THE Diocese of St Asaph has announced the new Archdeacon of Wrexham will begin work next month.

The Venerable John Lomas, who will take over from the Venerable Bob Griffiths, who retired in June, will be installed into the role at a special service at St Asaph Cathedral on Sunday, October 7.

The former Navy Chaplain is one of three Archdeacons announced earlier this year by the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron as he re-shapes the leadership team in the diocese, the others being, Barry Wilson, the former Vice-Dean of Chester Cathedral who becomes the Archdeacon of Montgomery and Andy Grimwood, the former Vicar of Rhyl, appointed as Archdeacon of St Asaph.

Bishop Gregory said: “It is an exciting time of change in the Diocese of St Asaph as three Archdeacons take up their new posts.

“The role of Archdeacon was originally conceived as the bishop’s fixers, but we want our Archdeacons to lead the renewal of the Church, and to mentor and lead Mission Areas towards growth.

“John is an experienced Archdeacon, having served three years as Archdeacon of St Asaph. He now moves to support the communities and churches around Wrexham.”

A former navy officer, John returned to the navy as a chaplain in 2000, after being ordained in the Diocese of St Asaph in 1994.

He spent ten years as Vicar of Holywell, before serving as Transition Missioner for the Diocese, helping churches without a vicar to consider positive ways forward.

John said: “These are changing times for churches across the Diocese of St Asaph. We are looking to develop bold initiatives to support new types of church life, different ways of expressing the Christian faith and new opportunities to help all people to reconnect with God.”

The service to collate and install all three new Archdeacons takes place as part of Choral Evensong at St Asaph Cathedral at 3.30pm on Sunday October 7 and all are welcome.

The Diocese of St Asaph is part of the Church in Wales, an independent Province within the worldwide Anglican Communion of Churches.

The diocese is a community of 228 churches covering the counties of Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham and parts of Gwynedd and Powys.

It looks after 51 schools, including one shared faith secondary school.