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.
In 2022, Bishop Martyn entered the House of Lords where he carries a particular brief for issues related to poverty.
He is also the lead Bishop for Living in Love and Faith, taking a proactive role, alongside a committed working group, in the development of the Prayers for Love and Faith with a strong emphasis on unity.
He is the Bishop Protector of the Third Order of St Francis, and 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. He is also a member of the Church of England Children and Young People Board leading the 30k Project.
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 published his first book in March 2024, ‘An Intercultural Church for an Intercultural World’, and 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 and Leicester Tigers; music – an eclectic taste from Dire Straits to Chopin; and hill walking.
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