David Ramsay Lunn (17 July 1930 – 19 July 2021) was a British

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop. From 1980 to 1997, he was

Bishop of Sheffield The Bishop of Sheffield is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Sheffield in the Province of York. A similar title was first created as a suffragan see in the Diocese of York in 1901. John Quirk, the only Bishop suffragan of She ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Lunn was born on

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

and educated at the Kings School, Tynemouth, where he was head boy in 1947, and

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

.A Brief Synopsis Of Previous Bishops Of The See Of Sheffield
, Tony Beck,

Diocese of Sheffield The Diocese of Sheffield is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. The Diocese of Sheffield was created under George V on 23 January 1914, by the division from the Diocese of York (along with that pa ...

. Retrieved on 30 October 2008. An

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

, he was opposed to the

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

, seeing it as an issue that needed examination at an

ecumenical Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

level. During his episcopacy, he oversaw an increase in

lay ministry Lay ministry is a term used for ministers of faiths in Christian denominations who are not ordained in their faith tradition. Lay ministers are people who are elected by the church, full-time or part-time. They may have theological degrees and tr ...

within the diocese, but also increased the number of clergy and improved the diocese's financial position. The period also saw the creation of the

Nine O'Clock Service The Nine O'Clock Service ("NOS") was a youth-orientated alternative Christian worship service started in 1986 at St Thomas' Church in Crookes, Sheffield, England, by a group of musicians and artists. The service and the group associated with it ...

within one of the diocese's churches. Initially this seemed to be a successful attempt to broaden the appeal of the church, but in the end the project collapsed and required strong leadership from Lunn to heal the resulting wounds. Following the

Hillsborough Disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

, he implemented the clergy disaster plan to improve the church's response to such disasters in future. In 1997 Lunn was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree by

Sheffield University The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth College in 1879 ...

. After retirement, during which he settled at Wetwang, he became an

assistant bishop An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop. Church of England In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan bishop, suffragan) bishops – in ...

in the

Diocese of York The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire. The diocese is headed by the ar ...

in 1998.

Works

Lunn wrote a multi-volume history of the area covered by the diocese including ''Rivers, Rectors and Abbots'' and ''Kings, Canals and Coal''.Thorne and District Gazette—'Snippets' of Yesteryear—The Battle of Hatfield
, Ben Brown, Thorne-Moorends Town Council. Retrieved on 28 October 2008. A keen gardener, he also wrote the booklet ''Roses Wild: A little book by the Bishop of Sheffield concerning the roses in his garden at Bishopscroft''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunn, David 1930 births 2021 deaths 20th-century English Anglican priests Bishops of Sheffield Alumni of King's College, Cambridge 20th-century Church of England bishops Anglo-Catholic bishops English Anglo-Catholics Staff of Lincoln Theological College 20th-century Anglican theologians 21st-century Anglican theologians