About

Gavin Knight
The Rev’d Gavin Knight; Vicar of St Michael & All Angels, Summertown, Oxford, an ‘open doors vicar!’

Gavin was born and raised on the Hampshire-Surrey border. His early years were devoted to sport (later years devoted to sport too, particularly golf!). He left college and worked for Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising, an all-round marketing experience which he still applies today. He gave this up to study golf and play Theology at St Andrew’s University for four glorious years. He became a trustee for Sue Ryder Care after working for Lady Ryder as a volunteer.

After a hard battle with God not to become ordained, he eventually lost the fight! He went to Ripon College Cuddesdon for theological training (MTh) and then the Birmingham Diocese for his curacy. His first incumbency took him to London, specifically Fulham Fields in the episcopal area of Kensington.

He then moved from parish life to school chaplaincy in Monmouth for six years. It was in the Welsh border that Gavin co-published (with his wife, Jo) two books which integrate theological and psychological thinking and practice: Disturbed by Mind & Spirit: Mental Health and Healing in Parish Ministry and Called by Mind & Spirit: Crossing the Borderlands of Childhood, published by Mowbray-Continuum.

In 2011 he took on the role as parish priest at St Michael & All Angels, Summertown, in north Oxford. He is a Vocations Advisor for the Diocese of Oxford and is currently heading an initiative called Headrest which is promoting mental health services throughout the parishes of Oxford and Cowley. He is passionate about creating a space of welcome for those outside or on the periphery of the Christian faith. A tangible sign of this welcome is the planned Threshold Project at St Michael’s, Summertown, a building designed to invite the parish to cross the threshold of faith.

St Michael & All Angels ChurchThreshold Project Architect