The Rev’d Sean Semple announced as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf

The Rev’d Sean Semple announced as the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf

Archbishop Hosam Naoum, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and the Synod of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf are pleased to announce the election of the Revd Sean Semple to be the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.

The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf is one of three dioceses in the Province of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East. It covers a large geographic area of around 10 countries including Cyprus, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirites, Oman, Yemen and Iraq.

Sean is currently the Rector of the Benefice of Ross with Walford and Brampton Abbotts in the Diocese of Hereford. He moved to Herefordshire in 2015 when he was appointed Rector of the Benefices of Weobley and Staunton. In 2019 he was collated into his current appointment, and served as acting Rural Dean and then Rural Dean of the Deanery of Ross and Archenfield from 2020 until 2023.  

Before coming to the Diocese of Hereford, Sean served as a priest in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. He was ordained priest in the Diocese of Natal in 2011 following ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Sean’s undergraduate studies in Psychology and Theology were undertaken at the University  of Natal and the University of South Africa, followed by post graduate studies in Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Nicosia.

Sean is married to Jenny and they have five children and one grandchild.

A date for the service of consecration will be announced shortly and this will be followed by enthronements in the two cathedrals of the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf: St Christopher’s, Bahrain, and St Paul’s, Nicosia.

Sean said of his appointment. “It has been a most unexpected and humbling experience to be discerned for episcopal ministry in a Diocese I came to love during my time of ministry there. Working with the clergy and laity of its chaplaincies I look forward to encouraging and supporting the ministry and mission of the Diocese at a time of great tension in the region.

I am grateful to Bishop Richard Jackson for his encouragement and support during this process of discernment. Jenny and I are sad to be leaving the Ross Parishes and the friends we have made in our adopted home of Herefordshire. May I request your prayers for both Dioceses, the Ross Parishes, and my family during this time of transition; and as I take up the challenge and privilege of serving as the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf.   

Bishop Richard said. “Sean has made a huge contribution to the life of our diocese as a parish priest, Rural Dean and member of Synod. He is passionate, strategic and pastoral. We will miss him. However, I am delighted that these gifts will now be deployed in a larger context where he can bless others as he has been a blessing to the parishes here where he has served.  The invitation to become a Bishop serving Cyprus and the Gulf is an enormous  privilege and it is clear to me that Sean has been called by God to this role.  Sean’s gifts and wealth of experience will be richly used. and I greatly look forward to watching him from afar in his new capacity. I will be praying for him and his family as they make the move to Cyprus.”

All in the Ross Parishes will want to congratulate Sean on this appointment; many, too, will rightly be concerned that we will soon (most likely in the summer) need to say goodbye to our wonderful and much loved Rector. What is certain, is that the legacy he will leave in Herefordshire is exemplary.

We are holding a short service of prayer on Thursday 8th February at 6.00pm, in St Mary’s to mark Sean’s appointment, which will be followed by refreshments. This will provide an opportunity for us to gather together with Sean and Jenny in prayer, celebration, and fellowship.

A Pastoral letter and response from Sean

Dear friends in Christ

This announcement will come as a great shock to many of you, particularly at a time when our parishes are flourishing, and for this I am truly sorry. My ministry in the Ross benefice has been a time of great fulfilment and happiness, and Jenny and I and our family have loved living here.  

For these reasons we were certainly not looking to move but through a series of extraordinary events, I have been elected to Episocpal office in the Diocese I served in before coming to the Diocese of Hereford. For anyone who knows the Anglican Church, such happenings are vanishingly rare. And it is because of these unusual circumstances that I believe we can have hope. God is at work – God, whose wild and unpredictable Spirit disrupts and challenges and blesses – God is in this and is leading us forward.

What I have witnessed in my five years here is that when God’s people humble themselves and pray and seek his face; when they take the risk of being open to God and neighbour; when they begin to believe in themselves as God’s people, faith, hope, love and joy grow. It is your joy that first comes to mind when I think of you.

In the months I have left with you, I will relish our partnership in the Gospel and the the bonds forged through pandemic and change;  and I ask for your prayers, as I hold you all in prayer and love.

Sean