Jill Duff

Jillian Louise Calland Duff (called Jill; born 1972, née Worsley) is a British Anglican bishop. Since 2018, she has been the Bishop of Lancaster, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. Previously, she had been Director of St Mellitus College, North West, an Anglican theological college, since 2013. Before ordination, she studied chemistry at university and worked in the oil industry. After ordination in the Church of England, she served in the Diocese of Liverpool in parish ministry, chaplaincy, and church planting.

Early life and education
Duff was born in 1972 in Bolton, Lancashire, England. She was educated at Bolton School, an independent school in Bolton. She studied Natural Sciences at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1993: as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree in 1997. She then studied chemistry at Worcester College, Oxford, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1996. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Investigations of redox-coupled proton transfer by iron-sulfur cluster systems in proteins". Her early career was spent working in the oil industry.

Ordained ministry
Duff trained for ordained ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, an evangelical Anglican theological college. She also studied theology during this time, and graduated from Wycliffe with a BA degree in 2002. She was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 2003 and as a priest in 2004.

From 2003 to 2005, Duff served her curacy at St Philip's Church, Litherland in the Diocese of Liverpool. In 2005, she was appointed the first pioneer minister in the Diocese of Liverpool. In that role, she was tasked with planting churches in Liverpool city centre to evangelise to the unchurched in their 20s and 30s. In 2009, she was additionally appointed chaplain to Liverpool College, then an independent all-through school: she would continue this role part-time until 2016. 

In 2011, Duff left her church planting role, and was appointed a vocations development advisor in the Diocese of Liverpool and an initial ministerial education (IME) tutor. In 2012, she liaised between St Mellitus College, an Anglican theological college in London, and the Church of England's north west dioceses (Blackburn, Carlisle, Chester, Liverpool, and Manchester) to create a new theological college in the North West of England. In March 2013, she was appointed the first director of St Mellitus College, North West. St Mellitus NW is the first full-time ordination course in the North West since St Aidan's College, Birkenhead was closed in 1969. She has additionally held Permission to Officiate in the Dioceses of Liverpool since 2013, of Chester since 2017, and Diocese of St Asaph since 2018.

Episcopal ministry
On 13 March 2018, Duff was announced as the next Bishop of Lancaster, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Blackburn. The diocese did not ordain women to the priesthood until 2014: four years later, it would have a female bishop. She was consecrated a bishop by John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, on 29 June 2018 during a service at York Minster. She was installed as Bishop of Lancaster in July 2018 during as service at Blackburn Cathedral.

Personal life
Duff is married to Jeremy Duff: he is an Anglican priest who is currently the Principal of the St Padarn's Institute and also author of the well known Greek Textbook, “Elements of the New Testament Greek” and principle of the Church in Wales' theological college. Together they have two sons, called Robbie (15) and Harry (12).

References

Category:1972 births
Category:Living people
Category:Anglican Bishops of Lancaster
Category:21st-century English Anglican priests
Category:British academic administrators
Category:Women academic administrators
Category:People from Bolton
Category:People educated at Bolton School
Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford
Category:People in the petroleum industry
Category:Alumni of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford