Marvin Rees has been speaking with Premier about the importance of his Christian faith, ahead of been sworn-in on Monday.
After the second preferences from Thursday's election had been counted, it emerged the married father-of-three had secured 68,750 votes.
The Labour politician recalled feeling "left out" growing up in poverty with his single mum and spending time living in a refuge.
— Marvin Rees (@Marvin4Mayor16) 7 May 2016
Alluding to 1 Corinthians 1:27-28, Mr Rees said: "That whole passage ...God takes the lowly things to overcome the things that are strong [and] the foolish things to overcome the things that think they're wise ...all that spoke incredibly to me and it gives me an incredible sense of confidence in my journey."
The 43-year-old also challenged the Church to follow the example of churches in his city and "step up" to engage with politics instead of just make demands.
He said: "In Bristol, the churches wrote a manifesto. It was a fantastic piece of work: 'This is what we want to see and this is how we think you can deliever it through real policies around housing, health, education and transport, and making solid policy decision."
You can listen to Marvin Rees speaking with Premier's Alex Williams by clicking here: