General Synod Casual Vacancy: Election Result

Paul will attend the final meeting of this quinquennium in July.

Clergy members of General Synod are known as Proctors, and are elected to two bodies – the General Synod itself and the Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury, which meets separately during the Group of Sessions at each gathering of General Synod. Proctors represent the clergy in their diocese.

Ahead of informed debates at Synod, there are many electronic papers to diligently read, digest, and take a view on.

Additionally, there is work to be done between groups of sessions with the likes of revision committees, and being members of boards and committees.

In his election address, Paul says:

"I am an ordained Pioneer Minister and have been in the Diocese of Salisbury for nearly 13 years in the Deanery of Poole & North Bournemouth. I have a background in biochemistry following a degree in Natural Sciences at Cambridge. I also have an MA in Urban Policy and led my local church’s participation in an urban regeneration programme in Ealing Borough, London.

"As a pioneer I have always sought to help enable innovation and creativity at the edges of the church to inform the centre. At the same time, I have sought to draw on the rich tradition of the church in its engagement with the world.

"The Church of England recently set out a vision for a simple, humbler, bolder church. In particular, its vision for the church in the 2020s is for a church ‘where mixed ecology is the norm’. Furthermore, its vision is for a church that ‘is younger and more diverse’, and for ‘a church of missionary disciples’.

"Our work at Poole Missional Communities has sought to embrace and realise those same ideals and we have learnt a huge amount in our efforts to do that. Therefore, in reflecting and praying about these aims in the light of this vacancy in the House of Clergy, I came to the conclusion that I would put my name forward."

Proctor Alan Jeans, our Archdeacon of Sarum, says:

"It is a privilege and honour to represent the Diocesan clergy on the senior, law-making body of the Church of England, but do always remember to be accessible for listening to and feeding back to the clergy who will have voted for you to represent them."

The results appear under the Casual Vacancy heading on this page.