And the New Wine winners are...

The New Wine Festival draws over 14,000 people to the Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallett for a week of events to, “connect with God, connect with one another, and connect with our churches as we collectively seek the Holy Spirit’s power, presence and guidance…”.

The 2025 event ended on Tuesday having basked in a week of (mainly) uninterrupted sunshine.

Those who attend New Wine are (mostly) from Anglican churches and the leadership is (almost entirely) drawn from the Church of England and (mainly) clergy in the CofE and (often) their spouses.

The New Wine Festival attracts (mainly) evangelical Anglicans of one stripe or another with (most) being somewhat charismatically inclined- contemporary worship styles are a big part of the Festival.

About 2,000 children young people join in an extensive programme - meaning about 13% of the gathering is 18 or under - which is a profile (broadly) the same as claimed for the Church of England as a whole. That being said, under 16’s in the Church of England are (highly) concentrated - such that about 38% of parishes have no children or young people at all and 68% have five or fewer.

Young people also means parents- the Church of England’s age profile suggests that about 46% of congregants are between 18 and 70 years of age but, as (again perhaps) at New Wine they must too be (fairly) clustered in certain places- most obviously, those where their children are.

So, the New Wine Festival is, compared with the average parish, disproportionately young and disproportionately evangelical, which is (perhaps) no surprise - maybe the numbers suggest those things go together. To the dismay of some, it is even possible that means, if the Church of England has a future it might be rather more New Wine than Old Hundredth.

So, as a sample of the Church as a whole and particularly the Church of England of the future, New Winers aren’t the worst one.

Anglican Futures (AF) were at New Wine throughout the week- hosting a stall in the “Fun Zone”. In the spirit of fun, AF repeated the straw poll as to who should be the next Archbishop of Canterbury which caused amused interest during the last meeting of General Synod.

The rules were simple- anyone of any age could vote once (in theory) and for anyone they wanted- however unsuitable or unqualified. Any person who garnered even a single vote was added to the voting boards, and from halfway through the Festival, a rolling “top twenty” was posted.

This “unusual” electoral process produced some “unusual” nominees- David Attenborough, the Pope and Hermione Granger being some of suggestions.

Some voted for their own vicar- which hopefully was borne of affection, not a desire to see them move on. People were often touchingly supportive of their own bishop or the bishop who was once their curate/suffragan/in their youth group. Children voted for their clergy parent, or youth worker, ordinands for their Principal.

Many wouldn’t wish being “ABC” on their worst enemy. No small number wondered if, after, a nine-month gap, a new appointment was needed at all.

It was all far more entertaining than most elections but also prompted plenty of serious debate.

There were no hustings (although one person had prepared a stump speech). And no canvassing took place (as far as is known).

So, after several hundred votes in this highly sophisticated plebiscite, who would New Wine like to see installed in the Chair of St Augustine?

The “Top Ten”, (strictly in alphabetical order) were:

The Rt Revd Michael Beasley

The Rt Revd Ruth Bushyager

The Rt Revd Jill Duff

The Rt Revd Guli Francis-Deqhani

Mr Bear Grylls

The Rt Revd Sarah Mullally

The Rt Revd Philip North

The Rt Revd Esther Prior

The Rt Revd Mark Tanner

The Rt Revd Rachel Treweek

A few things may (or may not) interest readers might be drawn from that outcome.

New Wine might (largely) be part of one tradition in the CofE but bishops from very diverse theological perspectives all found significant support. Overwhelmingly, the festival would like the next Archbishop of Canterbury to be a woman.

People know who they know - most people could identify their local bishop and those who had appeared on the stage at New Wine, some had previous connections with individuals, and many declined to vote because they did not know enough about the candidates.

The relative youth of the electorate meant strong backing for Mr Bear Grylls - very clearly one of the few (if not only) Anglicans of whom most under 16’s have heard.

Thank you to all those who voted and to all those who were nominated and dropped by to see their name on the board.

Tomorrow we will announce the winners of the equally significant "Help us imagine the future" bunting decorating competition - which again saw hundreds of entries.

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