DUDLEY has welcomed a new director of ministry and discipleship.

The Revd Canon Dr Jonathan Kimber, who was licensed at Worcester Cathedral on Saturday, will now help to develop the ministry of all those in churches across Worcestershire and Dudley.

For the past nine years, he has been vicar of St Benedict’s Church in Northampton where he has helped to grow the congregation and supported people in growing their own faith.

He said since moving to Worcester last month, he has “really enjoyed beginning to get to know Worcester and the surrounding area”.

Dr Kimber added: “Everyone I've met has been very kind and welcoming, so I'm feeling very much at home already. It's a new role for me, as well as being a new diocese, and it will take a little while to get to know people and places. “But I really look forward to doing so, and to discovering more about current great work, and the challenges and opportunities that exist."

Growing up in Northern Ireland, he studied maths at university before spending seven years working in London in computing, primarily for the John Lewis Partnership.

He trained for ministry in Durham before spending three years as curate at St Peter's Weston Favell, becoming Vicar of St Benedict's in 2005.

Dr Kimber, who is married with two children, has recently submitted a PhD on Leadership in the Church and his bird watching, astronomy and walking in the countryside.