General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Revd Robb Sutherland
Vicar of Mixenden and Illingworth.
Area Dean of Halifax and Calder Valley.

Proposer: Venerable Bill Braviner, Archdeacon of Halifax
Seconder: Fr Gary Waddington, Rector St Wilfred’s Harrogate
Colleagues,

I seek your support for re-election to General Synod to continue to
challenge the Church to invest in the poorest and most marginalised parts of
our country that is more representative of our wider membership. I long for a church that uses its
investments to ensure that our parishes, churches and chaplaincies continue to be at the heart of the
mission and ministry of the Church of England. I hope that you share this vision and will give me your first-
choice vote for the next five years of General Synod.
The big question: Why should you vote for me?
My commitment to the future of our church is to work to shape our common life in a way that reflects the
priorities that I see in Jesus; the poor and the marginalised, and the desire to see lives and communities
transformed through the hard work to which the local church is called.
My background and previous
experience as a General Synod
member.
As a previously elected representative
from the Diocese, I hope to build upon
my experience as your representative to
the national church. I have deep roots
here in the diocese, having been
baptised in St Mary’s South Elmsall,
married in St Phillip's Osmondthorpe,
and ordained in Wakefield Cathedral.
My passion is to see low income, low
wealth communities like those that
have formed me and those in which I
have ministered grow in mission and
service.
Parish Finance: A key challenge
to our daily ministry.
One of the biggest challenges facing the Church of England in the North is how we finance parish ministry. In
synod’s last quinquennium, the redistribution or redirecting of key assets and Church Commissioners’
finances was raised on numerous occasions. It affects all forms of ministry across our Diocese whether
rural, urban, estate or chaplaincy. When I was at Lambeth, parish finances were raised as a primary concern
and a fruitful discussion was had with ++Sarah about reviewing how the Church of England is financed
nationally. The parish is the fundamental missional unit of our Church and must be staffed and financed in a
way that is sustainable across newer dioceses who do not have historic assets, particularly across the North
of England. There is a direct correlation between staffing levels and your wellbeing as clergy. Finance is one
of my main priorities as a candidate and must be addressed in the next five years of Synod so that good,
missional, grass roots ministry can be found across the whole of the Diocese and beyond.

As your representative, I will continue to work for a church that:
• Funds and adequately staffs the ministry to which you have
dedicated yourself to.
• Takes your wellbeing seriously so that you are able to live life
in all its fullness.
• Seeks to grow the Kingdom of God across the whole nation,
especially in places and communities that struggle to
participate fully in the Church of England.
• Is inclusive at all levels of leadership for people from all
backgrounds regardless of race, disability, age, gender,
sexual orientation or socioeconomic background.
• Holds differences of theological conviction with openness
and generosity with those whom we disagree.

              www.robbsutherland.com

Experience of national church governance.
Since 2016 I have served on the Archbishops'
Council's 'Estates Evangelism Task Group' (EETG). In
2019, we brought the General Synod motion “to
have a loving, worshipping, serving Christian
community on every significant social housing
estate in England” which was unanimously
supported. Having served on General Synod, I
understand how important it is for working groups to
be directly linked into our overarching legislative
body. Fr Alex Frost brought the private members’
motion to champion working class vocations and he
was able to accelerate EETG’s agenda into the
legislative agenda of the Church. The speech I
made to General Synod in support of the motion
wove both personal experience and that of my
parishioners into the national conversation. More
importantly, I was able to raise the sights of Synod
and ++Sarah to see that inclusion must have
aspiration to all offices, both lay and ordained.
Whether First Estates Commissioner or Archbishop,
we must have vision for a church that recognises the
call in all of God’s people.
Through this active engagement at General Synod, I
was invited to Lambeth Palace to have further
discussion about the barriers that affect the full
participation of working-class people in the Church
of England. I took this opportunity to raise issues
around ordinand finance and ensuring that
candidates from social housing, both young and old
are afforded the same opportunities as those who
have finance from previous careers or inherited
wealth.
I would like to serve as your representative on
General Synod to ensure that we produce good
legislation that reflects the beliefs and values that
we hold as a church.

Liturgical Commission
Our worship is governed by General Synod and I
have served as a member of the Liturgical
Commission for the last five years. I bring a wide
experience of the different traditions of the Church
of England and beyond to the role as well as my
academic background. I came to faith in a
charismatic Baptist church and trained at both
Cranmer Hall and the College of the Resurrection.
With a broad spirituality of my own, I seek a
generous church that holds together our different
forms of worship as we engage together in mission.
You can see this through the Rock Mass
congregation planted at Holy Nativity in 2012.

Seeking Unity and the Common Good
Whilst I have much experience of leadership in the
church, I am also the independent chair of Pride in
Place for Mixenden and Illingworth. As a key partner
in the community, I was selected to form a
neighbourhood board to develop a £20 million
community investment programme over ten years
for our area. This comes with many joys and
challenges as we hold together the tensions of
chairing a board of different political persuasions
including my councillors and MP.

An Inclusive Church
As vicar of Holy Nativity Church, I have been proud to lead the journey that our community has been on to
become an Inclusive Church. Our worshipping community lives together with neurodiversity, disability, special
educational needs, differences of sexuality and gender. Over many years we have grown together through
prayer, theological study of the scriptures and our shared discipleship to actively commit to equality for
everyone.
Thank you for your time
I hope that I have conveyed my strong convictions about building a Church of England that reflects the glory of
the Kingdom of God. I strive to hold my positions generously and seek to serve all clergy of our diocese.
A Generous Church Fully Engaging
All God’s People in Mission.
I am pleased to nominate Robb for re-election to General Synod. He comes with experience as vicar of a large
housing estate, and with a deep commitment to our vocation to be a church that serves every community, which
he shows through his support for the rural, suburban, urban and town centre civic churches across his deanery. As
area dean Robb works collaboratively with clergy colleagues across the deanery and cares for their
wellbeing. He is creative and concerned for the present and future life of the church.
Archdeacon Bill Braviner, proposer.

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