THE Bishop of Crediton, the Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally, is Britain’s busiest tweeting Bishop.

An investigation by Premier Christian radio, released this week, found that Bishop Sarah tweets more often than any other bishop with an average 165 tweets sent every month.

Despite joining “Twitter” just 18 months ago, the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Exeter has sent almost 3,000 tweets.

When Premier told Bishop Sarah she came out on top, she said she was shocked.

She said: “I’m very surprised; I have to say I don’t use ‘Twitter’ that much compared to the vast population that’s out there. Maybe that says something about the other bishops than me.”

When asked her reason for joining the millions of “Twitter” users Bishop Sarah said one of the reasons are for evangelism.

She said: “We’re called to proclaim the gospel in every generation and that means we need to know how to speak to people today.

“Twitter is a way of communicating the good news of the Gospel to a whole series of people who may not encounter church.”

Her other reasons are to promote good stories about what’s going on in churches in Devon and to communicate with people across the area.

The type of content she tweets varies greatly.

Bishop Sarah said she always thinks twice before tweeting, retweeting and commenting.

She said: “Anything I put out in the public domain has to reflect on not just me, but on the Church of England and also on the Gospel. I know that it is as a bishop I’m doing it so I’m very careful about what I put out.”

Of 110 bishops surveyed, almost two in five bishops don’t have a “Twitter” account.

In second position was the Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, with 135 tweets.

Third was the Rt Rev Christine Hardman, Bishop of Newcastle with 110 tweets.

The investigation found that Bishop Nick took the crown (or mitre) for the most tweets sent, with more than 13,800 since joining the social networking service in 2009.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the most followed bishop on “Twitter” with 110,000 followers, but only sends an average of 42 tweets a month.

Alan Quick