Church encourages people to stand for different national election

The Church of England is encouraging people to consider standing for a very different national election taking place this year – the election to the General Synod.

The current General Synod, the parliamentary body of the Church of England, is due to be dissolved at the end of the July group of sessions in York before a new Synod is elected for a five-year term in autumn.

The Church has launched a campaign today seeking “people with a very big heart” to stand for election to the body, which holds 378 lay and clergy members and passes measures that have the same effect as those of Parliament.

A DVD featuring contributions from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York has been produced as part of the campaign, which runs under the slogan ‘Be Part of the Big Picture’.

Copies of the five-minute DVD are being sent out to all 718 Church of England deaneries in the hope that more churchgoers will feel inspired to join Synod and enable full representation from across the Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, says on the DVD: “Any healthy and mature church is a church where everyone feels they have a voice. Synod needs your voice because we need all the voices together to discover the truth that God wants us to know for our generation, society, sanctification, our own hope and our own health.”

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, adds: “We want people whom I call all-weather Christians - people who are all-rounders really that can actually play the different jobs, because there are people sitting on committees, different boards and councils. So what we want are people who have a very big heart, who want to come here and bring friendship, bring love, bring vitality, and we want all ages.”

To stand for election to the House of Laity, candidates must be over the age of 18, an ‘actual Communicant’ of the Church of England and on the electoral roll of a parish or the community roll of a cathedral. Candidates seeking election to the House of Clergy must be an ordained priest or deacon, be beneficed or licensed, or have permission to officiate in the diocese or hold office in the cathedral.

David Williams, Clerk to Synod, said: “The next few months will be a challenging yet rewarding time of circulating the information and then electing members reflecting the diversity of the Church for the new quinquennium. Nominations are particularly welcome from people of minority ethnic backgrounds as we move forwards into our ninth General Synod.”

The new General Synod will be inaugurated in November.