What is a Suffragan Bishop and why do we have a Bishop of Repton?

Last Updated on Tuesday, 04 January 2011 12:15

The Suffragan Bishop of Repton

The Role of the Suffragan Bishop is to support and share in the episcopal ministry of the Bishop of Derby, who is the bishop of the Diocese. Episcopal (or “bishop’s”) ministry is about being “shepherds of Christ’s flock and guardians of the faith of the apostles” in the words of the ordination service, which means caring for all God’s people and leading in the task of presenting the faith in the world.

Bishops are to be a focus for the unity of the Church locally, teaching and proclaiming the faith and engaging with the world that the Church is called to serve – being “leaders in mission”, in other words – and encouraging and supporting the ministry of all the baptised, especially ordained and other authorised ministers.

All ministry stems from Christ the Good Shepherd, who invites us to share with him in his work and so the best models of all Christian ministry are shared ones. This is why episcopal ministry is shared by the diocesan bishop with the suffragan bishop who works with him.

Traditionally in the Church of England and other parts of the Christian Church, ministry is rooted in human communities and so all bishops are ordained to be bishop of a specific place. The diocesan bishop is Bishop of Derby as the largest community in Derbyshire. In former times, however, bishops often established their base (or “See”) in quite small and out-of-the-way places and until the time of St Chad (who died in 672) the bishop for the whole of the Midlands (then the See of Mercia) was based in Repton.

When – in 1965 – it was decided to appoint a suffragan bishop for the diocese of Derby, he was designated Bishop of Repton, reviving the episcopal connection with this particular community within Derbyshire. The fact that the suffragan bishop has Repton as his designation, however, does not mean that he has a closer connection with Repton than other places in Derbyshire (and in fact he lives near Matlock!) but it is a reminder that as well as the aspect of bishop’s ministry which is about Cathedrals and big communities, bishops are also about attending to the life of the Church and sharing in the building up of the Kingdom of God in smaller human communities, indeed wherever the people of God gather to worship and to witness.