Bishop of Buckingham the Rt Rev Dave Bull faced a big turn out of congregations from all six of our churches on Tuesday January 6 to answer questions about the current ministry situation.
With no full time Anglican minister, two part time ministers and a full time Baptist minister, the Rev Phil Dunning, Dave acknowledged that the Partnership is under manned at present.
Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Dave Bull.
However he was unable to offer any quick fixes to the situation which came about after the suspension of the Team Rector in May last year.
Questioned about whether the Oxford Diocese should have stepped in with immediate help he said that no one envisaged that the matter would take so long to resolve.
He said the Diocese was unable to offer the help of a minister to cover the absence of the Team Rector and it was not possible to second one of the many curates attached to churches in Oxford.
He said Milton Keynes had been seriously under staffed for many years – there are 13 serving Anglican ministers in the city compared with 27 in Oxford which has a population about a third smaller than MK.
Dave said he would be working to alter this in the long term – changing the perception from elsewhere in the Diocese of the importance of Milton Keynes.
Currently living in south Bucks he will be moving to the city in the near future and hopes to put new focus on growing congregations in the city.
