Mike Hill (bishop)

Michael Arthur "Mike" Hill ( born April 17, 1949 in Manchester ) is a British Anglican clergyman and the current Bishop of Bristol.

Life and career

Hill was born on 17 April 1949 in Manchester, the son of Arthur and Hilda Hill. His parents were entrepreneurs, his mother was of German-Jewish descent and his father American. Hill has a sister. Since his childhood he was interested in football. He attended Wilmslow County Grammar School. The Christian faith played no role in his youth. He visited with 18 years for the first time a church.

He got a degree in economics at North West Cheshire College of Further Education. He then worked for some time as a clerk in the printing industry. In the early 1970s, he spent a year in the Scargill Community to check whether he is suitable for the priesthood in the Church of England.

There he met his future wife Anthea know, a nurse who had lived in Africa. They married in 1973. Was born in Cambridge later their first child. Within the next ten years, followed by four more children.

In 1974, Hill visited the Fitzwilliam College and Ridley Hall College, Cambridge. Between 1977 and 1981, Hill was curate of St. Mary Magdalene, in Addiscombe, Croydon. In the following two years he was curate at St. Paul's Church in Slough.

From 1983 to 1990 he was acting curate ( Priest in charge) of St. Leonards, Chesham Bois. During this time, Hill was greatly influenced by the independent U.S. church congregation of Willow Creek Community Church; He was also the first president of the Willow Creek Association (UK). From 1990 to 1992 he was then ordinary pastor in Chesham Bois. At the same time he took over from 1989 to 1992 the office of the country dean from Amersham.

From 1992 to 1998 Hill was Archdeacon of Berkshire and moved to Newbury with his family. From 1998 to 2003 he served as Bishop of Buckingham Bishop of the diocese of Oxford. His wife Anthea worked at this time as a nurse in palliative care.

Hill in 2003 was the 55th Bishop of Bristol. Since then he has committed to an increase in church membership in his diocese.

He is a member of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of several business enterprises, also a director of several schools and works in several church committees. He is also, since 2009 President of the Church Pastoral Aid Society ( CPAS ), a leading mission agency of the Anglican Church, which is mainly active in the UK and Ireland.

Membership in the House of Lords

Since 2009, Hill heard as a clergyman Lord of the House of Lords. It was introduced there on 16 July 2009, and oath of office, accompanied by the Bishop of Newcastle, Martin Wharton, and the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Peter Price. In November 2009, his inaugural speech was yet to come.

Private

Michael Hill runs his own blog. In an interview with Church Times Michael Hill stated that he was very interested in sports, especially tennis, rugby and football. He is a fan of Manchester United. In his spare time he enjoys reading detective novels by Henning Mankell.