It’s not every Church of England bishop that can claim connections to both Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate. But Andrew Rumsey is an exception.
He grew up on the same housing estate as political activist Tommy Robinson and attended the same secondary school as social media influencer Andrew Tate.
But he’s taken a different direction in life to both controversial high-profile figures.
Andrew Rumsey was welcomed as the new Bishop of St Albans in a service at St Albans Cathedral, north of London, on Saturday.
His father was the parish priest on that Luton housing estate in the 1970s where later Tommy Robinson would grow up. And Bishop Andrew has said he suspects the only area of common ground he holds with Andrew Tate is his bleak assessment of their ‘sinking’ secondary school.
As Bishop of St Albans, Rumsey serves a diocese that covers Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and parts of north London. It includes Luton, Bedford, St Albans and Watford, as well as rural areas in the two counties. There are more than 400 churches in the diocese, plus many church schools and chaplaincies.
It’s a big, demanding job.
As a priest serving in the diocese, and under Bishop Andrew’s authority, I’m detecting an excitement about the appointment - and I suspect this is more than just ‘new manager bounce’ that sports teams often enjoy when a new coach is appointed.
Bishop Andrew has served as a priest in north and south London, and in Surrey. He was previously Bishop of Ramsbury, overseeing churches in Wiltshire, and is also an author and a singer-songwriter.
His predecessors in St Albans include Robert Runcie – who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury – Alan Smith and Christopher Herbert, who both combined their diocesan roles with national ministries in the House of Lords.
Smith was repeatedly criticised by gambling companies for calling for the industry to be more closely regulated, while Herbert was a prominent voice against legalizing assisted suicide.
Bishop Andrew’s appointment comes as the national church seeks to learn lessons from past child abuse cases and improve the way it responds to victims.
It also comes as a lively debate is going on about the role of the local congregation. In the Church of England, a campaigning group called ‘Save the Parish’ has published a manifesto calling for greater emphasis and commitment to the local church.
Bishop Andrew is known for having that commitment, and to localism generally. “Think eternally, act locally" was the slogan he suggested to an audience recently.
It’s vitally true that ‘local’ matters - we learnt this during the pandemic, when we realised how much we were rooted to the area and community around us. Local matters, when churches are seeking to present the gospel in actions and words that are relevant to the people who live in the streets around our buildings.
This summer, in Clacton and in Makerfield, we have seen national political issues taking over local communities. The debates around Nigel Farage’s re-election in the seaside town, and Andy Burnham’s election in Greater Manchester, were more focussed on national issues than the local.
Politicians may come and go, but churches and other faith groups are there for the long term, rooted in their communities.
Away from the headlines, in the small print of everyday life, churches are called to be making life better for the people on their patch and to serve with energy and enthusiasm.
So I welcome Andrew Rumsey’s appointment and will be joining many others in praying for a successful and fruitful ministry - one that’s rooted locally but with the eternal in mind…
Rev Peter Crumpler is a Church of England minister in St Albans, Herts, UK and a former communications director with the CofE.
