Historical and geographical background
The Archdeaconry of Buckingham was created in the eleventh century, within the diocese of Lincoln. Since 1845 it has been part of the diocese of Oxford, and (legally) an Episcopal Area since 1978.
Buckingham Archdeaconry stretches from the Thames to the Northamptonshire border, taking in the modern County of Buckinghamshire, with Milton Keynes and Slough unitary authority areas, along with fragments of other local government districts, including Windsor and Maidenhead.
Sociologically, there is a shire county centred on Aylesbury, the Chiltern area (Metroland), and a southern post-industrial belt with semi-rural and suburban surrounds centred on Slough and High Wycombe.
A fast-growing population
The population of Bucks is just over 1,000,000 and rising (2021 Census). Bucks is the largest of Oxford’s Episcopal Areas by population.
New large developments and accompanying infrastructure to the North and South of Aylesbury, around the town of Buckingham and around Milton Keynes are driving growth which is projected to continue well into the century. These developments offer a significant challenge (and opportunity) for the traditional parochial system that operates throughout the archdeaconry. Pioneer posts in these areas are being supported alongside local churches exploring new ways of being church leading to a vibrant “mixed economy”.
Ministerial Deployment
Bucks has 288 congregations in 188 parishes, 138 benefices and 10 deaneries. There are 112 stipendiary clergy, 17 stipendiary curates, 33 Self-supporting ministers, 16 house for duty clergy. All stipendiary clergy are deployed through deanery plans. A particular priority is care of the clergy, which especially post-pandemic is more than ever a priority. Support of clergy experiencing long term sickness is shared and supported by an excellent HR Team in Church House.
We want every minister across the diocese to flourish in their ministry, see Flourishing in Ministry - Diocese of Oxford (anglican.org). Further support is offered through the diocese’s Employee Assistance Programme.
The diocese is committed to upholding the Five Guiding Principles as set out in the House of Bishops’ Declaration on the Ministry of Priests and Bishops and to promote the flourishing of churches across the range of the theological breadth of the Church of England.
We currently have around 125 active retired and other clergy living in Buckinghamshire with Permission to Officiate. Various Institutions employ chaplains, including the RAF (whose HQ is in High Wycombe), 4 major hospital trusts, 4 Prisons, and various Universities and Private Schools (including Eton College, Stowe and Wycombe Abbey) which employ Anglican chaplains. Around 50% of our clergy are female, with a fair number of clergy couples.
The Buckingham Archdeaconry has, for the past couple of years, had a vacancy rate of around 25. This is projected to continue, particularly because of clergy retirement, meaning that a significant amount of time is taken up with recruitment, which is shared with the Bishop and Associate Archdeacon.
The Area Team
The Area system and the size of the Buckingham Archdeaconry require Bishop, Archdeacon and full time Associate Archdeacon to work closely alongside each other with a very high degree of trust, collaboration, and delegation between themselves and with Area Deans and Lay Chairs, with whom they meet monthly.
As well as able central diocesan support and legal staff, there is a (60%) Director of Ordinands (DDO) for Buckingham Archdeaconry, a Parish Development Adviser, a full time Area Dean for Rural Mission and Development, a full time discipleship enabler (youth and childrens ministry) and an Area Safeguarding Adviser. The team also works closely with the Diocesan Schools Advisers amongst the 75 Church schools in the archdeaconry. We have three Commissaries who undertake some archdiaconal tasks on behalf of the Archdeacon of Buckingham. Additionally, the Area Team is ably supported by three administrators (2.4FTE) and a Bishop’s Adviser for Women’s Ministry.
Jump to...
- Milton Keynes and Newport
- Rural North Bucks
- Mid Bucks: Aylesbury and Wendover
- South Bucks: Wycombe and Amersham
- Burnham and Slough
Milton Keynes and Newport Deaneries
Milton Keynes (MK) has grown by 1.5% per annum over the past 10 years to a population of some 287,000 over the past 10 years. This growth is projected to continue into the future leading to a forecast population of around 500,000 by 2050 making MK by far the largest city in the Diocese. The long-term plans for MK are further underpinned by East-West Rail, connecting MK with Oxford and ultimately connecting with Cambridge too. Along with upgrades to the East-West Road network, the “Oxford Cambridge Arc” is becoming both a focus for regional industrial development and housing development. In that sense, MK will ultimately sit within a significant swathe of development stretching beyond present diocesan boundaries. The MK Deanery comprises 13 parishes with 31 churches of which 24 are in the five ecumenical parishes. MK is the location of two Church planting hubs, funded by the Diocese and the Strategic Development Fund. It is anticipated that a bid will be made in 2025-2026 to the Strategic Ministry Investment Board for substantial funding toward the strengthening of the Church in MK.
In seeking to address missional change in MK, one distinctive issue to bear in mind is the ecumenical nature of much of the city. While the outlying large existing settlements subsumed into MK in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Bletchley, Stony Stratford, Newport Pagnell, Wolverton) kept their existing parish churches, as did the 14 villages also falling within the original Development boundary. The growing city was deliberately planned as an ecumenical city and so for 75% of MK residents, living in newly developed areas, their parish church is part of a Local Ecumenical Partnership. This is often a real gift when it comes to strategic missional planning and change.
Newport Deanery comprises a large number of smaller rural villages with parish churches networked together effectively to provide ministerial and lay leadership. The substantial urban settlement of Newport Pagnell contains as many people as the remainder of the deanery combined and will be further stretched in the near future as the growth of Milton Keynes leads to the building of new estates in previously rural areas. Provision of ministry for these new estates is a significant forthcoming missional challenge.
Rural North Bucks
The Archdeacon of Buckingham has to spend a great deal of time in the car, on a fairly overloaded road system. Mursley, Claydon, Buckingham and the west of Aylesbury deaneries are distinctively rural, with their own particular patterns of community and Church life and their own missional
challenges.
The Area is committed to the support and to the health of rural parishes and church closures are few and far between (only two during the Episcopacy of the previous Bishop of Buckingham). This commitment to locality and rurality means, however, that there is a constant balance to be struck between the cost of ministry and its affordability in rural benefices. Rural Buckinghamshire has a fairly large number of team ministries. This enables the flexible deployment of different types of clergy (such as house for duty, half time, self-supporting as well as full-time stipendiary). Significant use of interim ministry posts has been made over the past few years.
An additional challenge/ opportunity for rural parishes is the arrival of new houses, both local developments adding to the populations of small villages and more major developments encroaching on previously rural parishes as major centres of population grow quickly (especially affecting villages around Buckingham, MK and Aylesbury). Rural parishes have responded with commendable flexibility, adapting their buildings to make them more accessible and hospitable and adding more informal family friendly services such as Breakfast Church/ Café Church / Messy Church/ Forest Church in several benefices. One issue post-Covid which remains a significant challenge is the number of vacancies for parish officers. This is particularly concentrated in rural benefices where it can be very difficult to recruit Churchwardens and Treasurers.
Mid Bucks: Aylesbury and Wendover
In addition to the rural benefices mentioned above, the town of Aylesbury is an important centre for the civic, economic and community life of the county. Aylesbury is served by a diverse variety of churches and there is a good history of cooperation in mission across the town.
While around a third the size of Milton Keynes, the growing population of Aylesbury should not be overlooked.
Church plants at Broughton, Kingsbrook and Berryfields in North and East Aylesbury have been a Deanery and Area priority over the last few years. Considerable missional creativity and investment has gone into planting some now sizable and flourishing new congregations. Similar investment and creativity will soon be needed in South Aylesbury as new estates multiply across the Aylesbury/Wendover border.
Wendover Deanery encompasses the Chiltern Ridge. This is an area of small villages and towns, farms, woodlands and commuters. While Wendover is overall more settled in housing terms than Aylesbury, there is nonetheless a significant level of development being built. The area has also been significantly impacted with the building of HS2 and in particular the construction of the tunnel mouth near Missenden continues to cause significant disruption to the local community. Churches in the small towns of Wendover are particularly strong and have a significant impact in their communities.
South Bucks: Wycombe and Amersham
In many ways Wycombe Deanery is thriving and hopeful, but the picture is inevitably a mixed one. Some village churches are in good order and repair, but others are facing the combined challenge of escalating building and maintenance costs, aging congregations and an impending crisis in the supply of volunteers and office holders.
The larger churches in the Deanery relate well to one another and share best practice and resources with one another and with smaller churches. Chapter and Synod are very active and well attended. There is a sense of anticipation that God is at work.
The heart of Wycombe Deanery is High Wycombe itself. The team of 7 Churches are diverse, both in churchmanship and the demographics of their communities, with areas of severe deprivation and food poverty characterising much of the centre of the town. The churches have an important role to play in supporting and serving needy families in the area. Wycombe Deanery has invested in a paid part time Children and Youth Network Leader to encourage and develop this vital ministry. The deanery is also committed to supporting rural churches with a dedicated forum and promoting the diocesan commitment to creation care with a team of parish eco representatives.
With its proximity to London, good communications near the M25, M40 corridor and Chiltern Rail link, Amersham is relatively wealthy and prosperous. There are a substantial number of people at the centre of finance, law, commerce and national affairs. The creative industries, especially the film industry, also play a significant role. Local grammar schools have a high reputation and are especially popular with second or third generation Asian families moving out from London. Houses tend to be expensive, and often both parents of young families are in paid employment.
There is a higher-than-average attendance at Church across much of South Bucks. Village churches are often in exceptionally good order and repair, and small-town churches of every tradition are thriving, with a real diversity of Anglican approaches to worship and mission
Some of the larger congregations in the Archdeaconry are in this area. However, the congregation size as recorded by the data recorded every October shows a slow recovery from Covid. Usual Sunday attendance of 100+ are on average still over 15% down on 2019. Work with children and young people both in Amersham and Wycombe is often supported by paid workers, and often have highly professional organists, choir directors or worship leaders.
There is a flip side to the prosperity of South Bucks. Many towns have significant areas of multiple deprivation. Here the church can be found providing much needed support for needy families through foodbanks and other vital support.
Burnham and Slough
While not quite at the same scale of the changes going on in Milton Keynes, nonetheless, Slough is also changing quickly. The radical regeneration of the town centre and in particular the arrival of the Elizabeth Line connecting Slough to the tube network at high speed is having a significant impact.
The religious character of the town very also distinctive (see graph). An intercultural Church Planting Hub at St Paul’s Slough is funded by the Diocese and the SDF.
Under the leadership of the full-time Area Dean, Slough has recently been through a major program of restructuring of ministry which has enabled the Deanery to approach a balanced financial situation for the first time in decades and to address a range of significant missional opportunities.
General Missional Issues and Priorities
Although they have areas of significant wealth, some parts of Slough, Wycombe, Milton Keynes and Aylesbury also experience great social deprivation. Is should be noted that a cause for hope for the Area is the significant ministry going on in “Estate Parishes” in these areas. Often, our Estate parishes are home to growing and diverse congregations with younger than average age and a higher than usual number of young people and families in attendance. Investment in Estate Ministry is another Area priority.
The Area Team, working with support from the Dept of Mission and Ministry, continues to work to support parishes and Deaneries who are responding in creative ways to the Diocesan call to continue to plant new congregations and to develop plans to reach out to children, families and young people.