Vacancy in See

Thank you to all those who have been praying for the work of the Vacancy in See Committee and its sub-groups.

The Committee has now met three times, and has four more meetings scheduled, with its final meeting at the end of March, when it will approve the statement of needs and elect six of its number to the Crown Nominations Commission. 

Work has now started on drafting the statement of needs, and prayer resources have been shared that will support the whole process until a new Bishop of Oxford is in post.

We are extremely grateful for the excellent response already to the diocesan consultation. We appreciate the busyness of life may mean you haven’t yet got around to this, but we would very much like to hear from you – every voice counts.

Happy new year!

This year will involve significant change for the diocese in view of Bishop Steven’s retirement this summer.

I would urge you to participate in the consultation, which launched yesterday, and encourage others to do so, as we want to hear from as many people as possible. Your views really matter.

Bishop Steven's announcement has caused the Vacancy-in-See Committee to be convened.

The Committee has 49 members and comprises elected lay and clergy members from each archdeaconry, all our General Synod members, ex officio and co-opted members. Geoff Bayliss, Chair of our House of Clergy, was appointed by Bishop’s Council to chair it and I am secretary to it. It has three sub-groups:

• One drafting a statement of needs comprising a profile of the diocese and including attributes it seeks in its next bishop
• Another overseeing a consultation on the needs of the diocese
• The final one on prayer for the whole discernment process

The full Committee met last month with the Prime Minister’s and Archbishops’ Appointments Secretaries and again last night, when it discussed representation and discernment. Five further meetings are scheduled, culminating in a meeting in late March with the Appointments Secretaries at which the statement will be finalised and six representatives elected.

Those six representatives join eight others to form the Crown Nominations Commission which meets later this year to identify who should be recommended to the Crown to be invited to be the next Bishop of Oxford.

The consultation is a wonderful opportunity to gain insights both to inform the current discernment process for a new Bishop, but also to inform our own ongoing discernment as a diocese of what God is calling us to focus on before, during and after the vacancy.

Please also pray – we are so conscious of the need for this whole process to be immersed in prayer.

Mark Humphriss, Diocesan Secretary

The Vacancy in See Committee, made up of 49 clergy and lay representatives from across the diocese, has two main roles.  

One is to work to create a Statement of Needs, which sets out what the diocese needs. This will be informed by a consultation across the diocese, which is expected to begin in January 2026.  

The second is to identify diocesan representatives (see below). The Vacancy in See Committee will meet for the first time in early December.

The Vacancy in See Committee elect six of their number to form the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) - with the two Archbishops and six members elected nationally - who will then draw up the specification, taking account of the Statement of Needs. They also interview the candidates and then make a recommendation to His Majesty The King, via the Prime Minister. 

This process takes time, and it combines both a robust governance process and a prayerful period of learning who God is calling into the role. 

We call on all members of the diocese to pray. Anyone living, working or worshipping in the diocese can contribute their views through an online survey, before 4 February.

Bishop Steven will continue to lead the diocese until his retirement. The Rt Revd Gavin Collins, Bishop of Dorchester, will then take on the spiritual leadership of the diocese on an interim basis until the new bishop is appointed.