Perumbalath worked as a staff worker of the Union of Evangelical Students of India for two years in his home state Kerala before doing his post-graduate research in theology at the North India Institute of Post Graduate Theological Studies, Calcutta / Serampore specializing in New Testament. Then he joined the faculty of Serampore College as Lecturer in New Testament. He was ordained deacon in 1994 and priest in 1995 in the diocese of Calcutta. After a short curacy at St John's Church, Calcutta, in 1995 he was appointed Vicar of St.James' Church, Kolkata. After moving to the UK in 2001, he served at BeckenhamSt George's as Associate Rector, at RoshervilleSt Mark's as Priest-in-Charge/Team Vicar and at Northfleet All Saints as Vicar before his appointment as Archdeacon of Barking, a newly created post. He was the chair of North Kent Council for Inter-faith Relations from 2008 to 2013. From 2008 to 2013, he was also the Diocese of Rochester's Urban Adviser and Link Officer for the Church Urban Fund. He was collated as Archdeacon of Barking on 15 September 2013 with the oversight of the Anglican churches in the London Boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Havering. He was consecrated as bishop by Archbishop Justin Welby on 3 July 2018 at St Paul's Cathedral and was installed at Chelmsford Cathedral on 22 July. As Bishop of Bradwell he has oversight of 175 churches in an area covering mid and south Essex consisting of six boroughs/District Councils and two unitary authorities. Perumbalath was a Proctor in Convocation of the General Synod of the Church of England: for the Diocese of Rochester, elected in 2010 and serving until his move to Barking in 2013; and for the Diocese of Chelmsford from the 2015 election until his consecration. He was a trustee of USPG, an international charity of the Church of England, from 2009 to 2014. He was the chair of the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns and sat on the Appointment Committee of the Church of England. He was also a member of the Mission and Public Affairs Council of the Church of England. Perumbalath also chaired the London Churches Refugee Network, the ecumenical body that brings together various Christian responses supporting refugees and their rights. He also served on the Methodist Anglican Panel for Mission and Unity and London Faith Sector Panel. Currently he is one of the lead bishops of the Church of England on migration and refugee issues and serves as the Chair of Churches Refugee Network of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. He is also a trustee of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Church of England's lead bishop on CTBI relations. He chairs the educational charity, Christians Aware. Perumbalath holds the interfaith, ecumenical and lay ministry portfolios in his diocese. He lectures widely on Faith and social engagement and in Biblical theology.
Theological position
Perumbalath is broadly within the open Catholic tradition with an evangelical passion. He follows a Benedictine framework of spirituality and supports the ministry of women in the church at all levels. He acknowledges the influence of the evangelical, Anglo-Catholic and Oriental Orthodox traditions in shaping his theology. He trained for ordination at the Union Biblical Seminary in Pune which is the leading evangelical theological college in India. He has served in open Catholic, open evangelical and conservative Catholic parishes and has been known as a unifying leader in situations of conflict. Theologically he belongs to the Post-Critical tradition and is influenced by George Lindbeck, Walter Brueggemann and Richard B. Hays.
