Bishop Ric Thorpe, the Bishop for the Islington area of London, has been elected Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne.
“Thank you to everyone who joined me in praying for the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Guy Mason, leader of the City on A Hill Church has posted. “The Lord has heard our cry.”
Bishop Ric Thorpe, is currently the Bishop of Islington, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London, and the “bishop for church plants.” Bishop Ric was appointed as Bishop of Islington in 2015 to oversee the Diocese of London’s church planting and church growth work. He also serves the Church of England nationally, supporting bishops, dioceses, church planters and pioneers, to develop church planting strategies and to plant new worshipping communities to reach new people in new places in new ways. He is the director of the Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication (CCX) which offers church growth and church planting training and support for the full breadth of the church.
Before being appointed to Islington, Bishop Ric was the Bishop of London’s Adviser for Church Planting and Rector of St Paul’s Shadwell.
“It’s very humbling to be considered for this role, Bishop Thorpe said in the announcement by the Diocese of London. We are walking the journey of discernment prayerfully, and trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, whatever the outcome may be.”
Thorpe has been Bishop of Islington since 2015, and from 1990 to 1992, Thorpe was a lay worship leader at Holy Trinity Brompton and then trained at the evangelical Wycliffe Hall college in Oxford.