Who we are
Meet the FaithFaith 1. Belief and trust in someone or something. 2. Acceptance of particular religious teachings. in the North team
Faith in the North Team
Theo Sheridan-Watts
Programme Manager for Faith in the North
Theo is responsible for coordinating the delivery of Faith in the North, working closely with the Chair of the Programme Board Mark Powley, and each of the designated teams for church planting and revitalisation, schools, heritage and communications.
Stephen Cottrell
Archbishop of YorkYork 1. A Roman city and early centre of Christianity. 2. Diocese and province under the leadership of the Archbishop of York.
Stephen Cottrell is the 98th Archbishop of York. He has previously served as the BishopBishop Bishops exercised pastoral care over a diocese and authority to confirm and ordain of Chelmsford, Bishop of Reading, Canon Pastor at Peterborough CathedralCathedral (Latin cathedra' throne') Church which contains the throne of the bishop and hence the mother church of the diocese and Diocesan Missioner for the DioceseDiocese A geographical area composed of a number of parishes, under the administrative and spiritual jurisdiction of a Bishop. of Wakefield. He is a member of the House of Lords and the Church of England’s Committee for Minority Ethnic Concerns.
Mark Powley
Archbishop’s MissionMission 1. A group of people sent out to share religious faith. 2. The task of sharing faith. Enabler for the North & Chair of the Faith in the North Programme Board
As Archbishop’s Mission Enabler for the North, Mark’s role is to help build the capacity and coordination needed to launch hundreds of new ChristianChristian Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church to designate all members of the church. communities across the region. This is part of the Church of England’s vision to be a church where revitalising and planting churches in a range of contexts is the norm.
Dee Dyas
Faith in the North Heritage and Storytelling
Dee is Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity and Director of Christianity & Culture, University of York. She has led research on mission and on pilgrimage, advised many churches on outreach and visitor engagement, and runs the Explore project. Her role is to support creative links between spiritualitySpirituality Term used to describe the experiential dimensions of religion, encompassing aspects such as prayer, meditation, contemplation, and mysticism., heritage, and mission.
Toby Butler
Church Planting Support Lead
Toby brings a wealth of church planting, pioneering ministries, and church leadership experience to the team. He trained for ordinationOrdination The ceremony of setting someone apart for religious ministry. through St. Hild Theological College whilst completing his masters in Ministry, Mission and TheologyTheology (Literally 'words about God') Ideas about the nature of God and church doctrine. Theological ideas have constantly changed and developed throughout church history. from DurhamDurham Durham Cathedral has its origins in the small church built in 995 to protect the relics of St Cuthbert. A century later, construction began on the church of the Benedictine Abbey, and Cuthbert's remains were transferred there and placed in a shrine in 1104. In 1242 the bones of Cuthbert were once again moved, this time to a shrine near the entrance of the Chapel of the Nine Altars. University. As Church Planting Support Lead for the Northern Mission Enabling Team, Toby’s role is to further build capacity and coordination to grow New Worshipping Communities across the Northern Province.
Jess Cordy
Projects Manager for the Northern Mission Enabling Strategy
Jess works to support the renewal of church planting across the North. She manages the delivery of the various projects and initiatives the team leads to support dioceses and churches in starting something new, and sharing learnings across the province.
Mission Enablers
Sweetline Burnell
Evangelism
Sweetline facilitates the work of evangelism and evangelists across the North in support of the launch of New Worshipping Communities. This work includes key partners such as the College of Evangelists amongst other Diocesan leads and networks across the Northern Province.
Sam Durdant-Hollamby
Estates
Sam’s focus is to support leaders in estate and low-income contexts across the Northern Province and to contribute to strategic progress in this area. Sam also connects with the estates ministry focal leads from each northern diocese and other key leaders in the area across the Province.
Jennifer Fletcher
Small New Worshipping Communities
Jennifer’s focus is on developing small New Worshipping Communities across the Northern Province. This includes working with Diocese and local practitioners to begin new smaller scale worshipping communities.
Mussarat Iqbal
Intercultural
Mussarat’s focus is on supporting leaders of intercultural and language-specific new worshipping communities across the Northern Province. These include the Anglican Network for Intercultural Church (ANIC), national and international advocates of intercultural church, church and community leaders representing a range of ethnic heritages including Farsi, Urdu, Tamil, Cantonese and other groups.
Hannah Patton
Resource Churches
Hannah’s focus is on developing support, contributing to strategy, and growing pipelines for resource churches across the Northern Province. Hannah will also contribute to the work of the Northern Enabling strategy as a whole. This includes key partners such as CCX, Myriad and New Wine.
Andy Smith
Rural
Andy offers support to church planting and new worshipping communities in rural contexts across the Northern Province alongside contributing to the work of the Northern Enabling strategy as a whole. These include rural practitioner groups, archdeacons in rural areas, the Arthur Rank Centre, New Wine and other practitioners in rural ministry across the Province and nationally.
Ambassadors
Faith in the North is delighted to be working alongside partners who have a passion for heritage, storytelling and church planting. We are thankful for the skills and experience they bring to help bring its vision to life.
Canon Dr Jane Brooke
Canon Dr Jane Brooke was Vice DeanDean The head of the chapter (body of canons) of a cathedral or collegiate church. See also Rural Dean. and Canon Missioner at Chester Cathedral with an oversight for the education work of the cathedral, exhibitions and outreach in the city and the diocese until January 2024. Jane was Chair of Cathedrals Plus and is currently Vice Chair.
As a Self Supporting Minister, Jane taught ReligiousReligious 1. Concerned with religion, showing belief in God or a deity. 2. In regards to an individual, refers to a member of an order of monks, nuns or friars who follow a Rule of life Education, Maths and English and worked as an RE adviser for dioceses and local authorities. She has been Chair of NASACRE and Chair of AREIAC.
Jane is now retired to Sheffield where she is a member of the Diocesan Board of Education and the interim Chair until October 2025.
Professor Michelle Brown
Professor Michelle P. Brown FSA is Professor Emerita at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and Visiting Professor at UCL. She was formerly the Curator of Medieval & Illuminated Manuscripts at the British Library. She is a Lay Canon Emerita of Truro Cathedral and was formerly a Lay Canon & Chapter Member of St PaulPaul, St (d. c. 65) 'Apostle to the Gentiles'. Born Saul of Tarsus, a Jew and Roman citizen. His initial hostility to the early church was overcome by his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9: 1-19). Using the Roman version of his name, Paul travelled through Asia Minor and into Europe preaching to both Jews and Gentiles. Eventually arrested and taken to Rome for trial. Tradition holds that he was executed during the persecution under Nero. The New Testament letters bearing his name stress that salvation is offered as a gift (by God's grace) through faith, as a result of the forgiveness won by Christ's death on the cross and is available to Jews and non-Jews alike (e.g. Ephesians 2)’s Cathedral. She is a Lay Worship Leader and member of the ParishParish Area with its own church, served by a priest who has the spiritual care of all those living within it. The system evolved gradually, reaching completion by the 13th century of the Upper Skerne, Co. Durham. She specialises in early Christian culture.
Professor Joyce Hill
Joyce researches the Christian culture of Anglo-Saxon England. Now an Emeritus Professor of the University of Leeds, she was the university’s first woman Pro-Vice-Chancellor. She has served on RiponRipon A cathedral city and market town in North Yorkshire. In the mid-7th century, St Wilfrid (who later became Bishop of York) founded a religious community at Ripon with land granted from the king of Northumbria. Due to Viking incursions, the body of St Cuthbert temporarily resided at Ripon in the 10th century. Cathedral Chapter, is a member and former Chair of General SynodSynod Assemblies of clergy (and often representatives of the laity), which discuss and make decisions on church affairs. These can be convened at deanery, diocesan and national level., and is a Commissioner on the Cathedrals’ Fabric Commission for England.