CTE staff come from a wide variety of church traditions and backgrounds. They are based across the country and work in a very flexible manner, enabling a broad spectrum of work areas to be covered.
Get in touch with the main CTE office through our Contact page.
Individual staff can be contacted by email using: firstname.lastname(at)cte.org.uk and their bios can be read below.
Bishop Mike Royal has been General Secretary of Churches Together in England since 2022. He is the former Co-Chief Executive of the Cinnamon Network, which helps churches with their community engagement. He is the former National Director of award-winning charity Transforming Lives for Good (TLG), working with vulnerable school pupils.
Mike has been in ordained church ministry since 1993 and is a Pentecostal Bishop with the Apostolic Pastoral Congress with responsibility for the Midlands Region of England. Mike has an academic background in urban planning and black theology. He is also a forensic mental health chaplain with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. He is married to Viviene and lives in Solihull, West Midlands.
In his role, Ben helps bring together church leaders who reflect on mission and evangelism in urban and rural contexts across England. He particularly enjoys seeing and encouraging missional ecumenism at local and county levels. Ben is also interested in Asian and intercultural theologies. He is the author of Intercultural Church: Shared Learning from New Communities (Grove 2020), The God Who Walks Slowly (SCM 2022) and lead editor for ‘Lived’ Mission in 21st Century Britain (SCM 2024). He is currently writing a new book entitled How Can We Sing When We’re in a Strange Land: C.S. Song and Reimagining Ecumenical Missiology due to be published by SCM press in 2028. He is a visiting scholar at Sarum College in Salisbury and a postgraduate supervisor at Westcott College in Cambridge.
Before joining CTE in 2019, Ben had been in Anglican ministry in Durban (2010-2013) and then Cape Town in South Africa (2013-2018). There he completed a doctorate at The University of Stellenbosch, exploring the idea of authenticity in Fresh Expressions in The Anglican Church of Southern Africa. From 2004-2010 he and his wife were part of a church planting team in rural Cambodia.
Ben is a musician and plays electric bass and keyboards and is a fan of neo soul, jazz and funk. He is married to Sharon with four children and lives in Devon.
Minister Shermara Hoyte leads CTE's work in the areas of Pentecostal, Charismatic and Multi-cultural Relations, which includes our Pentecostal Charismatic Forum and Racial Justice Working Group, and Young adult engagement.
Holding a BA (Hons) from the University of Birmingham and an MA in Leadership and Theology and in the early stages of pursuing her PhD, her research focuses on hospitality and homelessness. Shermara is a minister of the Church of God of Prophecy.
As a national church and community leader, international speaker, broadcaster, and writer, She has featured on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC World News, TalkTV, The God Channel, CNN, TBN, and UBC Radio, and is a regular contributor to Premier Radio and engagements with academic institutions. She also serves as a UKPF International Ambassador of World Peace.
Her published contributions as a chapter author include Lived Mission in 21st Century Britain (SCM, 2024), Anglicans and Pentecostals in Dialogue (Wipf and Stock, 2023), Young, Woke & Christian (SCM, 2022), Black, Christian & Single (MTD Publishing, 2022), and Coming Home: Christian Perspectives on Housing (Church House Publishing, 2020).
In recognition of her leadership and impact, she has received the MAB International Young Leader of the Year Award (2022), the Wise Women Exceptional Young Woman Award (2020), and a Community Project Award from the Queen’s Lord-Lieutenant (2019) for her work in addressing homelessness.
Shermara is married to Benjamin who is also a Minister and Regional Manager across London and the South East. Shermara enjoys singing, lifestyle and fashion and retreats.
Doral is responsible for connecting with intermediate (county) and local ecumenism and works closely with the National Ecumenical Officers of CTE’s Member Churches. Doral is also responsible for ecumenical training and many of the CTE events, including the CTE Forum and CTE Enabling Group meetings.
Holding a MA in Contemporary Christian Theology, Doral is currently completing a Doctorate in Practical Theology at Roehampton University, her research focuses on what the churches can learn from the lived experience of interchurch families as they journey towards greater unity.
Doral has contributed essays to a number of books and journals including Spirit Flowing Like Water: New Conversations on Receptive Ecumenism edited by Haupt, Kristenson, Nausner and Ryan (2025, Pickwick Publications) and Preaching the Uncontrolling Love of God edited by Wells, Randall, Torbitizky and Oord (2024, SacraSage Press).
Doral had a former role as Ecumenical Facilitator for Churches Together in Hertfordshire (a County Ecumenical Officer role), as well as Executive Development Officer for the Association of Interchurch Families (one of CTE’s Charities and Network in Association).
A licenced lay minister in the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England, Doral regularly preaches and leads worship in her local parish. Doral is married to Declan, a musician, and has two children, she also sings in several bands and enjoys walking Seamus, a crazy whippet.
Sarah Ball is our Head of Communications. She manages CTE's website, social media, media engagement and communications. She is the Editor of our e-newsletter CTe-News.
Sarah is a former BBC radio and TV journalist, who since she left the Corporation has worked in the public, private and third sectors.
She holds Masters degrees in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California and in Organizational Behaviour from the University of London.
She is enthusiastic about good wine and coffee (having worked in these industries). Sarah is involved in her local Churches Together group.
Sarah works part-time, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are her usual working days. Outside of these times, any urgent media enquiries can be directed to Mike Royal.
Ben heads up the Operations Team at CTE working closely with Lorraine. Together, they look after all the day to day business and events for CTE.
He joins CTE after 15 years of working to support voluntary and community sector organisations. In Reading, he ran a network for charities and community groups working with children, young people and families. More recently, Ben ran a not-for-profit company delivering health and care projects in partnership with a range of local charities across Bradford District and Craven.
Ben is a passionate advocate for relational ecumenical partnerships and has seen God move in many ways through unity initiatives as a church youth worker, through the first 24-7 Prayer ‘Boiler Room’ in Reading, and through the practical support, encouragement and grant funding of grass-roots Christian social action projects.
Ben serves as a Deacon and part of the Leadership Team at his local Elim church, where he is the Treasurer and coordinates the audio-visual facilities. He enjoys walking in the local countryside, as well as flying over it as a glider pilot.
Ben generally works Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for CTE.
Lorraine Shannon is our full-time Operations Manager and manages the CTE office, as well as holding a wide variety of responsibilities including event organisation and finance administration.