The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Educational, Birmingham is delighted to announce the appointment of their new Principal, the Rt Revd Anne Hollinghurst. From September 2024, she will succeed Prof Clive Marsh, who is retiring. Bishop Anne is currently the Bishop of Aston in the CofE Birmingham, and for 16 months was the Acting Bishop of Church of England Birmingham.
The President of the Foundation’s Governing Body, Bishop Paul Bayes, said,
“Anne brings a wealth of ministerial, ecumenical, multi-cultural, inter-faith, educational and managerial experience to help us consolidate Queen’s as a brand leader in theological education and formation in discipleship and ministries.”
At her announcement, Bishop Anne said,
“The Queen’s Foundation offers a truly vibrant Gospel-focused context for learning, research and ministry formation. It has a diverse range of students and programmes reflecting the wonderful diversity of the region and those drawn from far and wide, including Queen’s international community. I am thrilled to have been invited to take up the role of Principal at this exciting time of potential and further development of the unique offer that Queen’s brings. I look forward to playing my part in enabling this distinctive centre of theology and training at the heart of England to equip the churches in England, and global partners, for mission and ministry in today’s world”.
The Bishop of Birmingham, Michael Volland, writes,
“Bishop Anne has served Church of England Birmingham for eight and a half years with love, joy, energy, and distinction. I give thanks for the breadth and depth of her ministry as Bishop of Aston. In particular, I am grateful for the outstanding leadership she offered as Acting Bishop of Birmingham during the recent vacancy in See . We pray that Bishop Anne will know great joy as she prepares to follow the call of God to embark on a new season of ministry as Principal of the Queen's Foundation Birmingham. She will bring significant gifts and experience to bear and will be a great blessing to the Queens community as they seek to serve the wider Church in offering opportunities for world-class theological study.”
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A message from Bishop Anne,
... As the announcement is made that I have been appointed as the new Principal of the Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, I wanted to write a personal message to friends and colleagues who are part of the Church of England Birmingham and wider communities amongst whom I have ministered for the last 8 ½ years. It has been the most enormous privilege to serve as Bishop of Aston, and recently as Acting Bishop of Birmingham. Even as I write this, I acknowledge what a huge wrench it will be to step aside from day to day pastoral care, ministry and mission amongst you as a “jobbing bishop”.
I take up my new role in September, and there will be opportunity for leave-taking and farewells in relation to my current ministry in due course, but I do want to express now that my following of this call will not mean that I stop praying for you all, or caring about what you and God will be up to together as part of Church of England Birmingham! Neither will I cease of course to be a Bishop within the wider Church of England. Birmingham and its people continue to hold a special place in my heart, even as I turn to serving in a different way, which will include serving the shared ministry of our sister churches in an ecumenical context, and through the wider regional, national, and indeed international, reach that Queen’s has.
In my role here as Bishop, and especially as Sponsoring Bishop, I have spoken with many of you about vocation and discernment over the years. For me, this particular call has come somewhat unexpectedly, but joyfully. The promptings and encouragement of others have been part of the discernment, along with my own listening to the Spirit.
This new appointment is something that feels very much in tune with my continuing sense of episcopal calling. At the heart of my own understanding of episcopal ministry, alongside the charge to “proclaim the gospel boldly, confront injustice and work for righteousness and peace, increase the Church and renew its ministry, and build up the Church in unity and love,” is the call to “discern and foster the gifts of the Spirit in all who follow Christ, commissioning them to minister in his name” - from the C of E ordination of bishops.
My care for the church and its mission has always included a deep desire to see all God’s people fulfil their God-given potential. Life in all its fullness is found when followers of Jesus continue in the way of discipleship and are open to all that the Holy Spirit wants to give them – including gifts that equip them for a whole variety of ministries, lay and ordained. These ministries are given for the building up of the Body of Christ, to enable the church’s living witness to the God of love and justice.
The honour of now being invited to serve as Principal of the Queen’s Foundation, offers an opportunity to fulfil this calling in a focused way, one that speaks to my own love of learning and theology that is life-affirming and life-transforming. These are values that I know Queen’s shares and are needed if we are to capture the hearts and minds of a new generation. It is a role in which I believe my own gifts in leadership and ministry can be offered most fruitfully in this next season, and within the current context of our church.
As I now prepare for a time of significant transition ahead, I would be so grateful for your prayers, as I will continue to pray for you. This Eastertide I have been reminded many times of the words of a familiar Easter hymn, which were so powerful for me when I was first exploring a call to ordained ministry. They have remained powerful and I offer them to you,
“Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine demands my soul my life my all”.
Yours as ever in Christ
The Rt. Revd Anne Hollinghurst
Bishop of Aston
The Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham
Queen’s currently has 259 students on full-time, part-time, residential, non-residential and on-line courses. Alongside preparing men and women for ministry in the Church of England and the Methodist Church, the Foundation has many independent students studying on a variety of courses, and growing partnership with the Black Majority / Black Pentecostal churches. Its work is focused in 5 increasingly interactive Centres:
- Discipleship and Theology
- Ministerial Formation
- Black Theology
- Continuing Ministerial Development
- Research and Global Partnerships
For more see The Queen’s Foundation website https://www.queens.ac.uk/ .
All press and media enquiries for The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Educational, Birmingham, should be made via email to chairgovs@queens.ac.uk
All press and media enquiries for the Church of England Birmingham should be made to the Director of Communications via email at comms@cofebirmingham.com