Matthew Porter

Matthew Porter is the Bishop of Bolton. He writes to encourage people to follow Jesus and impact the world.

After a short spell working in law, Matthew trained and was ordained in the Church of England, and has served churches of different shapes and sizes in the North of England: in Sheffield and York and presently in Greater Manchester. He's also been an Honorary Chaplain to both Queen Elizabeth II and Charles III.

As well as looking after 100+ churches in the North and West of Greater Manchester, Bishop Matthew is particularly responsible in the Diocese of Manchester for evangelism, discipleship and church planting. In the Church of England he serves as Chair of the College of Evangelists and is a Champion Bishop for Missionary Discipleship. Matthew has Bachelors degrees in History (Nottingham), and in Theology (Oxford); a Masters in Evangelism Studies (Sheffield) and a Doctorate in Church Planting (Asbury, USA).

Matthew feels called not only to be a church leader but also an author, and in recent years has published a number of books with Authentic Media publishers.

In the A-Z... series, Matthew has written: A-Z of Discipleship (2015) and A-Z of Prayer (2017). These are simple books with 26 short chapters for those who want to get started in those fields. He is presently writing A-Z of Evangelism, which should be published in 2026. In 2020 he published Overflow, which is about Resource Churches and how they can bring positive impact beyond their locality. Matthew has also been writing a 6-part series called The Art of..., aiming to help people develop good habits as followers of Jesus. These include: The Art of Giving (2024), The Art of Journalling (2024) and The Art of Fasting (2025). The next book in the series will be The Art of Reading, to be published in 2025/6.

Matthew loves the North of England where he's lived for most of his life. He values good design, fine coffee and a bacon sandwich. Married to Sam since 1990, together they have 5 grown-up sons.