Special Service to Install the New Archdeacon of Wrexham

The new Archdeacon of Wrexham, the Ven. Emma Whittick, has been welcomed and installed at St Asaph Cathedral.

The service of installation was part of the Cathedral’s afternoon Choral Evensong.

Prior to her appointment as Archdeacon, Emma served as Chaplain to the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Lomas, a former Archdeacon of Wrexham himself. She also ministered in Brecon Cathedral.

Ahead of the service of installation, the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, said: “Emma brings outstanding gifts to her ministry, and will complement the excellent leadership team that we have here in St Asaph.”

An archdeacon assists the bishop in the oversight of the diocese and leads the churches in their archdeaconry. Emma will look after the Archdeaconry of Wrexham which includes the city of Wrexham and stretches north to Deeside. To the east it includes churches along the Welsh/English border and to the west, churches in Coedpoeth, Llanferres and Mold.

The city of Wrexham includes the diocese’s mission Resource Church, Hope Street. It opened during the pandemic in the former Burton clothes store in the centre of Wrexham and celebrated its fifth birthday in January. Next month, Hope Street will support the opening of a second Resource Church in St Tudfil’s in Coedpoeth. Just over the road from Hope Street is the historic St Giles’ Church, described as one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. It is experiencing growth as a Mission Hub Church with a focus on music.

Emma said: “I’m excited to be joining the Diocese of St Asaph at this time and I’m looking forward to encouraging, supporting and working with the churches and communities in the Archdeaconry of Wrexham. I sense we have two particular tasks ahead of us: to nurture the faith that is already there, and at the same time, boldly to proclaim the Gospel afresh to those who have not yet heard it.”

Emma joins Andy Grimwood and Gerwyn Capon as Archdeacons in the Diocese. Andy is Archdeacon of St Asaph and Gerwyn is Archdeacon of Montgomery.

Emma grew up in Didcot, near Oxford, and went to Aberystwyth University to study mathematics. She came to faith while at university and began her formal ministry as a licensed Lay Evangelist, serving the churches and communities in and around Aberystwyth. She is a fluent Welsh speaker. After ordination, she served her title in Dafen and Felinfoel, in Llanelli, in the Diocese of St Davids. She then joined the University Chaplaincy at the University of Wales Trinity Saint Davids, based on the Lampeter and Carmarthen campuses, before becoming Chaplain to the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon.

The service to install Emma as the new Archdeacon of Wrexham took place at 3.30pm on Sunday 27 September in St Asaph Cathedral.

The Diocese of St Asaph is one of the six dioceses in the Church in Wales, an autonomous province in the worldwide Anglican Communion.