27 February 2026
On Tuesday 24 February, Clergy and Licensed Lay Ministers from across the Diocese of Chelmsford, gathered at Chelmsford Cathedral for the annual Bishop's Study Day.
The theme of this year's Bishop's Study Day was 'Valuing the small, the vulnerable and the marginal', one of the Chelmsford Diocesan Values set out in Travelling Well Together.
The Study Day was led by the Rev'd Canon Dr Michael Leyden, Dean of Emmanuel Theological College and can be watched below.
About Michael Leyden
Michael is the founding Dean of Emmanuel Theological College, playing a key role in developing Emmanuel’s vision and ethos and its distinctive approach to ministerial formation. He is passionate about theologically rich and practically robust formation that equips the whole Church for her part in God’s mission today. Michael grew up on council estates in Liverpool and Knowsley before heading to university. Later he taught in both Universities and Theological Education Institutions and worked in the book trade to pay for his studies. Coming from a working-class background and having learned to navigate the transition into higher education has stoked in Michael a deep passion for social justice and especially for enabling others to step into quality theological education and formation undeterred by their socio-economic, ethnic, or educational experience.
After ordination, Michael served in parishes adjacent to post-industrial towns in Liverpool and Chester Dioceses. In both cases he worked with lay leaders to develop blended-economy church, weaving inherited and time-honoured approaches together with pioneering new forms of church that often looked wildly different from one another except their commitment to Jesus and the regular spiritual diet of word and sacrament.
Previous Bishop's Study Days
This was the fourth Bishop's Study Day to focus on one of our Travelling Well Together values.
2023 - Dr Jane Williams, McDonald Professor of Christian Theology at St Mellitus College.
2024 Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Winchester
On Focusing Outward
2025 The Very Reverend Dr Shelley-Ann Tenia, Dean and Rector at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Diocese of Trinidad and Tobago
