General Synod Election Candidates 2026

MICHAELA
PSCHIERER-
BARNFATHER
Aiming to walk in step with our Lord

Nominated by:
Andrew Creeth, Chester Synod
Seconded by:
Stephen Tynegate, Chester Synod

I am standing for the House of Laity and
would be grateful to receive your first-
preference vote

Motivation
At a recent Women’s Voices conference, I learnt that any regular churchgoer could stand for General Synod
and immediately felt a prompting by the Holy Spirit to do so.
It was similar to the prompting I felt three years ago to volunteer for the Street Angels – a church-led initiative
that sends out trained volunteers to walk the city streets on Friday and Saturday nights, assisting people in
need and helping to keep everyone safe. It was a scary prospect, something that’s way out of my comfort
zone – yet there was an immense feeling of peace that came with it and the secure knowledge that this was
the right thing to do.

And just as the Holy Spirit helped me navigate difficult, distressing and emotional situations when out with
the Street Angels, I trust He will also help me serve well on Synod: to listen carefully, discern faithfully, vote
prayerfully and speak when I have something useful to contribute.

When I mentioned my intention of standing for General Synod to my husband, he immediately embraced the
idea. I have also received positive feedback and encouragement from my church family at All Saints in Hoole,
Chester.

Background
I am originally from Austria and was brought up in the Catholic tradition. I was baptised and confirmed and
received a good foundation for my lifelong faith, but it was to a rather distant God.
When I moved to the UK in my twenties, I joined an evangelical free church in the North-East and took part
in an Alpha course, which brought me into a much closer relationship with Jesus.
Since moving to Chester in 2008 I’ve been an active member of an Anglican church community. Having
experienced both Catholic and Evangelical traditions, I have come to appreciate certain aspects of each,
while finding others more difficult to grasp. Therefore, I think it is wonderful how the Church of England aims
to embrace and consolidate both sides.

Through my career as a professional translator for German and English, I am well versed in cross-cultural
communication, different modes of expression and in deciphering the exact meaning of a text. Translation
requires a keen eye for detail, accuracy and logic – qualities I hope will be valuable to Synod.

If you would like to know more, you can contact me on [email protected]
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Equality

What the Women’s Voices
conference highlighted to me
additionally, was that there is
still a way to go to true
equality between men and
women and that there are
definitely
more
women’s
voices needed at the higher
levels of church. I think it’s
wonderful that the Church of
England
allows
women
priests and bishops and that
we now even have a female
Archbishop. But I find it
troubling that at the same
time one of our Guiding
Principles allows people to
deny these women their
priesthood. We need to
address this on Synod and
make suitable amendments.

Diversity

As a neurodiverse person, I
perceive and process things in a
different way. This gives me
unique insights into matters and
allows me to bring a new angle
into discussions and open new
lines of enquiry. Due to my highly
sensitive nature, I also notice
tensions, signs or barriers that
others may miss and could
function as an “early warning
system”. With lived experience I
could make suggestions for any
adjustments that might enable
people with different needs to
participate more fully in church
life. Having to write a statement
like this, for example, may
already exclude people from
Synod, whose input may be
beneficial.
Inclusivity

My heart is for a truly
inclusive church, where
we all feel welcome and
can contribute in our own
original way: no matter our
age, our sex, our gender,
our identity or sexual
orientation, no matter the
colour of our skin, the
language(s) we speak,
where we are from, what
abilities or disabilities we
have, how rich or poor we
are or where we are on our
faith journey – because
Jesus has died for us all
and he wants all of us to
come to Him. This will be
my guiding principle when
voting on Synod.

What if we could embrace the freedom that we’ve got in Jesus Christ and express this in worship as
diversely as possible? Whether we want to dance or wave our hands or sing loudly out of tune, or
whether we want to sit still, kneel down or lie on the floor – nobody should feel constrained by what
everybody else is doing.

Pilgrimage
As a keen pilgrim, I was exhilarated to learn that our new Archbishop, Sarah Mullally, would walk from
London to Canterbury for her installation, along a route I had already planned to walk three weeks later. It
provided me with additional encouragement on my way.
Over the past four years I have walked in stages all the way from Chester to Canterbury.
It was an incredible experience walking all this way on my own, but at the same time I felt stronger than
ever that I am not walking on my own, but that He is beside me all the time. I am delighted that the Church
of England is running programmes this year to highlight and promote pilgrimage – a trend that I would
definitely want to encourage. My plan is to walk on to Dover during this election period. I will take the
prayers of and for the General Synod with me.

During my pilgrimages and travels, I have attended many different church services and I have recently
also explored other traditions, including Baptist, Methodist and Orthodox. This means I have gained a good
overview of different practices and can draw upon this knowledge when voting and debating. I feel strongly
that we should aim to uphold and strengthen links to members of the entire ecumenical community.

My dream is to be part of a church that enables each and every one to have a personal
encounter with our Redeemer. If elected, I would seek to serve that vision with prayer,
humility and courage.
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