Around half of the Church of England's schools are voluntary-aided meaning that those which are oversubscribed are allowed to select pupils on the basis of their or their parents’ adherence to the Anglican faith.

In an interview with the Times Educational Supplement, the Rt Rev John Pritchard said he wanted the Church’s 4,600 schools to be “as open as they can be”.

He is behind new guidance to be sent out to Church of England schools later this year urging them to adopt a more inclusive admissions policy.

He is encouraging head teachers to reserve no more than 10% of places to practising Anglicans.

“I know that there are other philosophies that will start at the other end, that say that these are for our church families, but I have never been as convinced of that as others.

“Every school will have a policy that has a proportion of places for church youngsters. What I would be saying is that number ought to be minimised because our primary function and our privilege is to serve the wider community.

“Ultimately I hope we can get the number of reserved places right down to 10 per cent.”

The move is likely to be welcomed by those who accuse church schools of being academically selective but unpopular with others who fear it will compromise the schools' Christian ethos.

The bishop defended his proposals: “I don’t think the mission generally is about collecting nice Christians into safe places. I think it’s about releasing the gospel into the community and making a difference to people’s lives.

“I want Christians to be out there serving the community in any way they can, not just collecting ourselves into huddles.”

The guidance is not binding on schools and they will still be free to set their own admissions policies.