Tyndale University’s Board of Governors, Senate and Faculty are pleased to announce that Bishop Jenny Andison will be conferred the degree Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) at this year’s Seminary Convocation on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
Tyndale University confers the Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) on candidates for outstanding lengthy service in Christian ministry. This degree honours a person whom the Board of Governors, Senate and Faculty believe has provided an outstanding service to Canada and the world; it recognizes their exceptional contribution to the church as a person of Christian faith and presents to the Tyndale community someone who models Tyndale’s mission, aspirations and values as an institution of Christian higher education.
Bishop Andison more than exemplifies these virtues.
“As a woman in a significant position of leadership in Christian ministry, Bishop Andison is well known to many of our faculty and students, already inspired by her example."
— Dr. Marjory Kerr
Bishop Andison was born in the United Kingdom while her parents were medical missionaries with the Church Mission Society. She spent her formative years in Pakistan and the UK. The family emigrated to Canada when she was 11. She has lived in Pakistan, India, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Bishop Andison earned a BA (Hons.) from Queen’s University in 1994, and received her Master of Divinity from the University of Toronto (Wycliffe College) in 1997.
Over the next 23 years of outstanding service as an ordained minister, Bishop Andison has faithfully served the worldwide Anglican communion in Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada.
She was ordained to the priesthood in 1998, serving as the Associate Vicar of St. James Clerkenwell, London, UK, from 2001 to 2005. She has also served in the Diocese of Tokyo and the Diocese of Ontario.
She served in the Diocese of Toronto as Associate Priest for church development at St. Paul’s Bloor Street, from 2006 to 2013; the Archbishop’s Officer for Mission from 2010 to 2013; and Incumbent of St. Clement, Eglington, from 2013 to 2016.
She was elected bishop in September 2016 and consecrated in January 2017, one of eight, at the time, female Bishops serving in the Anglican Church of Canada. In 2017, Wycliffe College honoured Bishop Andison with a Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa). She was the former Area Bishop of York-Credit Valley in the Diocese of Toronto.
In October 2020, Bishop Andison announced her intention to step down as Bishop in early 2021, to resume parish ministry as the Rector of St. Paul's Bloor Street, the largest Anglican church in Canada. As the Rector of SPBS, she has spearheaded the launching of the Ministry Apprenticeship Program and the planting, out of St. Paul’s, of a new Anglican church, St. Georges Grange Park.
Bishop Andison speaks regularly about the importance of spiritual growth and culturally sensitive evangelism, and she advocates supporting families and equipping Christian parents to form living faith at home with their children. She has also been instrumental in promoting missional ministry around the Diocese of Toronto.
“These themes are all close to the heart of Tyndale Seminary’s missional priorities for theological education,” says Dr. Marjory Kerr, President and Vice Chancellor. “As a woman in a significant position of leadership in Christian ministry, Bishop Andison is well known to many of our faculty and students, already inspired by her example. Tyndale University is thankful for our friendship with Bishop Andison. We are delighted to confer the Doctor of Divinity (honoris causa) on Bishop Jenny Andison in recognition of her outstanding global service to Christian Ministry.”