Ruth Bushyager

The Right Reverend

Ruth Bushyager
Bishop of Horsham
ChurchChurch of England
ProvinceCanterbury
DioceseChichester
PredecessorMark Sowerby
Orders
Ordination2005 (deacon)
2006 (priest)
Consecration15 July 2020
by Sarah Mullally
Personal details
Born
Ruth Kathleen Frances Twitchen

March 1977 (age 47)
NationalityBritish
DenominationAnglican
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
Wycliffe Hall, Oxford

Ruth Kathleen Frances Bushyager (née Twitchen; born March 1977) is a British Anglican bishop. Since July 2020, she has served as Bishop of Horsham, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chichester.

Early life and education

Bushyager was born in March 1977 in Essex, England.[1] She studied at the University of Bristol, graduating with a Master of Science (MSci) degree in 1999.[2] From 2000 to 2004, she was a policy advisor at the Cabinet Office.[1] She then entered Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, an evangelical Anglican theological college to train for ordination.[1][2] She graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in theology in 2004.[1] She then undertook a further year of training, completing a diploma in Christian ministry, before leaving theological college to be ordained in 2005.[1]

Ordained ministry

Bushyager was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2005 and as a priest in 2006.[3] From 2014 to 2020, she was Vicar of St Paul's Church, Dorking in the Diocese of Guildford. She previously served in parish ministry in the Dioceses of Southwell and Nottingham and of Oxford, as a school chaplain, and as a missioner in the Diocese of London.[3]

Episcopal ministry

In April 2020, Bushyager was announced as the next Bishop of Horsham, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Chichester. She is the first woman to serve as a bishop in the diocese.[4][5][6][7] Her consecration as a bishop took place on the morning of 15 July 2020, in the Chapel of Lambeth Palace. The principal consecrator was Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London, making her the first female bishop in the Church of England to be consecrated by a bishop who is female.[8]

She is chair of the trustees of Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS), an Anglican evangelical mission agency.[9]

Views

In 2023, following the news that the House of Bishop's of the Church of England was to introduce proposals for blessing same-sex relationships, she signed an open letter which stated:[10]

many Christians in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, together with Christians from across the churches of world Christianity, continue to believe that marriage is given by God for the union of a man and woman and that it cannot be extended to those who are of the same sex. [...] Without seeking to diminish the value of many committed same-sex relationships, for which there is much to give thanks, we find ourselves constrained by what we sincerely believe the Scriptures teach which cannot be set aside.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Horsham, Bishop Suffragan of, (Rt Rev. Ruth Kathleen Frances Bushyager) (born March 1977)". Who's Who 2024. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Ruth Kathleen Frances Bushyager (née Twitchen)". Crockford's Clerical Directory (online ed.). Church House Publishing. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Ruth Kathleen Frances Bushyager (née Twitchen)". Crockford's Clerical Directory (online ed.). Church House Publishing. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Record Number of Serving Wycliffe-trained Bishops". Wycliffe Hall. University of Oxford. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Suffragan See of Horsham: 29 April 2020". GOV.UK. Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  6. ^ "Downing Street announces new Bishops for Horsham and Lewes". Diocese of Chichester. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  7. ^ Page, Sarah (29 April 2020). "New Bishop of Horsham announced by 10 Downing Street". Mid Sussex Times. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  8. ^ Wilkinson, Paul (16 July 2020). "Archbishops delegate consecrations in line with Five Guiding Principles". Church Times. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Trustees and Council of Reference". cpas.org.uk. Church Pastoral Aid Society. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  10. ^ a b "LLF: a paper on the Doctrine of Marriage". Thinking Anglicans. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.