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He trained for ordination at Ridley Hall in the Cambridge Federation of Theological Colleges and was ordained in 1979, serving as Assistant Chaplain at
He still recalls the racial tension which crackled through the community: "In my first curacy a man asked me at my first funeral, 'What did my father do to be buried by a black monkey?'”
In 1986, his home was targeted by arsonists linked to the National Front. Nevertheless, he described the parish as a "microcosm of heaven" and remained there for 13 years, during which time he watched his congregation grow by a factor of ten.
He described his ministerial style as "evangelical in preaching, and catholic and charismatic in worship and the mysteries of God”.
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He was consecrated as the Bishop for Stepney and, in 2002, was appointed the eighth Bishop of Birmingham, becoming
He remained closely engaged with the community and was a prominent campaigner for the need to tackle gun crime in
Earlier this year, when Rover announced the closure of its car-making plant at Longbridge, Bishop John demanded a meeting with senior managers. “We, as citizens of the
Running parallel to his theological career, Bishop John’s experiences on the streets of
When Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager, was killed by racists in Eltham in 1993, Bishop John was appointed as an advisor to the subsequent judicial inquiry. It was this inquiry which labelled the Metropolitan Police: "institutionally racist."
Soon afterwards he was to experience such racism up close: he was pulled over by a police officer and searched while driving innocently through London.
At the time, he said: "He asked me what I did, and I said, 'I'm the Bishop of Stepney'. He said, 'Whoops'. What annoyed me was the lack of reasonable grounds to suspect me of anything. Middle-aged bishops are rarely a danger to the public."
Later, when schoolboy Damilola Taylor was murdered in Peckham, he was appointed to chair 2002 review which again found "serious failings" in the police investigation.
He says that society and schools have not yet adjusted their ideas to the new reality: "Education is still very much Anglo-Saxon in its approach. These failures are not because teachers are racist. They are because the education system has not sufficiently recognised that it's dealing with a multi-ethnic, multicultural society."
He donates one-fifth of his salary to the collection plate and meets people of all faiths and none with his customary smile and good humour. Any excuse to indulge his passion in public for the African drum has also been noted.
His appointment to the see of York as Britain's first black Archbishop, and effectively the second most important individual in the Anglican church, marks a milestone for the Church of England, which he once accused of being very much white-dominated. He said: "The organisational culture of the Church of England is still socially glued together by a culture that is monochrome: that is, white. It still lacks colour and spice."
Bishop John is married to Margaret and they have two grown up children, Grace and Geoffrey. His interests include music, cooking, reading, athletics, rugby and football.
