About Our Bishop

The Right Reverend Matthew Gunter

Bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of Wisconsin

Matt Gunter was raised on a farm in northern Indiana and worked in the family-run sawmill. He received his bachelor's degree in history from Indiana University. After college, he attended Gordon-Conwell Seminary for a time then moved to California, where he taught high school. He received an M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1996. He served for 18 years in the Diocese of Chicago, first as associate rector at St. David’s, Glenview and then for fourteen years as the rector of St. Barnabas Glen Ellyn. He served as a rural dean and was a deputy to three General Conventions.

Gunter was elected bishop of the Diocese of Fond du Lac on October 19, 2013, and he was consecrated bishop on April 26, 2014, by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. In 2021 he began serving as the Bishop Provisional of the Diocese of Eau Claire. In that same year, Bishop Gunter initiated a conversation between the three historic dioceses of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Eau Claire – to consider the possibility of reunifying into one Diocese of Wisconsin. That culminated with the 81st General Convention consenting to the reunion in June 2024. Gunter has been Bishop of the Diocese of Wisconsin since then.

Matt Gunter has published essays and sermons in The Living Church, The Anglican Digest, and other periodicals. In 2012 he was awarded the John Hines Preaching Award. He posts occasionally on his blog, An Odd Work of Grace.

Bishop Matt has been married to Leslie for 45 years and has three adult daughters, a son-in-law, and one adorable grandson.

Who keeps the Bishop’s ministry running smoothly? His dedicated staff!
Meet the team behind the scenes here: