Ruth Worsley
Ruth Elizabeth Worsley, is a Church of England bishop. Since 2025, she has been Interim Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Wigan; she previously served as the Bishop of Taunton, a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Bath and Wells; and as Archdeacon of Wiltshire.
Early life
Worsley was born in 1962 in Hampton, Middlesex. She studied English literature, theology and biblical studies at the University of Manchester. While training to be a nurse, she felt the call to ministry and left to take up a position as a lay minister. She trained for ordained ministry at St John's College, Nottingham, an Anglican theological college.Ordained ministry
Worsley was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon at Michaelmas 1996 by Patrick Harris, Bishop of Southwell at St Mary's Church, Nottingham and as a priest the Michaelmas following, by Alan Morgan, Bishop of Sherwood at St Peter's Church, Ravenshead. She served curacies at St Leodegarius Church, Basford and St Stephen's Church, Hyson Green in Nottingham. From 2001 to 2008, she was priest-in-charge of the benefice of Hyson Green and Forest Fields. She was also Area Dean of Nottingham North between 2006 and 2008.From 2007 to 2010, Worsley was Dean of Women's Ministry in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham and an honorary canon of Southwell Minster. In 2009 she was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to the Queen; and in 2010 to the post of Parish Development Officer for the Woolwich Area of the Diocese of Southwark. In February 2013, she was appointed Archdeacon of Wilts. She stood down as archdeacon upon becoming a bishop.
Episcopal ministry
On 30 June 2015, she was announced as the next Bishop of Taunton, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. On 29 September 2015, she was consecrated a bishop by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, during a service at St Paul's Cathedral, London. She was installed as Bishop of Taunton at Wells Cathedral on 2 October. Her first act as a bishop was to admit and licence nine people as readers.On 13 September 2023, it was announced that Worsley would be seconded as Acting Bishop of Coventry. On 5 November 2024, it was announced her time would be extended to 31 December 2024.
On 28 February 2025, it was announced that Worsley was to become Interim Bishop of Liverpool for a period of two years starting later in 2025; to facilitate this role, she would be translated from Taunton to the vacant suffragan See of Wigan. She was formally appointed to the See of Wigan by letters patent issued on 4 April 2025, and was welcomed as Interim Bishop on 3 May 2025.