{{Short description|Anglican archdeacon}} {{Use British English|date=August 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox Christian leader | honorific-prefix = The Venerable | type = priest | name = Will Adam | honorific-suffix = | image = | caption = | title = Archdeacon of Canterbury | church = Church of England | province = Canterbury | diocese = Canterbury | term = 18 July 2022{{snd}}present | predecessor = Jo Kelly-Moore | other_post = | birth_name = William Jonathan Adam | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1969|10|28}} | birth_place = | parents = | religion = Church of England | residence = | spouse = Lindsay Yates | children = 3 | education = Aylesbury Grammar School<ref>{{cite web|url=http://alumni.ags.bucks.sch.uk/news/old-aylesburian-profiles/265/265-Will-Adam-Paterson-|last=Clark|first=J J|title=Will Adam (Paterson '88)|date=12 March 2021|accessdate=4 February 2024}}</ref> | alma_mater = University of Manchester <!---------- Orders ----------> | ordination = 1994 (deacon)<br /> 1995 (priest) }}
'''William Jonathan Adam''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=|PhD}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=|FSA}} {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=|FRHistS}} (born 28 October 1969) is a Church of England priest. He was appointed Archdeacon of Canterbury in 2022 and had previously been the deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion and ecumenical advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
==Education and family== Will Adam was born in October 1969 and has two younger sisters. He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and studied theology and English church history at Manchester University. He then attended Westcott House, Cambridge, from where he was sent to the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland for six months in 1993. Adam later went on to earn a master's degree and a doctorate in canon law at Cardiff Law School. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) in 2011<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://royalhistsoc.org/membership/rhs-fellows-and-members/|title=RHS Fellows and Members|website=RHS|language=en-GB|access-date=11 September 2019|archive-date=11 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190611024719/http://royalhistsoc.org/membership/rhs-fellows-and-members/|url-status=live}}</ref> and as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Harrison |first1=Annabel |title=July 2024 Ballot Results |url=https://www.sal.org.uk/2024/07/july-2024-ballot-results/ |website=Society of Antiquaries of London |access-date=7 June 2025 |date=25 July 2024}}</ref> His wife, Lindsay Yates, is also an Anglican priest (and the current Canon Precentor for Canterbury Cathedral) and they have three daughters.<ref name="canterburydiocese">{{cite web |url=https://canterburydiocese.org/our-life/news-events/news/william-adam-named-as-next-archdeacon-of-canterbury.php |last=Diocese of Canterbury |title=Will Adam named Archdeacon of Canterbury |date=21 March 2022 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>
==Career== Adam was ordained deacon in 1994 and priest in 1995 and served in parishes in the dioceses of Oxford (1994–2002), Ely (2002–2010), and London (2010–2017).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://iarccum.org/2022/will-adam-moving-to-new-role-in-canterbury/ |last=International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission |title=Will Adam moving to new role in Canterbury |date=21 March 2022 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> While still a curate in 1996, he appeared in a television advertisement for Ford Escort cars, in which the caption stated, "Will Adam has married 14 women since he got his. What do you do in yours?", showing him adjusting his clerical collar.<ref name="churchtimes">{{cite news |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2022/25-march/news/uk/dr-will-adam-to-leave-anglican-communion-post-for-canterbury-archdeaconry |last=Meyrick |first=Sarah |title=Dr Will Adam to leave Anglican Communion post for Canterbury archdeaconry |newspaper=Church Times |location=London |date=21 March 2022 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> In 1998, he was a youth delegate to the World Council of Churches Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe.<ref name="lutheranworld">{{cite web |url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/news/anglican-lutheran-relations-looking-towards-lambeth |last=Hitchen |first=P. |title=Anglican-Lutheran relations: Looking towards Lambeth |website=Lutheran World Federation |date=28 June 2022 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref>
In 2017, Adam was appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury's Ecumenical Adviser at Lambeth Palace,<ref name ="archbishopofcanterbury">{{cite web |url=https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/news-and-statements/archbishops-ecumenical-adviser-takes-new-anglican-communion-role |last=The Archbishop of Canterbury |title=Archbishop's ecumenical adviser takes on new Anglican Communion role |date=12 February 2021 |access-date=19 June 2023}}</ref> while also holding the role of honorary assistant priest in his wife's parish at Compton, West Sussex.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lgn1384773037.site-fusion.co.uk/whos-who |title=Who's Who in the Octagon |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=The Octagon Parish |access-date=20 August 2022}}</ref> In 2019, he was also made director of the Department for Unity, Faith and Order in the Anglican Communion.<ref name ="archbishopofcanterbury"/> In this role he was responsible for and co-secretary of dialogues between the Anglican Communion and other churches and Christian world communions, including those with the Catholic Church (Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission and IARCCUM),<ref>iarccum.org</ref> the Orthodox Church (ICAOTD)<ref>{{cite web | title=Anglican Communion: Orthodox | url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/ecumenism/ecumenical-dialogues/orthodox.aspx }}</ref> and a new dialogue with the Pentecostal World Fellowship.<ref>{{cite web | title=Anglican Communion: Pentecostal | url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/ecumenism/ecumenical-dialogues/pentecostal.aspx }}</ref> In February 2021 he was appointed deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, based at the Anglican Communion Office (ACO) adjacent to Portobello Road Market.<ref name ="archbishopofcanterbury"/>
In March 2022, it was announced that Adam would be the next Archdeacon of Canterbury and a residentiary canon of Canterbury Cathedral, following the departure of the previous incumbent, the Very Reverend Jo Kelly-Moore, who was made Dean of St Albans.<ref name="churchtimes"/> He was installed at Canterbury during Evensong on 18 July 2022,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/July-2022-V2.pdf | last = Newsholme | first = David | title = Services and Music List | date = July 2022 | website = Canterbury Cathedral |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220731212405/https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/July-2022-V2.pdf |archive-date=31 July 2022 |access-date=31 July 2022 }}</ref> but seconded back to the ACO for the Fifteenth Lambeth Conference between 27 July and 7 August 2022.<ref name="canterburydiocese"/> In 2025, he chaired the Diocese of Canterbury’s Vacancy in See Committee as part of the process for the appointment of the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.<ref>{{cite web |title=Diocese of Canterbury publishes document to help discern next Archbishop |url=https://canterburydiocese.org/diocese-of-canterbury-publishes-document-to-help-discern-next-archbishop.php |website=Diocese of Canterbury |date=5 June 2025 |access-date=3 July 2025}}</ref>
==Bibliography== * Will Adam, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQCiAgAAQBAJ Legal flexibility and the mission of the Church: dispensation and economy in ecclesiastical law] Farnham, Surrey, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4094-2055-2 * Lindsay Yates and Will Adam, ''Canon law and the newly ordained'', (third edition, 2011), Ministry Division of the Church of England, Church House Publishing, London.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{cite web |url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jCnKCEIfprM |title=Ford Escort Advert 1996 |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=YouTube |date=20 May 2012 |access-date=19 June 2023}}
{{Archdeacons of Canterbury}} {{Diocese of Canterbury}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam, Will}} Category:1969 births Category:Archdeacons of Canterbury Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester Category:Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge Category:Living people