Stephen Cottrell, the next Archbishop of York, is currently Bishop of Chelmsford and was formerly Bishop of Reading.

He has worked in parishes in London and Chichester, as Canon Pastor of Peterborough Cathedral, as Missioner in the Wakefield diocese and as part of Springboard, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s evangelism team.

He has written widely on evangelism, spirituality and discipleship. Among his most recent books are a series of Lent and Holy Week meditations. He has also written a book of children’s stories, The Adventures of Naughty Nora.

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

Stephen’s passions for ministry have always involved evangelism and teaching and commending the Christian faith. He is a founding member of the College of Evangelists and has served on the Church of England’s Mission, Renewal and Evangelism committee.

Bishop 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.