General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Revd Craig Taylor
Candidate, House of Clergy, General Synod 2026
Acting Chaplain (Curate), to become Full-Time Assistant Chaplain, ​
Trinity Church Lyon (TCL) Diocese in Europe
Contact: [email protected] | +33 7 68 76 78 75​
Proposed by: Rev. Massimo Radice (Curate, Barcelona)​
Seconded by: Rev. Ben Harding (Acting Archdeacon of France)

Who am I?
Now
I'm 40, married to Becky, with two children, Elliot
(8) and Isaac (6), and I'm beginning my ninth year
in ministry: five as Associate Minister in a church
revitalisation in Doncaster, which turned from an
ageing, shrinking congregation into a younger,
growing one, moving from paying a quarter of its
parish share to nearly the full amount.

I'm now in my fourth year as Curate at Trinity
Church Lyon, where the congregation has recently
voted for me to become full-time Assistant
Chaplain as my incumbent moves to two days a
week.

The way here
It all began at 12, when a science class started me
questioning. I wasn't willing to believe that my love
of music, of questions, and of the people around
me was all just an illusion. It took until I was 17 or
18, in a church home group, before that became a
living faith. It turns out I quickly put God in a box,
and as He broke out of it, that became a call to
ministry.

I journeyed through the URC and several free
churches, and then into the Church of England,
drawn by its connectivity: the ability to hold real
theological differences while staying bound to
brothers and sisters who call Jesus Lord. When
curacies opened up for me in the Diocese in
Europe, it brought me back to a continent I already
knew. Before training, I'd spent three years serving
Christian students in the Czech Republic.

Why am I standing?
Scripture's vision of the church is that of a
connected church; believers bound together,
accountable to one another, correcting and
being corrected. That's a large part of what
drew me to Anglicanism in the first place, and
Synod is where a large part of that connectivity
gets worked out. Real decisions, made together,
hoping Jesus will use it to build his church.

Trinity Church Lyon
TCL is genuinely varied: professionals, students,
graduates, refugees, single parents. Members
from most continents, a church where native
English speakers only make up 50% of our
congregation.

We're stretched by real questions: finding bilingual
Sunday school teachers, and serving members
whose stronger language is French or Farsi, not
English. And we've built close ecumenical
relationships across Lyon, with both the Catholic
Church and the evangelical movements here.

What I'd Bring
Depth Over Dilution My own formation crossed
traditions: a liturgy-valuing Presbyterian
background, then a low-church Anglican parish,
then placements in Anglo-Catholic parishes and
Holy Week at Durham Cathedral. I found I need
both: high-church practice pulls me to God's
transcendence, low-church practice holds onto his
accessibility. Since then I've kept asking what we
evangelicals have thrown out simply because of
who else does it.

At TCL that's meant building a liturgical quiet
evening service into an otherwise low-church
rhythm, and re-thinking the elements of our
Sunday service. Having come through curacy
training recently, I want to see it invest more in
equipping people distinctly within their own
tradition, rather than defaulting to a diluted middle
that belongs fully to no one. A session
unapologetically rooted in a tradition teaches me
more about our differences than one diluted to
offend no one.

Turning Decisions into Practice I rebuilt our TCL
website, lyonchurch.org, to give visitors a clear
way into church life. Last year I wrote a
Bible-reading toolkit for our 20s and 30s working
through Mark, equipping them to read a passage
in the shoes of the first readers and giving them
space to wrestle with what it means today, built to
help a scattered community without enough
leaders keep walking in God's word together. I
want Synod's decisions to land the same way: not
just passed, but built into something a stretched
chaplaincy can actually use.

A Missional Mindset Three years serving
Christian students in the Czech Republic taught
me to ask how the gospel takes root in a culture
not my own. I've kept asking that question since.
Whether that is how the gospel reaches my
working class family or what it means to be
intercultural in a diverse congregation not just
preserving our individual cultures but influencing
each other so we are more than the sum of our
parts. I want the gospel and church to take shape
fittingly within a culture, not imported into it, so it
can reach people who'd never expect Jesus to be
for them, and recognise he is good news.

My Commitments
Rooted, Not Diluted: I will champion resourcing and formation that equips each tradition to go deeper into
what it actually is, trusting depth over compromise.

Sent, Not Settled: I will call for a Synod with a missional instinct, one that takes seriously how the gospel
reaches across culture and class to people who wouldn't otherwise expect it to be for them.

Built, Not Just Discussed: I will push for Synod's decisions to be followed through into something local,
often stretched-thin, churches can actually use, not left as good intentions on paper.

If elected
I would seek to represent all the clergy of the Diocese in Europe as faithfully as I can. I would welcome
hearing from you, whatever your tradition, before or after you cast your vote. As you prayerfully consider
your vote, I'd be grateful for your first, or high-preference, vote.

Craig, Lyon, September 2026

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