Tim Wambunya | |
---|---|
Bishop of Wolverhampton | |
Church | Church of England |
Diocese | Diocese of Lichfield |
In office | 2024–present |
Predecessor | Clive Gregory |
Other post(s) | Bishop of Butere in the Anglican Church of Kenya (2013-20) |
Orders | |
Ordination | 1997 (deacon); 1998 (priest) by Richard Chartres (deacon), Graham Dow (priest) |
Consecration | 6 October 2013 |
Personal details | |
Born | Timothy Livingstone Amboko Wambunya 1966 (age 57–58) |
Denomination | Anglican |
Spouse | Gertrude |
Children | three |
Alma mater | Middlesex University, Oxford University, University of Wales, Oak Hill College |
Timothy Livingstone (Amboko) Wambunya (born 1966) is an Anglican bishop. [1] He was the Anglican Bishop of Butere in Kenya [2] until September 2020, when he resigned and left Kenya after recovering from COVID-19. [3] In 2024, he was announced as the next Bishop of Wolverhampton, an area bishop in the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield; [4] which See he took up on 15 October. [5]
Timothy Wambunya was born in Kenya. He came to the United Kingdom aged 19, and spent seven years in the navy before training for the priesthood. [6]
Wambunya gained a BA in theology from Middlesex University in 1996, followed by a Master's in Philosophy from Oxford University and a PhD in Paremiology from the University of Wales. [7]
He studied at the Simon of Cyrene Theological Institute, then at Oak Hill College in London, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994. [1] [4]
Wambunya took orders in the Church of England: he was made deacon at Petertide 1997 (28 June) by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, at St Paul's Cathedral; [8] and ordained priest the following Petertide (4 July 1998) by Graham Dow, Bishop of Willesden, at St Martin's Church, Ruislip. [9] He served his curacy at St John's Church, Southall, and was ordained priest in 1998. [4] In 2000 he became a team vicar in the Tollington parish, serving at Emmanuel Church, Holloway; and in 2007 was appointed principal of the Church Army's Carlile College in Nairobi, Kenya. [1] [4]
Wambunya was consecrated as the third Bishop of Butere on 6 October 2013, [10] succeeding Horace Etemesi (1993–2003) and Michael Joshua Sande (2003–2013). [11] [12] As Bishop of Butere he attended and led a seminar at the 2018 Global Anglican Future Conference, but he would later criticise the movement, saying in 2020 "Personally, I think the Gafcon axis has become obsessed with the matter of sexuality." [13] [14]
In 2020 he left Kenya and his episcopal role, and in September was appointed vicar of St Paul's Church in Slough, a 'resource church' in the Church of England Diocese of Oxford; [15] he also became an honorary assistant bishop of that diocese in 2021. [16]
In 2024 he was announced as the next Bishop of Wolverhampton, an area bishop in the Diocese of Lichfield. [4] [17] His welcome service was scheduled for 15 October 2024; [18] he duly took up his See on that date. [5]
In September 2024, Wambunya was formally rebuked by the Church of England after ordaining Revd Wamare Juma of the Revealed Evangelical Mission, a "non-denominational para-church" not in communion with the Church of England, as a bishop in a service in Germany in April of that year. [19] [20] He apologised, attributing his actions to his "lack of understanding of the polity of the Church within which I am now serving". [21]
He is married to Gertrude and has three sons. [6]
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