General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Rev’d Mark Miller
Vicar of Stockton Parish Church
Candidate for General Synod House of Clergy
[email protected] | 07968 034074

Nominated by:
The Ven Libby Wilkinson, Archdeacon of Durham
The Revd Paul Neville, Area Dean of Stockton
Five years ago, Durham clergy elected me to General Synod for the
first time. I am asking for your support to serve for another term.
I remain first and foremost a parish priest. I have been at Stockton Parish Church since I was ordained
in 2012 and have been the Vicar since 2016. We serve the 15th most deprived parish in England and
are a wonderfully diverse church family, with more than 20 nationalities represented and people from
very different backgrounds sharing life and faith together.
Before ordination I spent 16 years as a children’s social worker. I am married to Beth, we have three
grown-up children, and I enjoy cooking, playing guitar, woodwork and running four mornings a week
(although ‘enjoy’ may still be overstating my relationship with running!)
I am most at home in an Evangelical Charismatic context, but I genuinely love the breadth of the
Church of England and want churches across our different traditions to be confident in the gospel,
flourishing in their communities and reaching people who do not yet know Jesus.
A General Synod seat is something to use
When you elected me, I did not think my job was simply to attend meetings and cast votes. You can
see some examples of my contributions using the link or QR code over the page.
Over the last five years, I have regularly spoken in debates, asked questions and challenged proposals
and senior leadership. I have particularly pressed issues affecting parish ministry: whether funding
intended for low-income communities actually reaches their parishes, the balance between central
posts and front-line ministry, clergy wellbeing and access to Net Zero funding.
Questions I raised about Net Zero funding for LInC parishes helped bring about changes to the small-
grants scheme, and I have continued pressing for the same principle to apply to larger projects.
I am willing to ask difficult questions of senior leadership when necessary, and to keep asking when an
issue matters.
Serving nationally also helps me serve Durham. I served on the Crown Nominations Commission
which nominated Bishop Rick, and what I learn nationally informs my contribution to Diocesan Synod
and Finance Group, while parish and diocesan realities shape the questions I take to General Synod.
It has genuinely been a privilege to serve: to listen and learn, build friendships across the Church and
contribute to the life and mission of the Church of England nationally.
Keeping the main thing the main thing
Synod necessarily deals with legislation, safeguarding, finance and difficult questions. They matter, but
Jesus calls us to make disciples.

I want the national Church to help local churches fulfil that Great Commission: sharing the good news
of Jesus, growing disciples and serving the communities in which God has placed us.
That is also why clergy wellbeing matters. We cannot keep talking about mission while exhausting the
people called to lead it. Clergy wellbeing must be proactive, asking whether our expectations,
structures and resources enable clergy to flourish, rather than simply offering support once things go
wrong.
Serving in Stockton also means I will continue banging the drum for parishes in low-income
communities. Funding announcements are welcome, but I will keep asking the rather less glamorous
question: Where does the money actually go? Those parishes are too easily overlooked when the
Church allocates its people, money and resources. Our poorest communities should not be asked to
travel the furthest with the least.
There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the Church of England, but I remain profoundly
hopeful about the Church of Jesus Christ. Synod needs seriousness, but it also needs joy and hope,
and a persistent reminder of the mission for which we are there.
Working across deep differences
Living in Love and Faith occupied a great deal of the last Synod and revealed profound differences
within the Church. I served on the Leicester LLF working groups, working closely with people across
the range of views in the Church, building genuine friendships and working hard together to find
ways forward despite holding very different views.
That experience has reinforced my conviction that what unites us in Christ is greater than what divides
us. We can disagree honestly, listen seriously and treat one another with affection and respect without
pretending our differences do not matter. Those differences are important, but they are not the whole
story of our life together or the mission God has given us.
Why I hope you will elect me again
My priorities remain fairly simple:
Keep the Great Commission the main thing.
Support clergy so that they can do the main thing.
Make sure poorer parishes have what they need to do the main thing.
I will continue to contribute actively and work constructively across our differences. It would be a
privilege to serve you and the Church of England in this way for another five years.
If you re-elect me, I will continue to regard myself as a representative of all the clergy of Durham
Diocese, including those who disagree with me. You do not have to share all my
views for me to listen to you, raise issues that matter to you or work alongside
you.
I would be very grateful for your first-preference vote. If another candidate is
your first choice, I hope you would consider giving me a high preference so that I
can continue this work on behalf of Durham clergy.
Mark
See some of my contributions to General Synod: https://bit.ly/4zVIZME or scan the QR code.

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