On Sunday 11th May, the world-renowned Thomas Cranmer scholar, the Rev Canon Dr John Ashley Null, was consecrated as the second Anglican Bishop of North Africa in a joyful service at St George’s Tunis, succeeding the Rt Rev Anthony Ball who has been appointed as Director of the Anglican Centre in Rome.

The principal consecrator and celebrant was the Archbishop of the Province of Alexandria, the Most Revd Samy Shehata who reminded us that every bishop is to model their ministry on the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd who guards, feeds and lays down his life for the sheep. Bishop Ashley also addressed the congregation, holding a shepherd’s staff made from wood foraged in the Atlas Mountains, a powerful image of how God is able to repurpose our lives into something beautiful and useful in his service.

Bishop Ashley’s life as a scholar has been dedicated to researching and commending the theology of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the first Archbishop of the reformed Church of England who died a martyr’s death in Oxford in 1556. A recurrent theme of his work is the debt owed by the C16th Reformers to the North African fathers and over the weekend guests gained a deeper appreciation of this heritage through a varied programme of events including lectures by the Rev Dr Justyn Terry, Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Dr Dorothea Wendebourg, Adviser to the Wittenberg Centre for Reformation Studies, and a visit to archaeological sites in nearby ancient Carthage.

At an evening banquet following the service, visitors from the wider Anglican Communion and beyond brought greetings and messages of appreciation to the new bishop, including Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba of the Church of Uganda on behalf of the GSFA, Bishop Andy Lines of the Anglican Network in Europe representing Gafcon, Archbishop Nicolas Lhernould of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tunis and Bishop Robert Innes of the Diocese of Europe representing the Anglican Communion Office in London.

Although Christians are very much a minority in present day North Africa, and Anglicans even more so, the consecration of Bishop Ashley reminds us that there are nonetheless deep spiritual roots in this region which may yet again, by God’s grace, give rise to new life and growth.