John Gladwin

John Warren Gladwin (born 30 May 1942) is a retired Anglican bishop. From 2004 to 2009, he was the Bishop of Chelmsford in the Church of England.[1] He stands in the open evangelical tradition.

The Right Reverend John Gladwin
Bishop of Chelmsford
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of Chelmsford
In office	2004 – 31 August 2009 (retirement)
Predecessor	John Perry
Successor	Stephen Cottrell
Other posts	Bishop of Guildford 1994–2004 Provost of Sheffield 1988–1994
Orders
Ordination	1967 (deacon) 1968 (priest)
Consecration	1994
Personal details
Born	30 May 1942 Hertford, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Denomination	Anglican
Spouse	Lydia Adam (m. 1981)
Alma mater	Churchill College, Cambridge

Early life

Gladwin was born on 30 May 1942 in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England.[2] He was educated at Hertford Grammar School and Churchill College, Cambridge (BA 1965, MA 1968).[3] His ministerial training was at Cranmer Hall, Durham (Diploma in Theology 1969).

Ordained ministry

He was ordained deacon in 1967, priest in 1968, and bishop in 1994.[4]

He was Provost of Sheffield from 1988 to 1994 and Bishop of Guildford from 1994 to 2004 when he was appointed to be Bishop of Chelmsford.[5] He was a member of the House of Lords from 1999 until his retirement in 2009.

Christian engagement with public affairs has been a constant theme throughout his ministry. For six years he was Director of the Shaftesbury Project on Christian Involvement in Society, before becoming Secretary of the Church of England's Board for Social Responsibility. He was chair of the Ministry Division of the Church of England until 2006.

His work with Christian Aid has taken him around the world, where he has seen at first hand the work of many Christians who are committed to working alongside the world's most needy people. He served as chair for 10 years, being succeeded in June 2008 by Anne Owers.[6]

As the Bishop of Chelmsford, he sought to embrace the vast diversity of the second largest diocese in the Church of England. In late 2008 he announced that he would retire on 31 August 2009. On his retirement he became the Chairman of Citizens Advice.

On 11 February 2017, Gladwin was one of fourteen retired bishops to sign an open letter to the then-serving bishops of the Church of England. In an unprecedented move, they expressed their opposition to the House of Bishops' report to General Synod on sexuality, which recommended no change to the Church's canons or practises around sexuality.[7] By 13 February, a serving bishop (Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham) and nine further retired bishops had added their signatures;[8] on 15 February, the report was rejected by synod.[9]

Personal life

He married Lydia Elizabeth Adam, daughter of the late William Adam and the late Ivy Amelia Adam in 1981.[10] They married in Christchurch, Fulwood in the Diocese of Sheffield. The preacher was Brandon Jackson, Provost of Bradford.

Publications

• God's People in God's World, 1979
• The Good of the People, 1988
• Love and Liberty, 1997

References

1. Official notification of appointment Archived 16 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Birthdays today". The Telegraph. 30 May 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2014. the Rt Rev J.W. Gladwin, Chairman, Citizen's Advice; Bishop of Chelmsford, 2003–09, 71
3. Who's Who2008: London, A & C Black ISBN 978-0-7136-8555-8
4. Crockford's Clerical Directory2008/2009 Lambeth, Church House Publishing ISBN 978-0-7151-1030-0
5. Consecration details
6. The Guardian, 25 June 2008, "SocietyGuardian" section p.10, Column c "Ins and Outs".
7. Retired Bishops' Letter — The Letter Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed 11 February 2017; the fourteen bishops were David Atkinson, Michael Doe, Tim Ellis, David Gillett, Gladwin, Laurie Green, Richard Harries, Stephen Lowe, Stephen Platten, John Pritchard, Peter Selby, Tim Stevens, Martin Wharton, and Roy Williamson.)
8. Retired Bishops' Letter — New Signatures Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine (Accessed 17 February 2017; the nine bishops were Gordon Bates, Ian Brackley, John Davies, Peter Maurice, David Rossdale, John Saxbee, Martin Shaw, Oliver Simon, and David Stancliffe.
9. The Guardian — Church of England in turmoil as synod rejects report on same-sex relationships (Accessed 17 February 2017)
10. Debrett's People of Today London,2008 Debrett's, ISBN 978-1-870520-95-9

External links

• Diocese of Chelmsford website