About the Diocese
The Diocese of Winchester covers the majority of Hampshire, an area of eastern Dorset and the Channel Islands, ministering to a population of 1.2 million. It has a significant rural ministry, with more than half of its parishes in rural areas. It also includes the urban areas of Andover, Basingstoke, Bournemouth and Southampton.
The Diocese is led by the Rt Reverend Michael Scott-Joynt, the 96th Bishop of Winchester, supported by the Suffragan Bishops of Basingstoke and Southampton.
The Diocese is divided into smaller units called 'parishes'. A total of 406 churches make up the different parishes in the Diocese. The Mother Church of the Diocese is the Cathedral, located in Winchester.
We have more than 300 clergy, 217 readers (authorised lay ministry) and more than 30,000 regular worshippers. In addition, more than 20,000 young people attend our church schools throughout the Diocese.
Our community context
We serve God through a presence in every parish. It is the role of Anglican clergy to serve and minister to the whole of the parish not just the church members. The Diocese is active in the community through its church schools, industrial, rural, other specialist sector ministries and through the work of our Church House team. There is increasingly collaboration and joint working being undertaken with other dioceses, churches together and a range of statutory and voluntary agencies.
Our wider links
Our links go further than the borders of our Diocese and the Church of England. In England, we have strong links with the Diocese of Newcastle and also with other churches at both local and national level. Bishop Michael meets regularly with his ecumenical colleagues, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth and leaders of the Free Church. Through the range of interfaith work in the Diocese, we also have links and dialogue with members of other faith communities including people from the Jewish, Sikh, Muslim and Hindu faith.
The Diocese also enjoys partnerships with the Anglican church in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) and Myanmar (formerly Burma), and an ecumenical partnership with the Roman Catholic Church in Florence, Italy.
Diocese at work
The Bishop of Winchester is supported by two Suffragan Bishops (assistant bishops), of Basingstoke and Southampton. They, in turn, are supported by two Archdeacons (Winchester and Bournemouth), the clergy and lay staff located in Church House and around the Diocese.
There is also a church government structure, which exists to assist the Bishop and his staff in making certain decisions, to support and oversee the work of the Diocese, and to provide a system of democratic representation of its people. The Diocesan Synod consists of around 100 clergy and lay people, and meets twice a year. More regular meetings are held by the Diocesan Synod Standing Committee (which in some dioceses is entitled the Bishop's Council), again a mixture of clergy and lay people, and they are responsible for scrutinising in more depth the work of the Diocese and its staff. The Standing Committee delegates to a range of other committees more specific responsibilities, and they are responsible for overseeing directly the work of departments which support the Diocese as a whole.