About the author

My name is Jana Jeruma-Grinberga, and  I am the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, which is a diverse, colourful and interesting community of faith. This info page aims to inform, entertain, challenge, and generally get the word (and the Word) out there.

As it happens, I’m a woman – women Bishops are not in the least unusual in the Lutheran world. In the Lutheran view, there is one ordination to the ministry, so that once someone is ordained a pastor, there is no theological barrier to becoming a bishop. I am also a Trustee of the Lutheran Council of Great Britain, Co-Moderator  of the Anglican Lutheran Society, and newly elected as a President of Churches Together in England.  I’m married and have two grown-up children; my passions outside the church include music, reading, studying (particularly languages, history and theology), cricket, swimming in Latvian lakes and rivers, East Africa, Judge Judy, and discussing development issues, human genetics and scientific ethics with the girls over dinner.

Lutherans in this country come from all parts of the world, with even a few English-born people in our midst. My family comes from Latvia; amongst the nationalities that form part of the LCiGB are Germans, Tanzanians, Americans, Namibians, Poles, Finns, Ethiopians, Australians, Indians, Chinese, Eritreans and many others, each bringing with them traditions of worship and faith that enrich our common life.

In Greenwich Chapel, November 2009