General Synod Election Candidates 2026

REVD. MARTIN POOLE
Vicar of St. Luke’s Prestonville
64a Old Shoreham Road
Brighton, BN1 5DD
07712 077965
[email protected]

Proposer: Ven. Martin Lloyd-Williams
Seconder: Ven. Angela Martin

SUMMARY: I have been a dedicated and passionate member of General Synod for the
past five years and I bring continuing experience as a representative of the Diocese of
Chichester. For the last two years I was the convener of the Chichester representatives.
I am a member of Together for the Church of England and a keen advocate for the
importance of the parish as a focus for mission and align myself with Save the Parish.

My personal spirituality draws on a range of traditions from the complete spectrum of
Anglican practice. My intention is ‘to preach the gospel at all times and when
necessary use words’ (attributed to St. Francis).

I am a community focused priest with strategic vision and understanding, passionate
about mission and doing ministry creatively. I am grateful to God that the church I
serve in Brighton is growing, diverse and multi-age with a passion for social welfare.

BIOGRAPHY
I have been in this diocese since 1999,
initially as a non-stipendiary minister
and then as vicar of St. Luke’s
Prestonville in Brighton since 2010.
Before this I was a TV producer,
creating identities for TV channels
such as BBC2, SKY, and ITV and
working with international
broadcasters such as Al Jazeera, TV4
Sweden and RTL Germany. Prior to
this I was an actor prompted by my
involvement in drama while training
for ministry at St. John’s Nottingham.
I am married and have three adult
children.
GENERAL SYNOD RECORD 2021 - 2026
I have attended every session in person over the last quinquennium and been present for every
debate. I voted for an increase in clergy stipends and pensions and actively participated in a variety
of debates. Contributions to Synod include:
•
Moving a friendly amendment to a motion from Oxford Diocese 'Responding to the Climate
Emergency' in discussion with the Bishop of Reading.
•
Working with GMH colleagues on Synod to write and move an amendment to the Triennium
Funding Plans for 2027-2029 to restore the Racial Justice budget to an appropriate level.
•
Joining the LLF working group in September 2024 and contributing to these discussions until the
process was halted earlier this year.
•
Member of a communications task group in relation to the Spire reparative justice project from
September 2024, work which is still ongoing.
•
Elected to the Mission and Public Affairs Council in October 2025 which works with the Faith in
Public Life team to explore all aspects of social and political welfare in order to inform the Lords
Spiritual and engage with Parliament.
DIOCESAN INVOLVEMENT
I have been actively involved in diocesan affairs since
moving to Hove in 1999. In 2009 I conducted a
communications review for the diocese in my capacity as
a media consultant. This led to me advising on diocesan
communications including reshaping the magazine into
its current ‘Faith in Sussex’ format. I have run training on
fresh expressions and mission for Lay Readers and
Spiritual Directors as well as providing workshops and
being a keynote speaker nationally on creative liturgy and
alternative worship. In 2014 I worked with then Director
of Mission, Richard Jackson to collate results from a
Deanery consultation and present this to senior staff
followed by co-writing the Diocesan strategy which
resulted in the mission statement
'To Know, Love and Follow Jesus'.

Common Good
I am Diocesan lead for Modern Slavery as a member of the Council for the Promotion of the
Common Good. In this role I founded an ecumenical partnership to create a network of Modern
Slavery Ambassadors to raise awareness of this issue. I am currently working with the Diocesan
Racial Justice Co-ordinator on a variety of projects and I represent Chichester on the South
Eastern Dioceses Social Action/Social Justice Network.

Since 2010 I have been Chair of St. Luke’s Advice Service providing benefit and debt advice in
Brighton & Hove. As vicar of St. Luke’s Prestonville I have established a partnership with the Real
Junk Food Project to provide lunches for anyone in need, serving hundreds of folk every week. I
have facilitated the development of a number of initiatives for those in recovery including the
world’s first recovery orchestra.
ISSUE POSITIONING
I am resistant to being boxed into positions on various issues but I understand that in an election it
is helpful to know the opinion of the candidates on pertinent topics. So here is an outline of my
stance on some of the issues of the moment. I also want to make it clear that whilst I hold these
opinions, I would not wish to impose these on others and I believe that the great strength of the
church is our unity in Christ which allows us to still love each other when we disagree.
• The Bible – My evangelical roots have given me a strong focus on the centrality of the Bible
and I seek to use my critical faculties in my exegesis and interpretation of scripture.
• Relationships – I wish to support anyone who wants to commit to a long-term relationship
with their partner. This includes our LGBTQI+ brothers and sisters and I hope that we will be
able to fully affirm their relationships in church in bespoke services soon. I have regularly
taken part in the annual Brighton Pride parade and believe it is an important act of witness.
• Equality – I am passionate about equality at all levels and roles in the church and I encourage
the ministry of all regardless of disability, neurodiversity, social class, ethnicity or sexuality.
• Safeguarding - I believe church safeguarding should be managed externally to the church.
• Politics – I support any politicians who show a concern for the environment and have a focus
on the social welfare of those least well off in society.
If I am elected to General Synod I will seek to
represent the views of my colleagues in this
diocese whilst my voting will be in accordance with
the principles outlined above. I always respond to
any emails or letters sent to me about General
Synod and take all correspondence seriously. I
hope you have enough information here to
convince you to give me your first preference vote
and I am very happy to respond to any questions
you may have using the contact details above.
CREATIVE MINISTRY & MISSION
Having a creative background has greatly informed my ministry and I seek to bring this to every
aspect of my work as a priest and a member of General Synod
I established Beyond in 2008 as an initiative to connect Christian spirituality with the artistic
culture of Brighton & Hove. I created the world’s first Beach Hut Advent Calendar on Hove
seafront which ran from 2008-2019 reminding people of the Christian origin of advent and the true
meaning of Christmas. This involved hundreds of participants and thousands of attendees and in
2014 I received a Point of Light award from the Prime Minister for my contribution to the
community. I was involved in content creation for the Greenbelt arts, faith and justice festival from
2009 running the Sunday morning communion service for 15,000 people twice and heading up the
worship programming team from 2011-2014.
I am an author and my book writing credits include:
•
Contributed a chapter to ‘Transforming Christian Thought in the Visual Arts’.
•
'Church Beyond Walls' about the creative projects run by Beyond
•
'Real Life Rev' a behind the scenes description of clergy life in an urban Brighton parish.
•
Contributed a chapter to 'Project Kindness' about doing justice in hostile times

dioceses,disability,ecumenical,environment,equality,evangelical,fresh expressions,gospel,justice,liturgy,llf,lords spiritual,mission,modern slavery,neurodiversity,non stipendiary,racial justice,safeguarding,save the parish,scripture,sexuality,social action,social justice,stipendiary,together for the church of,witness