College, Bristol in 2006, and Director of Pastoral Studies in 2010. She was appointed Principal in 2014. During this time she also served as Associate Minister of St Matthew’s, Kingsdown, and of St Mary Magdalene, Stoke Bishop, in the Diocese of Bristol. In 2019, Emma was appointed Bishop of Penrith in the Diocese of Carlisle, and in 2021 she took up her current role as Bishop to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

She has been a member of the 2022 Lambeth Conference Design Group, chairs the Church of England Minority Ethnic Vocations Advisory Group, is a member of the Commission for Theological Education in the Anglican Communion, and the Tearfund Theology Committee, and is Central Chaplain to the Worldwide Mothers’ Union.

Bishop Emma said “The Kensington Area stretches from Knightsbridge to Heathrow, encapsulating areas of extreme wealth and also of poverty, with nearly a million Londoners calling it home. For the good news of Jesus Christ to reach every corner, we need to enable people to be confident in living and speaking about their faith, so that everyone has an opportunity to hear and respond. We need to be ambitious in supporting our parish churches in their transformational engagement with local communities.”

She said she looked forward to returning to St Michael & All Angels in 2023. She has been invited to speak at the Chiswick Book Festival about her second book, which is published today. It’s called Failure: ‘What Jesus Said About Sin, Mistakes and Messing Stuff Up: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2023’.

The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said: “My delight that Bishop Emma will be moving to a new role is tempered only by my disappointment that we will not have the benefit of her presence at Lambeth Palace. In a relatively short period of time, she has played a key role in some truly historic moments for the Church of England and the global Anglican Communion.

“I am so pleased that +Emma will still be a close neighbour as Bishop of Kensington in the Diocese of London. I look forward greatly to the publication of her Archbishops’ 2023 Lent Book, and I know her wisdom will guide many through that season of reflection.”

Read more at the Diocese of London website.