There is still racism in the Church of England, according to a senior bishop – and one sign of that is the number of non-white clergy appointed.

Speaking at the Church's General Synod in York, the Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Rev Stephen Cotterell, said the proportion of senior non-white clergy had actually shrunk in recent years.

He said that while the Church "may not be guilty of racism ... there's still racism within the church".

He also said it was "painful and deeply embarrassing" when he found that just by ordaining one black and one Asian archdeacon he had doubled the number of senior ethnic minority clergy within the church "without particularly realising it".

He said: "I think that to describe the church as institutionally racist is to miss the point. Unconscious bias is a better way of approaching it. That is borderline racist, but there are ways to confront that."

Bishop Cotterell said that the ethnic mix of clergy did not reflect the nature of society or of the Church as a whole. In the 10 years to 2011, the number of black Christians in the UK increased by 58 per cent and of Asian Christians by 390 per cent; in the same period the number of white Christians declined by 17 per cent.

He said: "Quite simply the leadership and ministry of the Church of England no longer looks like or adequately reflects the diversity and creativity of the communities it serves. This should be a huge concern and directly affect our credibility as a national Church and our mission."

He referred to the "unfinished business" of inclusion.