THE next Bishop of Wolverhampton, Dr Tim Wambunya, has received a formal rebuke under the Clergy Discipline Measure (CDM) for his part in a non-canonical ordination in Berlin, it was revealed this week.
He accepted charges of “doing an act in contravention of the laws ecclesiastical” and “conduct unbecoming to the office and work of Clerk in Holy Orders”; and the penalties imposed: a rebuke from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and an injunction which requires him to take further training on the ecclesiology of the Church of England.
In April, Dr Wambunya travelled to Germany, where he participated in a service of ordination, as Bishop, of the Revd Wamare Juma, who founded and leads the independent Revealed Evangelical Mission (News, 6 September).
Dr Wambunya’s actions came to light only after he was announced as the next Area Bishop of Wolverhampton, in the diocese of Lichfield (News, 27 August).
He told the Church Times that he apologised for his involvement in the service, during which he laid hands on Bishop Wamare Juma, and led him through the declarations and ordination prayers from the Common Worship rite of ordination and consecration of a bishop.
In a letter sent to clerics in the Wolverhampton ministry area last week, and published on the diocesan website on Saturday, Dr Wambunya reiterated his apology for taking part in the service, and acknowledged that it had caused “shock and confusion”.
“Ever since I felt your warmth and enthusiasm at my appointment, I have been eagerly looking forward to being with you. I hope that you can still find in your hearts that same warmth towards me despite what must have been a degree of shock and confusion for at least some of you following the media report in September about my visit to Germany,” he wrote.
“I deeply regret my lack of understanding of the polity of the Church within which I am now serving, which is apparent from the media report and I have publicly apologised for my actions.”
The Bishop of Lichfield, Dr Michael Ipgrave, welcomed the requirement for further training, and said that he would “play whatever part is required in that”.
“Bishop Tim has willingly and humbly accepted the Archbishop’s rebuke and injunction for his actions in Germany in April of this year,” he wrote in a statement; it was now “time to celebrate without inhibition Bishop Tim’s arrival in the diocese”.
Dr Wambunya is due to be formally commissioned at a service on Tuesday evening, at St Matthew’s, Walsall, and will be presented with a pastoral staff in Canterbury Cathedral on Friday.
He previously served as Bishop of Butere, in Kenya, before which he was Principal of Carlile College, Nairobi. Since 2020, he has been Vicar of St Paul’s, Slough, and an honorary assistant bishop in the diocese of Oxford.
