From 2018-2022, Rev. Dr. William Adam was the Director for Unity, Faith, and Order and from 2017-2022, the Ecumenical Adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was ordained in 1994 and served in parishes in the Church of England until taking up his role with the Archbishop in 2017. In 2022, he was appointed Archdeacon of Canterbury and Residentiary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral.
Will has been committed to Christian unity since he was a student at the WCC’s Bossey Graduate School. He has served on Anglican-Methodist dialogue in England and in his current role is responsible for the oversight of the Anglican Communion’s ecumenical work, including theological dialogue and liaising with ecumenical bodies. He was part of the Anglican Communion delegation at the Global Christian Forum’s gathering in Bogota in 2018.
Will retains an active academic interest in Law and Religion and is the editor of the Ecclesiastical Law Journal, an international comparative journal of law and religion. He continues to serve as a priest in a group of rural churches in the South of England.
“It is an honour to be part of the Global Christian Forum who demonstrates the unity of the Body of Christ. Together we can bring healing and hope in our broken world.”
Prior to his work with the Anglican Communion Office, worked at Lambeth Palace as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Ecumenical Adviser, working closely with colleagues at the Council for Christian Unity in Church House, Westminster.
Will read theology at Manchester University, trained for ordination at Westcott House, Cambridge and the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches, Geneva and later studied for a master’s degree and a doctorate in Canon Law at Cardiff Law School.
He was ordained deacon in 1994 and from then until 2017 served in parishes in the dioceses of Oxford (1994-2002), Ely (2002-2010) and London (2010-2017). Since 2017 he has been an honorary assistant priest in a deeply rural parish in West Sussex.