Diocese of Chester

Who we are

The Church of England is made up of two provinces: York and Canterbury. The Church comprises a total of 42 dioceses, forty-one in England and one in Europe. 

The Diocese of Chester is situated in York province, in the north west of England. 

The diocese spans from Wirral and the Welsh border in the west to the limestone hills of the Derbyshire Peak District in the east. The north of the diocese reaches up to the rivers Mersey and Tame and the conurbations of south and east Manchester, and south to the towns of Crewe, Sandbach and Nantwich on the outskirts of Stoke-on- Trent and Shropshire.

The Diocese of Chester was created in 1541 and assumed roughly its present dimensions in 1880. 

The bishops

Three bishops serve the Diocese of Chester:

Rt Revd Mark Tanner, Bishop of Chester
Rt Revd Julie Conalty, Bishop of Birkenhead
Rt Revd Sam Corley, Bishop of Stockport

The Diocese of Chester is divided into two archdeaconries. Chester covers the western half and Macclesfield the eastern. Roughly speaking, the Archdeaconry of Macclesfield covers that part of the diocese to the east of the M6, plus the area around Crewe and Nantwich. The Archdeaconry of Chester covers the rest of the diocese to the west of the M6. Each archdeaconry is made up of nine deaneries. 

There are 273 parishes in the Diocese of Chester, about 100 of which can be described as rural. There are approximately 230 stipendiary clergy as well as over 400 licensed Readers and Pastoral Workers. The number of self-supporting ministers is increasing, with over 80 in post at present.

Our culture and values

In June 2023, Bishop Mark, presented the outcomes from a diocesan-wide 9-month consultation process to discern our collective vision for the diocese. Through this process we discerned seven key things that “we are hearing” as well as the four specific priorities that God is calling us to focus upon.

What are we hearing?

1.      That we believe in the Gospel

2.      That we believe in the local and seek transformation

3.      That we care about the environment locally and globally

4.      That we want to engage young people and the 'disconnected'

5.      That we want to do bigger/better/bolder things together... simply

6.      That the 1.5m people in our diocese matter

7.      That we need to plant new communities of faith

What is God calling us to do?

• Growing, braver, fuller faith

• Blessing 1.5m lives, one life at a time

• Transformative loving service (in practice)

• Engaged locally, working together in loving generosity.

Our overall vision was summarised in the strapline

Together in Christ, Sharing Hope

The primary challenge for any action we undertake was identified as:

How will this bless the 1.5 million people in our diocese who have had no opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Diocesan Synod unanimously endorsed this vision. These fundamental priorities and the strapline have underpinned the work of the Strategic Programme Team and the four Strategy Working Groups as we have discerned and developed a Strategy to make this a reality. We have concluded, that to reach the vision for the future that everything we do should ultimately be founded upon:

• Growing Disciples

• Developing New Leaders

• Establishing New Christian Communities

• Building Local Strategic Partnerships