New Bishop of Chelmsford announced as Right Reverend Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani

Downing Street has announced that the Right Reverend Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani will be the next Bishop of Chelmsford, succeeding the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell, who became Archbishop of York earlier this year.

Bishop Guli is currently Bishop of Loughborough and will begin work in Chelmsford in 2021. She'll start by offering a series of videos, online meetings and online worship as the pandemic continues.

She said: “It is a great privilege to be appointed as the next Bishop of Chelmsford. I know there are many challenges ahead both in the church and wider society, not least as a result of the pandemic. However, I am hopeful about the future. As Christian communities, I believe our task is to be faithful; to share the good news of Jesus Christ and to continue serving the world; to work well together and in partnership with others. In doing this, we’ll discover the extent of God’s love."

In Chelmsford, she'll take charge of the second largest diocese in England with a population estimated to be 3,211,000.

The average weekly church attendance of adults, young people and children is 36,600 in the Diocese.

Bishop Guli was born in Iran, but her family left the country in the wake of the Iranian Revolution in 1980 when she was 13 years old, and to date she has been unable to return.

She is married to Lee, also a priest and they have three children.