THE Bishop of Durham has announced a new vicar for a market place church.

The Right Rev Paul Butler has announce that the new Vicar of St Nicholas Church in Durham Market Place will be the Revd Arun Arora, who is currently the Director of Communications for the National Institutions of the Church of England.

Having trained for the ordained ministry 10 years ago at Cranmer Hall in Durham the appointment represents a return to familiar territory for Arun.

Bishop Paul said: “I am delighted that Arun has agreed to come to the Diocese of Durham and serve as vicar of St Nicholas.

"It has been my privilege to work closely with Arun in his current national role. He will bring great gifts to St Nic's for the next phase of its life at the heart of Durham city centre. He and his family will be welcomed very warmly into this new role.”

Arun Arora said: “I am excited and thrilled at the thought of working at St Nic’s and returning to the North-East.

"During my training I benefitted from the faithful witness, blessing and work of the congregation at St Nic’s. I am very much looking forward to the opportunities of ministering in a city centre church once more and living out the love of Jesus to those in the marketplace and to a growing student community.

“I will miss the Church House community and in particular the exceptional individuals who make up the comms team.

"I am pleased to be leaving behind a strong, motivated and highly talented team who will continue to support the wider church in communicating the good news of Jesus Christ and the work of His Church in a way that inspires, informs and leads debates on faith and the gospel in today’s fast paced and ever changing communications environment.”

Having originally trained and practised as an employment lawyer for a trade union law firm, Arun worked as Director of Communications for the Diocese of Birmingham and as press officer to Bishop Mark Santer and then Bishop John Sentamu before training for the priesthood at Cranmer Hall in Durham. He served his curacy in North Yorkshire whilst serving as Director of Communications to the Archbishop of York. He subsequently led a fresh expression of Church - Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministries - before taking up his current post in 2012.

William Nye, Secretary General of the Archbishops council said: “Arun will leave big shoes to fill. His hard work, talent and commitment over the last four years have enabled the national communications work to flourish.

"He has been responsible for building and developing the Church’s presence across national media to proclaim the Gospel and also promote the work of the Church. He has also had to handle more than a few tricky news stories.

“Arun has overseen a restructuring and rebuilding of the communications team in Westminster and has worked closely with Diocesan communications colleagues providing advice and support and delivering campaigns. He has also secured investment for a new digital team to fully utilise the opportunities offered by digital communications.”

Arun is expected to leave Church House in April and to take up his post in July.