We are delighted to welcome The Revd Brunel James as Interim Chaplain to the Bishop of London. Brunel will begin his ministry on Monday 13 July and will be licensed on Wednesday 15 July.
Brunel was ordained in Bradford Cathedral in 1998 and served his title in the parish of St Margaret of Antioch, Thornbury, helping his training incumbent, The Revd Paul Hackwood, to establish The Thornbury Centre to serve its local Urban Priority Area (UPA) community. In 2002 he became Rector of two large villages near Leeds, before moving to Bishopthorpe, near York, in 2008 to serve as Domestic Chaplain to Archbishop John Sentamu.
In 2010 Brunel moved to look after three churches serving the Yorkshire mill town of Cleckheaton, getting to know local MPs (successively, Jo Cox, Tracy Brabin and Kim Leadbeater) and helping the community through the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 his commitment to Christian social justice led him to work for the newly established Church of England Racial Justice Unit in Church House, Westminster, supporting the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice, chaired by Lord Boateng.
Along the way Brunel has been strongly involved with the Church Urban Fund, served several spells on General Synod, and been involved in supporting ordinands as an Assistant Director of Ordinands (ADDO) and occasional teacher at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield. He is a member of the Society of the Resurrection.
Brunel said:
I am delighted to be serving in the Diocese of London, and have a huge affection for Britain’s great capital city. I first worked here as a teenage bicycle courier back in 1989/90, and know that the people of this city will always surprise and delight me! I have met some wonderful colleagues here already and look forward to meeting many more in the months ahead.
We extend a warm welcome to Brunel as he begins his ministry as Interim Chaplain to the Bishop of London, and assure him of our prayers as he prepares for his licensing and settles into his new role.