Fr. Simon Rundell SCP is a parish priest in the diocese of Portsmouth. After a career in Intensive Care Nursing in central London, he was formed for the Priesthood at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield.

Since becoming the Parish Priest of St Thomas the Apostle, Elson in 2004, he has been instrumental in placing the Church at the heart of the Community: working in Schools and instigating what has been described as "the best youth work in Gosport" for more than 50 young people a week, Fr Simon has helped St Thomas the Apostle become a lively, family-focused and child-friendly sacred space where God may be encountered. Over his time there, the parish continues to be renewed and reordered.

Working in urban parishes in Portsmouth, Fr Simon developed new methods of Sacramental Youthwork and used the innate desire of young people to set fire to things to create Blesséd (www.blessed.org.uk) an innovative multimedia sacrament-based alt.worship community which predates the Fresh Expressions bandwagon.

He is passionate about Youth Ministry and the missional possibilities of the Sacramental Life for all, and has worked with parishes and dioceses across the UK to help them develop their own creative liturgies. Blesséd continues to have an itinerant ministry, subverting the form, setting fire to carpets and proclaiming the Gospel in wildly, rabidly inclusive ways.

Fr. Simon is an Associate Missioner for Fresh Expressions and has a chapter published in a recent book: Ancient Faith: Future Mission – Fresh Expressions in the Sacramental Tradition (SCM-Canterbury Press, 2009)

Currently scheduled for publication in August 2010 is Creative Ideas for Alternative Sacramental Worship (SCM-Canterbury Press) - a comprehensive guide and resource book for creative liturgy and mission. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon here