Azad Marshall is a Pakistani bishop, currently serving, since May 2021, as the Moderator Bishop of the

Church of Pakistan The Church of Pakistan is a united Protestant Church in Pakistan, which is part of the Anglican Communion and a member of the World Communion of Reformed ChurchesDatabase (9 February 2006)"Sialkot Diocese of the Church of Pakistan" Reformed On ...

, a

United Protestant A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

denomination that is a member of the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

, the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and oth ...

, and the

World Methodist Council The World Methodist Council (WMC), founded in 1881, is a consultative body and association of churches in the Methodist tradition. It comprises 80 member denominations in 138 countries which together represent an estimated 80 million people; this ...

. In the past, he was the sixth Bishop of the Anglican Church in the

Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, a diocese of the

Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East is a province of the Anglican Communion. The primate of the church is called President Bishop and represents the Church at the international Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings. The Central ...

in the

, since 2007. Marshall was educated at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

, in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He also studied at Ramsey House Theological College in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He holds the Master of Divinity Degree from Gujranwala Theological Seminary in Pakistan, and the Master of Theology degree from the

London School of Theology The London School of Theology (LST), formerly London Bible College, is a British interdenominational evangelical theological college based in Northwood within the London Borough of Hillingdon. History During the 1930s A. J. Vereker, secret ...

. Beginning in 1976, Marshall served with the "Send the Light Trust" in Iran and then served on two ships as part of their International team for promoting "Good books" and providing humanitarian aid around the world. In 1980, he founded Church Foundation Seminars, a Church-related teaching and training ministry to strengthen pastors and leaders. in 1985, he founded the Institute for Basic Adult Development and Training, a literacy and vocational training program. At present it operates 250 Centers to bring about more than 100,000 students. Azad also founded the Prince of Peace Library and Center to bring about reconciliation among the Christian and Muslim communities of Shanti Nagar, Pakistan, and to promote peace. Ordained as a

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1987 and a

Presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning a ...

in 1988, in the

, Marshall served as the Vicar of St. Andrew's Church,

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest ...

. In 1994 he was consecrated Bishop by the Church of Pakistan to serve the

Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccani people of the Deccan plateau in south-central India (who speak Deccani Urdu) and the M ...

congregations in the Gulf States. The following year he was made an Associate Bishop in the Province of the Middle East. In 2003, Bishop Azad was appointed Vicar General in the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East to have Episcopal oversight of the Church in Iran. In 2007, he was installed as Sixth Bishop in Iran and, in 2009, he was also made Assistant Bishop in the

Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf is one of four dioceses in the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, a province in the Anglican Communion. It covers Cyprus and the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Yemen. The bishop in Cyprus and the Gu ...

for Urdu-speaking Congregations. That same year he was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and also President of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan. Nashotah House conferred upon Bishop Azad Marshall the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa. On 8 January 2016. Bishop Azad was elected Coadjutor Bishop of Raiwind Diocese, at the

. He was enthroned as Bishop of Raiwind on 20 August 2017. He is a supporter of the

Anglican realignment The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States ...

, and he addressed the meeting of the College of Bishops of the

Anglican Church in North America The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cu ...

, held in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, in January 2013. He attended G19, the additional conference for those who weren't able to attend GAFCON III the previous year, held in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...

, on 25 February-1 March 2019.Standing with the Suffering, GAFCON Official Website, 1 April 2019
/ref> In the 16th Triennial Meeting of the Church of Pakistan Synod, held on 14 May 2021, Azad Marshall was elected as the Moderator Bishop, a position in

United Protestant Church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

es held by a bishop who oversees a denomination.

Works

Marshall's publications include ''Onward and Upward'' (1990), a Confirmation preparation course; ''Churches of the Middle East'' (1993); ''Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation'' (1994), and ''Lent and Us'' (1994), and he edited ''Building Bridges'', a compilation of speeches given by Lord Robert Runcie, then Archbishop of Canterbury, on his visit to Pakistan.

Personal life

Marshall is married to Lesley, who directs a ministry to underprivileged women in

. They have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Azad Living people Iranian Anglicans Iranian bishops Pakistani Anglicans University of the Punjab alumni Alumni of the London School of Theology 20th-century Anglican bishops in the Middle East 21st-century Anglican bishops in the Middle East Year of birth missing (living people) Anglican bishops of the Diocese of Iran Anglican bishops of Raiwind