The hall is the third-oldest Anglican theological college and, as of April 2020, claimed to have trained more serving Church of England bishops than any other such institution (21 of c.

[1] For many centuries membership of the University of Oxford required subscription to the 39 Articles (part of the English Reformation heritage of the Church of England).

Evangelical public meetings were held in 1876, partly in response to this development, where concerns were raised about how "the majority of clergy are professionally ignorant".

[2] A committee, including Charles Perry and Sydney Gedge MP, was formed to raise funds for two new theological colleges, one at Cambridge and one at Oxford, which would provide supplementary training preparatory to ordination and do so "upon a sound Evangelical and Protestant basis".

[3] Funds were gathered rapidly and a founding council was formed for the Oxford college, including J. C. Ryle, Robert Payne Smith, Edward Garbett, and Edmund Knox.

[4] The new hall was dedicated to John Wycliffe, who was master of Balliol College, Oxford in the 1360s, and is remembered as the 'morning star' of the Reformation.

[citation needed] William Henry Griffith Thomas was one of Wycliffe Hall's best known principals (serving 1905–1910) and remains a noted theologian.

[10] Eventually, the Hall Council asked for Anderson's resignation in 1969 and instead sought clearer evangelical leadership, even inviting John Stott to take up the post.

[11] Stott declined, but other well-known evangelicals were found to get the hall back onto a firmer footing, including Peter Southwell, David Holloway, Oliver O'Donovan, and Roger Beckwith.

[citation needed] The centenary of the hall was celebrated in 1977 with a service of thanksgiving at Christ Church, Oxford, followed by tea in a marquee on the Wycliffe lawn.

SCIO is run in partnership with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) whilst OCCA is operated by the RZIM Zacharias Trust.

[citation needed] Wycliffe became a focus of media attention in 2007 when a significant number of the academic staff left, including the vice-principal and head of pastoral theology.

[14] After monitoring by the university, senior academics at Oxford complained that the curriculum was narrow and offered students insufficient intellectual development.

Late in 2012 the hall began advertising for a new principal who could offer "wide and generous understanding of the major trends in contemporary Anglican evangelicalism, together with high level pastoral skills".

[18] The process of appointment of a new principal stalled in January 2013: the Hall Council considered that five candidates were "of real quality" but that none of them offered "the desired balance of skills and attributes" required.

[21] The small cohorts of first degree undergraduates which Wycliffe accepted from 1997 onwards were phased out in the mid-2010s and, aside from SCIO, the hall now only takes mature students (over 21s).

[22] The original buildings on the Wycliffe Hall site were designed in the 1860s as family houses, until converted to their present use later in the nineteenth century.

This second villa initially functioned as the principal's residence, but in 1930 was converted to contain both student and staff common rooms on the ground floor – hence 'Old' Lodge.

4 remained separately delineated by their original brick party walls for some decades, but these grounds were amalgamated with the garden of 54 Banbury Road to form a large green space on the site in the late 1960s.

[citation needed] Attendance at the daily chapel services is compulsory for full-time ordinands and optional for independent students.

[citation needed] Practical ministerial training is delivered via a system of Integrated Study Weeks on topics such as death, evangelism, ethics, and biblical hermeneutics.

[26] Student led fellowship groups supervised by college tutors, which take turns to run a week of chapel services, and training and practice in preaching are key elements of ministerial formation.

[citation needed] Ministerial students also participate in college missions during their studies, with the choice of settings including schools, universities, urban and rural parishes, as well as social projects of various kinds.

In 2012, the hall topped the University of Oxford's Norrington Table, winning each of the theology prizes and with all five BA students achieving a first class degree.

[citation needed] Activities for spouses of students include a mid-week prayer, Bible study and fellowship meeting.