The Rt Revd John Holbrook was Bishop of Brixworth, suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Peterborough, from June 2011 to September 2025.

Bishop John was born in 1962 and grew up in Bristol, where he was educated at Bristol Cathedral School. He went on to study theology at St Peter’s College Oxford and then trained for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. His faith first came alive in early teens and he has a lifelong passion for evangelism and the life of the Holy Spirit. 

He served as curate at St Mary’s Barnes in Southwark Diocese then as Senior curate at St Mary’s Bletchley, Anglican Minister at Whaddon Way Anglican/Baptist Church, Milton Keynes and Vicar of Adderbury and Milton near Banbury.

Immediately prior to his appointment as Bishop of Brixworth, he was Rector of Wimborne Minster in Salisbury Diocese and Rural Dean of Wimborne Deanery.

The Bishop has a particular concern for education. He chaired the Diocesan Board of Education, which established a Multi-Academy Trust (PDET) and served on the Board of the David Ross Educational Trust and the Nominations Committee of the University of Northampton. He also chaired the Governing bodies that established a new 400-student primary school (Hayfield Cross) in East Kettering and a similar new school in Daventry.

He has led the dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough as acting diocesan bishop.

For a number of years he oversaw the national Church "Life Events" team and served as an ecumenical member of the Baptist Union Council. In Northamptonshire, he chaired the Lord Lieutenant's panel advising on the nomination of High Sheriffs.

Bishop John counts swimming, football (he is a life-long Bristol City fan), and current affairs in the Middle East amongst his interests. He is an avid reader of poetry, fiction, biography and history, as well as theology.

He is married to Elizabeth, a tax accountant, and they have two grown up children.