Perham was a curate of
St Mary's Church, Addington (
Diocese of Canterbury) from 1976 to 1981, before becoming chaplain to the
Bishop of Winchester,
John Taylor, from 1981 to 1984. He was also Secretary to the
Church of England Doctrine Commission from 1979 to 1984. Perham became the
team rector of the Oakdale Team Ministry in
Poole in 1984, a position he relinquished in 1992 to become the
precentor and a
residential canon at
Norwich Cathedral. He was instituted as
Provost of
Derby on 21 March 1998 Alongside these ministries, he has filled many roles in the Church of England nationally. He was for a time secretary of its doctrine commission. He served on the Archbishops’ Commission on Church Music that produced a key report, "In Tune with Heaven", in 1992. He has been a member of the General Synod since 1989 and was a member of the Archbishops’ Council and Chair of the General Synod Business Committee until he became a bishop. He also served as Chair of the Hospital Chaplaincies’ Council. He was Chair of the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) from 2007 to 2011. He was a member of the
Crown Nominations Commission which chose the new
Archbishop of Canterbury in 2012. He was a leading bishop in the campaign for women to be permitted to be bishops and had the satisfaction of seeing the first woman diocesan bishop appointed to succeed him in
Gloucester. Perham is known for his work on church worship. He served on the Church of England Liturgical Commission from 1982 to 2001, being one of the principal architects of its
Common Worship services. He has lectured and written about worship consistently throughout his ministry. Perham was a member of the House of Lords and of the House of Bishops’ Standing Committee. He served on the working party reviewing the Church of England's teaching on human sexuality. He has been a strong advocate of the role of women in the church as priests and bishops. He was Bishop Protector of the European Province of the
Society of St Francis between 2005 and 2014, Chair of the Governing Body of
Ripon College, Cuddesdon and of the Retired Clergy Association. He was President of
Affirming Catholicism from 2001 to 2014. Within the
Diocese of Gloucester, Perham was the president or patron of a number of local organisations, including GARAS, GEAR, Cheltenham YMCA, the Star College and Emmaus Gloucester. He hosted the quarterly "Bishop's Breakfast", which brought together many of the civic and community leaders in the county. He was Pro-Chancellor and Vice-Chair of the Council of the
University of Gloucestershire until December 2015.
Allegations and retirement In February 2014, Perham announced that he would be retiring as Bishop of Gloucester on 21 November 2014, after 10 years in the position, but in August 2014 he 'stepped back from his ministry' while allegations of sexual abuse in the 1980s were investigated. Perham received widespread support and affirmation throughout this time, from people inside and outside the church and in October 2014 the Metropolitan Police concluded that there were no grounds for action. In May 2015, the Church of England safeguarding committee announced that Perham had been approved to continue ministry in retirement. A farewell service of thanksgiving and celebration to mark Perham's time as Bishop of Gloucester took place at
Gloucester Cathedral on 13 June 2015 after having been postponed because of the allegations. Over 1000 people attended. He discussed his long ministry, and the effects of the false allegations, in an interview with the BBC's Richard Atkins in June 2015. In the General Synod that July the
Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a tribute to Perham's ministry; it received a prolonged standing ovation. The
Church Times reported, on 17 July 2015, that the archbishop was "glad to thank Bishop Perham wholeheartedly for his ministry after all the investigations and inquiries had cleared him." ==Later life==