EP #68 Guiding a Church in a Time of Crisis - with Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani - Leaving Egypt Podcast | Lyssna här

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In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair speak with Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani. As a bishop in the Church of England, she knows its challenges, both internal and external. She is sensitive not only to its wrestling with decline, but also with the need to reorient itself in a time when both society and the churches confront crisis on multiple levels. Her life has prepared her well for this moment. Experiences of disruption as a refugee have given her a deep confidence that God is both present and actively working, even as familiar structures undergo change, even as communities fragment. With realism and quiet courage, she embodies the struggle of a faithful pilgrim finding ways to “leave Egypt” within the confines of institutional life. Resisting the rush toward strategies and programmatic fixes, she prefers prayerful listening rather than seeking safety in control. In the midst of uncertainty she delights in grassroots relationships, encouraging others to discern the movement of the Spirit and to discover what kind of church God is forming in this time of crisis.

Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani is the Bishop of Chelmsford in the southeast of England, UK. She is the lead Bishop for Housing for the Church of England, a member of the Lords Spiritual in the House of Lords, and is currently Chair of the Board of the Church Army. Born in Iran, daughter of Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, the Anglican Bishop in Iran, and Margaret, daughter of William Thompson, Guli and her family left the country in the wake of the Iranian Revolution in 1980 when she was 13 years old, and to date she has been unable to return.

LINKS

For Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani

https://www.chelmsford.anglican.org/about-us/the-bishop-of-chelmsford/

Bishop Guli’s address at Great St Mary’s in Cambridge, 16th Sept 2024

Books

· Listening to the Music of the Soul, 18 September 2025

· Stations of the Resurrection, Encounters with the Risen Christ, written with Malcolm Guite

· Cries for a Lost Homeland: Reflections on Jesus’ sayings from the cross

· Reflections for Lent 2021: 17 February - 3 April 2021

For Alan J Roxburgh:

http://alanroxburgh.com/about

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/