The Diocese of Southwark has given thanks for the ministry of The Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, the 10th Bishop of Southwark, as he prepares to retire from his role. The special Valedictory Eucharist, at which Bishop Christopher presided and preached, took place at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday 18 July.
“As a person approaches retirement, there are inevitably plenty of opportunities to say goodbye – but there are rarely enough opportunities to express appreciation and gratitude,” said Bishop Christopher in his sermon. “So, the first and most important thing I wish to say today is ‘thank you.’ Thank you for who you are, and for all that you give. I retire with a deep and heartfelt sense of gratitude for the joy of walking alongside you as fellow pilgrims in the way of Christ, and all of us working together for the common good. It has been a great and joyful privilege to serve in this wonderful Diocese, caring from 2005 for the Woolwich Episcopal Area and then since 2011 for South London and East Surrey as Diocesan Bishop. Thank you.” Read the full sermon here.
During the service, Bishop Christopher handed on the Diocesan Crozier to The Rt Revd Dr Rosemarie Mallett, Bishop of Croydon, who will serve as Acting Bishop of Southwark until a new Diocesan Bishop is appointed. Bishop Christopher was also symbolically divested of his mitre and chasuble, which were laid on the altar at Southwark Cathedral.
Reflecting on the memories and reflections that others have shared about Bishop Christopher’s ministry, Diocesan Secretary Nicola Thomas said: “The theme that has come through, again and again, is his ability to call people by name, to make the person that he is dealing with, in that moment, feel seen, heard, noticed, special. Bishop Christopher has operated in a fully integrated way as pastor and leader – in one of his favourite phrases, he has ‘inhabited’ the role of Bishop of Southwark in a way that seems to permeate his entire mode of being. Bishop Christopher, we will miss you.”
Addressing Bishop Christopher at the end of the service, The Dean of Southwark, The Very Revd Dr Mark Oakley, said: “You have unapologetically placed spirituality, our lives of faith and the call to mission as a gift to the world, right at our heart. You have led many pilgrimages, encouraged parishes and church communities in prayer, sought to deepen faith in chaplaincies, clergy, ordinands, laity, all of us, to make sure our first love of God does not grow cold, gently reminding us to attend to our souls so that the Church maintains one. You have been a pilgrim amongst pilgrims, a generous pastor, and a teacher in the school of Jesus Christ because, at the end of the day, only God matters. We have needed to hear this and, please God, we will continue to.”
Bishop Christopher will retire on his 70th birthday in August 2026, after 43 years in ordained ministry.
About Bishop Christopher
Christopher Chessun was born in 1956 in Hampton, Middlesex, the elder of identical twins. He trained for the priesthood at Westcott House, Cambridge, and was ordained as deacon in 1983. He served his title at St Michael & All Angels, Sandhurst, before moving on in 1987 to the post of senior curate at St Mary, Portsea in Portsmouth Diocese.
In 1989 he became Chaplain and Minor Canon at St Paul’s Cathedral and Vocations Adviser in the Diocese of London in 1990, staying in both these roles until 1993 when he was appointed Rector of St Dunstan & All Saints’, Stepney. Between 1997 and 2001 he was Area Dean of Tower Hamlets. In Stepney he held a number of ex-officio posts on the governing bodies of various trusts and church schools. In April 2001 he was installed as Archdeacon of Northolt and during this time he was a trustee of the North Thames Ministerial Training Course, Chairman of the Trustees of St George’s Chapel at Heathrow Airport and of the London Diocesan Schools’ Committee.
In April 2005 he was consecrated Bishop in Southwark Cathedral, taking up his appointment as Area Bishop of Woolwich and Urban Bishop for the Diocese of Southwark. The Woolwich Area is linked with the Diocese of Manicaland in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. Bishop Christopher made an initial visit in June 2006, the first of a number of visits to strengthen the inter-diocesan links.
In March 2011 he began public ministry as the tenth Bishop of Southwark. He is a strong advocate for the parish system as the most effective means of church presence and engagement in the life of local communities – including the need to proclaim the Gospel afresh amidst rapid changes in church and community life. He is also the Church of England’s Lead Bishop for the Middle East and in this role has coordinated a number of diocesan pilgrimages to the Holy Land, participated as an Anglican ecumenical delegate in the annual Vatican-mandated Holy Land Coordination and worked for peace with justice for the Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples of Israel and Palestine.
