John Gibbs (bishop)

John Gibbs (15 March 1917–20 December 2007) was an Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Coventry in the Church of England from 1976 until 1985. He was the first Church of England bishop in modern times to have started his ministry in the nonconformist tradition.

Born in Heywood, Lancashire on 15 March 1917, he left school to begin work before entering Western College, Bristol for training as a Congregational Minister. He was ordained in 1943, the year of his marriage, and served as minister of Sarisbury Green Congregational Church, Hampshire, and Garstang Road Congregational Church, Preston.

The turning point in his career came in 1949 when he joined the Student Christian Movement, working in Bristol. This meant he liaised with many churches and, becoming drawn to the Anglican tradition, he re-trained at Lincoln Theological College and took up a curacy at St Luke's Bristol. His, however, was an educational vocation and in 1957 he became head of Divinity at St Matthias Teacher Training College, Bristol, rising to Vice-Principal in 1962. In 1964 Gibbs was appointed head of Keswick Hall College of Education in Norfolk. From 1967 he was a key member of the Durham Commission on the future of Religious Education in Schools. In 1968 he was appointed an honorary canon of Norwich Cathedral and in 1973 he was appointed suffragan Bishop of Bradwell in Essex. Three years later he replaced the more flamboyant Cuthbert Bardsley as Bishop of Coventry, eventually serving for nine years.

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