General Synod Election Candidates 2026

GENERAL SYNOD ELECTION 2026 | DIOCESE OF CHICHESTER
CAROLINE ARMITAGE • HOUSE OF CLERGY • 1

CAROLINE
ARMITAGE
Candidate for the House of Clergy
General Synod Election 2026
Diocese of Chichester
I am standing for General Synod to bring an experienced, inclusive and firmly
parish-based voice to the decisions shaping the Church of England’s next
five years.
A brief biography
I am a late-vocation priest-in-charge of two rural parishes. Before ordination, I
served as a churchwarden, PCC member and Reader, so I understand parish life
from both lay and ordained perspectives. I am also a charity lawyer, a non-
executive director in social housing, a trustee of St Augustine’s Theological
Education Institute and a supporter of Christian environmental charities. My own
church background is broad: rooted in the evangelical tradition, enriched by
charismatic and Celtic spirituality, and including helping to found the College of
Anglican Catholic Women.
What I would bring to Synod
I would bring the practical judgement that comes from parish ministry, together
with legal, governance and board-level experience. I am used to reading complex
papers, asking difficult questions, weighing evidence and turning broad principles
into workable decisions. My experience in housing and the charity sector has also
taught me to keep the impact on people and communities in view when institutions
debate structures, money and policy.
I know that good governance depends on scrutiny, transparency and respectful
challenge. I will listen seriously to those with whom I disagree, but I will also speak
plainly. Unity matters, but unity is not uniformity—and it should never require the
voices or equality of some people to be sacrificed for the comfort of others.
My priorities for Synod
The next Synod will inherit difficult and unfinished business. If elected, I will focus
particularly on:
Parish ministry that is properly resourced. Recent debates about clergy health
and wellbeing, diocesan finances and the future shape of ministry all point to the
same reality: the Church cannot sustain its national ambitions while exhausting its
clergy and hollowing out its parishes. I will argue for fair, transparent and
sustainable funding, with particular attention to rural, deprived and under-
resourced communities. National and diocesan structures must strengthen local
mission, not make it harder.

GENERAL SYNOD ELECTION 2026 | DIOCESE OF CHICHESTER
CAROLINE ARMITAGE • HOUSE OF CLERGY • 2
A Church that is fully inclusive in every respect. Welcome is not enough if
people are still denied equality. I want LGBTQIA+ people, women, disabled and
neurodivergent people, and people of every ethnicity and economic background to
be able to participate equally in every aspect of the Church’s life, ministry,
leadership and sacraments. Following the formal conclusion of the Living in Love
and Faith process and the establishment of further working groups, Synod must
move beyond prolonged process towards honesty, consistency and full equality. I
also want to continue to create spaces within the broad church that has always
been the Church of England for those that hold different views but in a manner that
is fully respectful of all views and not exclusionary or divisive. I believe strongly that
we need to be able to disagree well.
Safeguarding that earns trust. Synod has recently backed a new safeguarding
strategy intended to strengthen professional independence. The next Synod must
ensure that promised reforms are implemented, properly funded and rigorously
scrutinised, with victims and survivors heard and institutional self-protection
challenged.
Justice that is practical. My legal work, social-housing experience and
environmental commitments have convinced me that the Church must speak and
act credibly on poverty, insecure housing, discrimination and the climate and
ecological crisis. These are central to our public witness, not optional additions to
it.
Formation for the whole Church. Good theological education should not be
confined to those training for ordination. I want serious, accessible lifelong
formation for clergy and lay people, equipping local churches to think well, grow in
confidence and respond wisely to rapid social change.
Better Synodical culture and governance. Recent debates have shown the cost
of opaque processes, polarisation and decisions that feel remote from parish
realities. I will press for clear information, responsible stewardship, proper
accountability and debate shaped by evidence and lived experience rather than
factional point-scoring.
I would be honoured to serve the Diocese of Chichester and the wider Church. I
would bring energy, independence of judgement, legal and governance expertise,
parish realism and a clear commitment to a Church that is courageous,
accountable and fully inclusive.
I would be very grateful for your first-preference, or highest possible, vote.
Nominated by:
Mthr Arwen Folkes – Vicar of St Mary’s Eastbourne
Fr Mark Heather – vicar St Andrew & St Cuthman Steyning
Contact:
[email protected]
07789915988

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