Bishop Martyn became the seventh Bishop of Leicester in May 2016. He moved to Leicester from Gloucester where he had been Bishop of Tewkesbury since 2013.
He is also the lead Bishop for Lay Ministry in the Church of England, taking a proactive role in the development of and championing a wide range of ministry from licensed roles such as Readers and Pioneers, to youth and children and families workers.
He is Chair of the Archbishops’ College of Evangelists and is a member of the Church commissioners’ Ministry Council and is the Bishop Protector of the Third Order of St Francis. He is also a member of the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns - the Church of England committee tasked with working alongside the Racial Justice Unit to challenge racism and prejudice
In 2022, Bishop Martyn entered the House of Lords where he has spoken on the UK’s treatment of asylum seekers, support for carers, and supported accommodation.
In Leicester, Bishop Martyn is Chair of the Homelessness Charter and a patron of SoundCafé, two initiatives pioneered by the diocese to support people experiencing homelessness. He also serves as a trustee for several of our schools and academy trusts and for the St Philips Centre, which helps churches, schools and communities of different cultures, of all faiths and none, to learn to live well together.
Biography
Martyn was ordained suffragan bishop in 2013, serving in the Diocese of Gloucester until 2016 when he became Bishop of Leicester.
He has a background in the world church having been born in Indonesia and later working in West Africa. His love of crossing cultures has also taken him to London, Northumberland and Sheffield, as well as many visits to other parts of the world.
He studied Chemistry at the University of Sheffield before working with the Crown Prosecution Service. He then trained for ministry in the Church of England at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, before returning to South Yorkshire to serve his Curacy in Rotherham. He and his wife Lynn travelled to Guinea in West Africa to work with the local church – Martyn as Vicar and Diocesan Youth Chaplain, Lynn as a primary health care worker.
On returning to the UK, Martyn became Vicar of Christ Church Pitsmoor in Sheffield and later Area Dean of Ecclesfield. He was appointed Archdeacon of Sheffield and Rotherham in 2010 and was awarded an MA from Durham University in 2012.
Martyn has written a number of Grove booklets on coaching, leadership and mission partnerships. He has contributed to the Church of England’s Pilgrim Course and Daily Reflections.
His interests include sport – supporting Leicester City (as well as Sheffield United!) and Leicester Tigers; music – an eclectic taste from Dire Straits to Chopin; and family holidays with his wife and three children usually involve camping and canoeing.
You can hear Bishop Martyn speaking about his story of faith in a video interview with God Stories Today.
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