About The Diocese of Lichfield
Stretching from the Welsh border to the Peak District; and from north Staffordshire to the Black Country; the Diocese of Lichfield is one of the largest in the Church of England serving just under two-million-people in 1,744 square miles.
The Lichfield Diocese is the Church of England in the north West Midlands. It traces its roots back to AD 656 when the Diocese of Mercia was formed. In AD 664, Saint Chad moved the seat of the diocese to Lichfield from Repton. The city's name means "Field of the Dead" and is believed to stem from the slaughter of 1,000 Christians in the city at the hands of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Lichfield has had a troubled past having been ravaged by the Vikings and laid siege to during the English Civil War. Over time the seat of the diocese was transferred to Chester, Coventry and then back to Lichfield in order to provide protection.
In Chad’s time the diocese stretched from the Welsh border to the North Sea; and from Northumberland to the Thames. And, despite having shrunk somewhat over the years as bits and pieces were chopped off to form neighbouring dioceses, Lichfield remains one of the largest in the Church of England, serving a population of just under two-million people in 1,744 square miles. The Diocese has 583 churches and 427 parishes in Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire, Wolverhampton, Walsall, half of Sandwell and even three parishes which straddle the Welsh border.
The diocese is headed up by the 98th Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, and is served by 294 full time stipendiary (paid) clergy and an even larger number of non-stipendiary (volunteer) clergy and lay ministers.
Today, it enjoys missionary partnerships with the Dioceses of Kuching, and West Malaysia the Diocese of Qu’Appelle in Saskatchewan, Canada; the Diocese of Matlosane in South Africa; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg in north-east Germany.
