The archdeaconry comprises eight countries (Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Latvia, Estonia and Germany) in which there are many Church of England chaplaincies serving the international Anglican community.
Oakley wrote a popular book called The Collage of God[5] in 2001 which received a number of positive reviews.
Oakley wrote the introduction for the reissue of Jeffrey John's book Permanent, Faithful, Stable, arguing that "It is essential that the Church embraces its gay and lesbian members fully as part of God's diversity and celebrates their permanent, faithful and stable relationships with prayer, affirmation and words of blessing.
[citation needed] His initiative of having a series of sermons which explored plays that were currently showing in London, to which the actors and production team of each play came and took part in conversation, is an example of the way Oakley tries to open a dialogue between people of faith and the work of the artistic community.
[7] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrote in 2004 that Oakley's thinking and approach is in the tradition of Westcott.
In 2010, the former Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, wrote a poem dedicated to Oakley entitled "In Winter" and said of him that: "It's extremely unusual to meet anyone who isn't a specialist who has such a subtle feeling for language as he does".
Mark Oakley has this gift in abundance: in this book we read in his company a succession of very diverse poems; we listen to his honest, careful, demanding reflections on them; and we recognise that this is a deeply authentic voice that can be relied on not to give us either clichés or indulgent ramblings.
The poet Imtiaz Dharker has said of the book: 'Even believing in poetry, he still leaves space for unease and uncertainties, because he of all people recognises that ‘there is no/ Road that is right entirely’.
The book won the Michael Ramsey Prize for global theological writing in 2019, awarded every three years, and was presented to Oakley by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Greenbelt Festival.
In 2018 the Poet Laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy, asked Oakley to be a judge of the 2018 Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry.
Rowan Williams commented in a review: "Mark Oakley is one of the most distinctive, intelligent and refreshing voices in the Church of England, always illuminating, never stale or second-hand".
This book powerfully demonstrates how poetry can bring comfort, refreshment and renewed energy to our spiritual lives".