Alan Wilson (1955-2024): A courageous and prophetic pastor

The Bishop of Buckingham and former Premier trustee, Rt Rev Dr Alan Wilson, has passed away at the age of 68. He was well known for his advocacy on behalf of church abuse survivors and for encouraging the Church to embrace the opportunities provided by digital media. The former Bishop of Oxford Rt Rev John Pritchard pays tribute to him

Dr. Alan Wilson, Area Bishop of Buckingham, was a wonderful controversialist, but that was not what made him tick. He held powerfully-expressed views on LGBT inclusion in the Church and on the rights of survivors of abuse, and his stance on these issues gained him friends and opponents in equal measure. Essentially, however, he was a teacher and pastor with a remarkably well-stocked mind and a big heart.

Alan Wilson died at home on Saturday morning of a suspected major heart attack. His death at 68 is the more poignant in that he was on sabbatical preparing for retirement after 44 years of fruitful ministry in the diocese of Oxford.

He studied history at St John’s College, Cambridge and trained for ordained ministry at Wycliffe Hall, an evangelical theological college in Oxford. He served curacies in Eynsham near Oxford and in Caversham, part of Reading, during which time he gained a doctorate in history. He went on to serve as Rector of St Michael and All Angels, Sandhurst until 2003 when the then Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, had the wisdom to call him to be Bishop of Buckingham.