AN OXFORD University dean has warned that clergy are being pressured into growing their audience like a profit-hungry corporation.

Dean of Christ Church Martyn Percy said bishops 'need to stop being the CEO of an organisation that is chasing growth targets'.

Prof Percy, who also teaches theology at Oxford, said a growing problem of stress among vicars was being 'fuelled by anziety about growth and organisation and professionalism'.

Speaking to an audience at the charity Sons & Friends of the Clergy, he said: "The church has become too organisational and bureaucratic.

"Sharp missional evangelistic thinking has created a culture where clergy feel like employees chasing targets - and they feel guilty when they don't achieve those targets, or when they can no longer relate to what has become an organisation."

He said that among the symptoms were a focus on 'blue-sky thinking' and 'aims, objectives and outcomes'.

He made his comments at the charity's AGM last week after chief executive Jeremy Moodey said mental health problems among vicars were increasing.