abuse,church growth,church planting,churches together,doctrine,evangelical,foodbank,good news,gospel,housing,living in love and faith,marriage,mission,orthodox,prayer,safeguarding,scripture,smyth,young people,youth

Candidate for re-election to General Synod
Revd Canon Jonathan Jee

I was ordained in 1988, and have been in parish ministry ever since: I was a
curate in Chesterfield, a Team Vicar in Hinckley for 8 years, and I have been
the Vicar of St. Paul’s in Leamington for the last 26 years. By God’s grace, I
have been privileged to see slow, steady, consistent growth in all these
churches down the years.
In many ways, I would much rather give my time to local church ministry than
to General Synod. But having served for the last five years, I sense the Lord
calling me to stand again, and offer my experience to the wider church at this
critical stage in the life of our church and nation. I love the Church of England,
despite the many frustrating things about it. My father was a rural vicar, and
the Lord called me to be ordained while I was a student, through being part
of a vibrant church which gave me a vision for healthy church ministry and growth.
I still believe that God wants his church to flourish. Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
will not prevail against it”. I am confident that the Lord wants to bless the Church of England, and to use us
– together with all the other churches – to reach our nation once again with the good news of Jesus. But I
also believe that if that is to happen, we need to stay faithful to the scriptures, to love one another, and to
follow the leading of his Holy Spirit.
It is vital that the General Synod makes decisions and allocates resources to support, equip and resource the
work of local churches. If elected, I will do all I can to make sure that the ministry and mission of the local
church remains central in Synod’s debates and decisions.

Other responsibilities (alongside being Vicar of St. Paul’s, Leamington)

• Area Dean for Warwick & Leamington for the last 4 years (where we have seen growth in many
churches, had 5 interregna, and added posts through increasing giving. I have particularly enjoyed
leading the clergy chapter, especially in prayer. I am handing this responsibility over now)
• Chair of Coventry Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship (while not a fan of labels, I see myself as an
evangelical with a “generous orthodoxy” – ‘orthodox’ because I hold to the authority of scripture in all
matters of faith and doctrine, and ‘generous’ because I seek to live out that blend of grace and truth
that we see perfectly in Jesus)
• Previously Chair of Churches Together in Leamington (For 11 years I hosted a monthly prayer meeting
for church leaders from all churches in the town. During this time we saw various inter-church ministries
develop including Foodbank, CAP, Streetpastors, Thrive Youth Ministries, & several others)
• I am on Diocesan Synod and Bishop’s Council, and was on the CNC that recommended Bishop Sophie.
• I am a governor at our Church School (which has a strong partnership with the church)
• Previously captain of the Coventry Diocesan Cricket & Golf Teams (some would say my most important
responsibilities, though sadly without much success!)

Family
I have been married to Juliet for 37 years. We have 5 adult children (3 married) and 9 grandchildren aged 7
and under (with the 10th on the way). Our greatest joy has been seeing all our children choose to follow
Jesus themselves, though the path to this has not been entirely straightforward!

Why am I standing for General Synod again?
The last 5 years have been a privilege, but also very demanding. It took
a while to find my feet and get used to it all, but I think that I have a
role to play in the next 5 years – both in being a prayerful voting
member, and also in speaking up on various issues, including:
•
Church Planting
As I hope is already clear, I am committed to parish ministry. I have
seen that church health leads to church growth, and I would like to see
that growth overflow into the planting of new expressions of church,
alongside our parish churches. Our own church at St. Paul’s was planted 150 years ago to reach a new area of housing,
and we need to plant new churches today to reach new people in new places in new ways.
•
Living in Love and Faith
Everyone is made in God’s image and deserves our love and respect. But all are also fallen, and need to hear Jesus’ call
to repentance and faith in him, and to walk the narrow road that leads to life. Where the scriptures are clear, we must
trust and obey. To be clear: I believe, and am committed to, the doctrine of the CofE, including on marriage. Where
the scriptures are not clear, we need to listen carefully to each other and to the Holy Spirit. But we must not “ordain
any thing that is contrary to God’s word written” (article XX), while being committed to loving everyone.
•
Race
The report “From lament to action” set out many ways in which we need to change as local churches and as a national
church, and our nation needs us to model how we can live together so much better. One goal must be to show the
beauty of a church that includes people from every culture in our area. We have a long way to go in this area at St.
Paul’s but are making clear progress – while we now have people from many different nationalities in our church, that
is not yet seen enough in our leadership or staff, and we are working on addressing this.
•
Safeguarding
There have been some terrible high-profile cases of abuse from all wings of the church (eg Peter Ball & John Smyth),
and we have become aware that far more people have suffered abuse than we previously knew. God’s love demands
that we do all we can to make our churches to be safe places where everyone can encounter the grace of God through
Jesus. We need to find ways to help every church and all our schools and institutions to take our responsibilities
seriously, without loading churches down with impossible amounts of red-tape and regulation.
•
Mission to the nation
My passion is to see people of all ages come to faith in Jesus. There is a new openness in our society to God, and we
have a wonderful opportunity to proclaim the gospel to our nation again, and to show God’s love in creative new
ways. I have 38 years of experience in seeing churches grow, to the point where St. Paul’s is now a large church with
100s of children and young people, and adults of all ages. We have had to make difficult decisions about how to do
things differently over the years, so that we are not stuck in old ways of doing things that God is no longer blessing. I
am keen to help the national church to take these difficult decisions to release us to be more effective in mission.

What do others say about me?
Rev Alison Evans, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Attleborough (proposer): “Jonathan has a wide range of experience in church
leadership and connects with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. He is passionate about seeing people come
to faith and has a deep love of the Church. His experience on General Synod from the last 5 years will be invaluable.”
Rev Adam Tams, Vicar of The Offchurch Group (seconder): “Jonathan has a deeply pastoral heart, and as my training
incumbent he modelled for me what it looks like to shepherd a church with both grace and conviction. His deep
conviction for the church to be led by both Word & Spirit, and his decades of practical experience in church leadership
give me no doubt that he would continue to bring wisdom, integrity and a pastor's heart to General Synod.”

How to contact me if you want to know more
I hope that this gives you a flavour of how I approach being on General Synod. If you would like to know more, please
don’t hesitate to get in touch. I would be very grateful for your support in the election.
[email protected]
07828 204283
15 Lillington Road, Leamington Spa CV32 5YS