Melissa M Skelton

Melissa Maxine Skelton (born March 14, 1951) is the 9th Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, a diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada. She was elected on the third ballot, November 30, 2013, by a substantial majority at an Electoral Synod held at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and ordained and installed in Vancouver on St. David's Day, March 1, 2014. The consecration event was a three-hour liturgy that took place in different locations - the Vancouver Convention Centre, followed by a procession through downtown Vancouver and then at the procession's destination, Christ Church Cathedral. Bishop Skelton is the first woman, the first American and the first person to have had a career outside of the church prior to ordination to be Bishop of the Canadian diocese.

Bishop Skelton was born and raised in the US South, specifically, Alabama and Georgia and came to faith in the Episcopal Church in her 20's. Throughout her adult life she worked in the corporate world as well as maintaining a vocation for ministry. Prior to her election she was Rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Seattle, Washington and also Canon for Congregational Development and Leadership - Diocese of Olympia, Seattle, Washington. Then-Canon Skelton developed a Congregational Development program that adopts the GATHER-TRANSFORM-SEND model and this program was established as the core curriculum for the College for Congregational Development in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, the college that she founded during her nine-year incumbency at St. Paul's. In the summer of 2016 the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago added the College for Congregational Development to its program roster.

Bishop Skelton was married to Seattle-based family counselor, the Reverend Eric Stroo on August 15, 2015 in Cannon Beach Oregon (Reverend Stroo is also a non-stipendary deacon serving in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia and currently on loan to the Diocese of New Westminster serving at St.Michael's Mulicultural Anglican Church). She has three siblings: a brother in San Francisco and two sisters in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a son, Evan who lives with his wife and children in the UK.