General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Alexander Berry
Exning Vicarage, 1 New River Green, Exning, Newmarket CB8 7HS | [email protected]
ALEXANDER
BERRY
for General
Synod

Nominators: Simon Gash Chair, House of Laity, Diocesan Synod and
Mildenhall Deanery Synod; Elizabeth Bailey, St Agnes’ Exning

ABOUT ME
• I came to the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in 2023 after nearly seven
years as Director of Music at Bradford Cathedral. I am now Director of Music at
Great St Mary’s, Cambridge, where I run a large music programme which
includes over eighty children.
• I served as a member of the General Synod’s House of Laity from 2021-2023,
and stood down when I moved to Suffolk.
• I came to a living faith in Jesus Christ as a child, and am now a Christian in the
central tradition of the Church of England, committed to creedal, biblical
Christianity. Worship is a chief calling of the Church, and I would be keen to
work with the Liturgical Commission. I would support legislation to build an
inclusive, missional and generously orthodox Church of England.
• I grew up in rural Oxfordshire and now live the parish of Exning with Landwade,
Newmarket, where my partner is the Vicar. I understand how essential the
parish church is to life in our village, and my time in Bradford has shaped an
understanding of how to minister in a diverse city with significant deprivation.
I support Save the Parish and believe the parish is often the best place for
evangelism.
• I long for an inclusive Church that celebrates diversity. I am in a permanent,
faithful, stable, same-sex relationship, and will advocate for a Church that truly
celebrates the gifts brought by each individual.
• I see music as integral to mission and evangelism. This year I organised the
inaugural Major Churches’ Music Conference; I am a member of the Cambridge
and Ely Church Music Group; and I was until 2023 the Area Team Leader for
the RSCM in the Diocese of Leeds.
• I am thirty-six years old: despite my greying temples, I would still be one of the
youngest members of Synod if elected. The absence of younger people in our
churches remains a key challenge in this quinquennium.

Alexander Berry
Exning Vicarage, 1 New River Green, Exning, Newmarket CB8 7HS | [email protected]

WHERE DO I STAND ON KEY ISSUES?
Safeguarding
Survivors of abuse are still let down by the Church’s bureaucracy and have not received the
generous pastoral care or compensation they deserve. Having decided that safeguarding must be
governed independently of the Church, the key question during the next quinquennium is how
independent safeguarding should be. A delicate balance must be achieved: increased independence
means it is harder for the Church to prioritise safeguarding its reputation over the wellbeing of and
justice for survivors, but there is also a danger that the Church will relinquish its accountability
and safeguarding will become more disconnected from the reality of parish life. If the Church of
England is not safe for the vulnerable, it cannot rightly be called the Church.
Sex and Sexuality (Living in Love and Faith)
I voted in favour of the February 2023 motion to develop the Prayers of Love and Faith, which we
were delighted to use at an evensong at St Edmundsbury Cathedral to celebrate our Civil
Partnership in October 2023. I am deeply saddened that there remains such division in Synod over
the gift of LGBTQIA+ people. It is clear that LLF has failed fully to include people like me in the
Church. The current situation remains unsustainable, damages the Church’s mission, and makes
the Church look increasingly like a place of injustice.
Governance Reform and rebuilding trust in Church leadership
In the last quinquennium, Synod embarked on a large programme to simplify and make
accountable the Church’s governance structures, giving Synod clearer constitutional oversight and
bringing together national administration. Alongside this, a separate conversation is taking place
about the governance and accountability of bishops. Key to both campaigns is the need for the
Church to rebuild trust in its leadership. For this to be effective, it cannot solely be an exercise in
re-arranging the furniture: this is about shifting power within the Church’s structures to ensure
that when something goes wrong, the right people are held to account. I would like stop asking
‘How do we protect the institution?’ and start asking ‘How do we tell the truth about what
happened and put it right?’.
Financial sustainability of parish ministry
Eds and Ips flourishes because, unlike other rural dioceses, it has maintained a commitment to
preserving parish ministry by supporting a regular pattern of worship in almost every church. All
this happens alongside the dynamism of centrally funded programmes such as the Lightwave
Community. At the end of 2025, the Church Commissioners’ endowment was worth £11.6bn, and
produced an 8% investment return. Only one fifth of this investment return went to parish
ministry, yet parishes struggle to pay their parish share and bills. The parish is key to successful
mission in local communities, and if elected to Synod I would advocate for increased funding for
the parish and rural ministry.
Clergy wellbeing
Incumbents are being asked to do more with less. Benefices are becoming bigger, the
administrative burden is increasing, and society is becoming more secular. Being a priest and
running a small business require different skills but are woven into the same rôle, often held by
someone paid a half-stipend or less. We need a serious conversation about what constitutes a
sustainable clergy workload, what kind of support package is appropriate, how to deploy and
retain clergy, and how to ensure that ministerial priesthood – however sacrificial – is possible for
those discerning that vocation.
Climate and creation care
The desire to reach carbon Net Zero by 2030 was laudable but unachievable, and has been
particularly problematic for rural churches. The climate is changing quickly, and it is important to
make long-term plans to adapt buildings to cope with hotter, drier summers and wetter winters.
Plans must be adaptable to local contexts to be effective.

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