New Archbishop of York announced by Downing Street

The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Stephen Geoffrey Cottrell as the 98th Archbishop of York, in succession to the Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu who retires in June 2019.

He was ordained deacon in 1984 and priest in 1985. An ordinand of the diocese of Chelmsford, he served his title at Christ Church & St Paul’s, Forest Hill in the diocese of Southwark, having trained for ordination at St Stephen’s House in Oxford.

He went on to become Priest-in-Charge of St Wilfrid’s, Parklands, a small council estate parish on the edge of Chichester, and later assistant director of pastoral studies at Chichester Theological College.

In 1993 he became Diocesan Missioner for the Diocese of Wakefield. It was there that he was part of a group that wrote and developed the Emmaus programme for evangelism, nurture and discipleship which has since been translated into several languages.

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In 1997 he began working for Springboard, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s and York’s initiative for evangelism and consequently was involved in speaking on evangelism and leading missions and conferences in England and within the Anglican Communion.

Throughout this time he and his family were based and worshipped at the Urban Priority Area parish of St Thomas’, Huddersfield, itself a great centre for worship and mission.

Stephen’s interests include writing, reading, cooking and music. He is a keen Spurs fan, but also supports his local team wherever he lives, so at various points has followed Southend United, Leyton Orient, Portsmouth, Huddersfield, Peterborough and Reading. He is married to Rebecca, who is a potter and they have three sons.

The Suffragan Bishop of Hull, the Right Reverend Alison White, said: "This is great news! People across the Diocese have been praying that God would send us the person he is calling to be the next Archbishop of York.

"In Bishop Stephen these prayers are answered and this is joyful news for us. We look forward to working with him to make Christ visible in all we do."