Bishop Paul-Gordon Chandler

The Rt. Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler, the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Wyoming, grew up in Senegal, West Africa, and has lived and worked around the world in leadership roles within the Episcopal Church, faith-based publishing, the arts, and relief and development.
In 2020, he was awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury the Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation, the highest international award for outstanding service in the work of reconciliation and interfaith dialogue within the Anglican Communion.
He moved to Wyoming from Doha, Qatar, where he was the Rector of the Anglican Church in Qatar (The Church of the Epiphany & The Anglican Centre), a spiritual home for more than 85 congregations with worshippers from 65 countries. An authority on the Middle East and Africa, he founded CARAVAN, an international arts NGO/non-profit that became a leader in using the arts to further our global quest for a more harmonious future, both with
each other and with the earth. From 2003-2013 he served as the rector of the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Cairo, Egypt, an international English-speaking Episcopal church of over 40 nationalities and from many faith traditions, primarily from the diplomatic, academic, NGO and business communities. In a previous role, he served as rector of the St. George’s Episcopal Church in Tunis/Carthage, Tunisia, in North Africa.
Other ministry roles have included Director of SPCK Worldwide in London, UK, a historic international publishing ministry of the Church of England, and as U.S. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Int’l Vice President of IBS Publishing, an ecumenical Christian publishing, distribution and translation non-profit that has published the Bible in more than 500 languages worldwide. He also served as the President/CEO of an international ecumenical relief and development organization whose mission was to assist indigenous faith-based humanitarian ministries in over 70 countries around the world, primarily within the Anglican Communion.
He studied at Wheaton College in the USA, at Chichester Theological College in West Sussex, England, and at the Alliance Française in Paris, France. He was appointed an Honorary Canon of All Saints’ Episcopal Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt in 2010, and is the author of four books in the fields of Global Christianity, Christian-Muslim relations and the Middle Eastern spirituality. His acclaimed book on Kahlil Gibran, the best-selling Lebanese born poet-artist and author of The Prophet, is titled IN SEARCH OF A PROPHET: A Spiritual Journey with Kahlil Gibran.
He is married to Lynne E. Chandler, a musician and author, and together they have two grown married children, a daughter and son. More information on Paul-Gordon is available on his author website: www.paulgordonchandler.com.
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From the Bishop

La Croix d'Agadez
Pectoral Cross
Bishop Chandler's pectoral cross is the Croix d'Agadez, obtained in Dakar, Senegal where he grew up. La Croix d'Agadez (Cross of Agadez) is also referred to as the “Cross of the Sahara.” It is known to symbolize and carry a message of love within the culture of the Tuareg people, a nomadic Berber tribe of the Sahara (known often as the “Blue people of the desert,” due to their indigo blue robes). In Tamashek, the Tuareg language, the word “love” is pronounced TORA, and is represented as "+o" in their Tifinagh alphabet, assembling together the + and 0 signs, which are the shapes that form the Croix d’Agadez. The designs that often appear around the + and o symbols, help to embed the theme of love within Tuareg culture. There is also other symbolism. The Tuaregs in the Sahara wear this cross as jewelry, representing the symbol of the southern star which guides their nomadic people throughout their desert travels. The four points on the Croix d'Agadez represent the four cardinal directions – north, south, east and west. Additionally, there are 22 different Agadez cross shapes, based on the "+o" symbolism, representing the 22 oases in the Sahara Desert that the Tuareg people stop at on their nomadic journeying, reminding us that we are all “pilgrims.”