General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Nick Moir
Incumbent of Fen Ditton, Horningsea & Teversham
Rural Dean of North Cambridge
Chaplain of Westcott House
Assistant Archdeacon

Diocesan & national experience
I have been in the Diocese of Ely since 1994 (when I became chaplain of St John’s College) and
have been an incumbent for 28 years. I have served on the DAC and the Spirituality Advisory
Group; been a Subwarden of Readers and involved in Reader/LLM training for 27 years, have
been a Rural Dean four times, and an Honorary Canon since 2012. I have been a part-time tutor
at Westcott House and am now their part-time chaplain. I am a senior reviewer (for the House
of Bishops) of TEIs (theological colleges & courses) and was elected to the General Synod in
2015 and therefore am standing for a third (and final!) time.
Special interests
Given my cv it is perhaps not surprising that my twin passions in church life are parish ministry
and ministerial formation:
•
Those involved in Save the Parish are perhaps not my natural allies and bedfellows, but I
have some sympathy with the desire to re-assert the centrality of the parish to the
Church of England’s ministry (as well as chaplaincy and other missional settings where
there is a strong pastoral engagement with those outside the bubble of the church). I
value enormously having been formed in a church tradition that has mission and
evangelism at its heart, but I have always ministered in the ‘middle ground’ of the
Church of England that has given me a greater breadth of sympathy, an instinct for
meeting people where they are, and a theology that is pastoral as well as missional. I
love the diversity of the Church of England and for seven years supported (as priest-in-
charge) one of the most anglo-catholic parishes in the diocese (St Clement’s,
Cambridge) as, under God, it rebuilt its vision, transformed its buildings and drew in a
new generation of worshippers.
•
I believe that the future health of our 303 parishes and other mission/ministry contexts
depends on (a) the Holy Spirit and (b) widening the pool of lay and ordained ministers
through imaginative strategies and well-resourced training/formation. Important
decisions will need to be made on the future of ministerial formation in the course of the
next five years – they won’t be easy as we still work out the fallout from the Covid years
and from uncertainties generated by Living in Love & Faith. I have worked with and in all
our Cambridge TEIs and through my work as a lead reviewer have built up a wide
knowledge of the sector. There will need to changes (including, possibly, closures) in
order for the Church to be using its resources carefully and to best effect – but we must
not decimate what is such a rich resource for equipping our future ministers spiritually,
theologically, ‘professionally’ and in Christian community.

Issues & alliances
•
When I joined General Synod eleven years ago I found I didn’t really fit into any of the
party groupings. I am not quite ‘black-shirt’ enough for Catholic groups and I found the
Evangelical Group’s line on sexuality too hostile; the Open Synod group runs great
quizzes but doesn’t do much else. The Evangelical Forum emerged as an alternative
grouping and I have valued their non-judgmental commitment to exploring thorny issues
alongside a commitment to being prayerful, Christ-centred and faithful to the gospel.
•
I have also been involved in the ‘Together’ group - generosity and inclusion are high up
on my list of important words and I am happy to affirm the core statement of Inclusive
Church: ‘We are committed to equality for everyone, at all levels and roles within the
church, regardless of disability, economic power, ethnicity, sex, gender identity, learning
disability, neurodiversity, or sexuality.”
•
I voted against taking note of the 2017 House of Bishops report on sexuality as I thought
its tone was wrong and it lacked generosity. That led to the whole Living in Faith and
Love process and the expressed hope of the archbishops for a ‘radical, new inclusion’.
Five years later it has become clear that while there is a majority in General Synod in
favour of that, there is a significant enough minority against to forestall the most
significant developments. I suspect the rebuilding of trust will be more important in the
next few years rather than what at times has seemed like trench warfare. On the ground
I lead a deanery that includes four ‘Ephesian fund’ churches and a range of other
opinions and have, I think, retained everyone’s trust and respect.
•
National/diocesan funding is likely to be a big issue in the coming years. While Synod
chose not to wreck the funding arrangements put before us for the next three years, we
did signal strongly that a radical rehaul was needed for the following triennium – and
there is a growing momentum for putting front-line parish ministry back as the priority
and ensuring dioceses have the funding to support ministry in areas that will never be
self-sustaining – urban estates, large rural groupings, etc.
•
I confess to voting against the 2030 deadline for the Church of England becoming
carbon neutral – not because I thought it a wrong aim but because I thought it was
unattainable and unrealistic. I suspect I will be proved right in that we will be nowhere
near carbon neutrality by 2030 – but I accept that we have got a lot further along the way
than we would have done had we been less ambitious. So I repent of my vote – even if I
was right! Biodiversity is as important as carbon neutrality and the care and use of
church land has been rightly questioned more than once during my time on Synod. I will
be keeping a close eye on this – and the use of land for affordable housing and in other
ways commended in the Coming Home report.
I was conscious in the last quinquennium that all of us elected were from the southern end of
the diocese and all the clergy were male (again). I have therefore actively encouraged others to
stand this time who might bring a broader representation – but am still hopeful that I may also
be elected and continue to be a clergy representative for this diocese.

Contact details:
Proposed by:
1 Gregory Park South, Cambridge CB5 8JW
Karin Voth Harman
01223 607433
Seconded by:
[email protected]
Andrew Day

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