General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Revd Dr Andrew Atherstone

Assistant Minister, Eynsham and Cassington
Tutorial Fellow, Wycliffe Hall

Background and experience
 I have lived and worked in Oxford Diocese for the last 30 years, and for the last 21 years as
assistant minister (SSM) of Eynsham and Cassington, two villages in West Oxfordshire in the
Woodstock deanery.
 My main employment is training women and men for ordained ministry, and as leaders in theology
and mission, at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, where I teach Christian history and Anglican studies. I am
professor of modern Anglicanism in the university, and biographer of our new archbishop:
Archbishop Sarah Mullally (Hodder & Stoughton, 2026).
 For the wider Church of England, I currently serve on the Faith and Order Commission, and the
Liturgical Commission.
Priorities for the next General Synod
 I am eager that all General Synod decisions be taken with local parishes in mind, especially to
enable us to be more effective in reaching out with the good news of Jesus Christ in our local
communities and in the public square. I am keen to see better resourcing of parishes and less
ecclesiastical red-tape.
 The next Synod will decide the future shape of theological education. I am eager to promote
training which is creative, flexible, theologically rigorous, and of the highest quality in preparing
clergy and laity for a lifetime of ministry.
 The next Synod may also be asked to make significant canonical, liturgical and pastoral decisions
about marriage and sexuality. On these vital questions I want to help us hear one another carefully
and prayerfully, without polarization. Our current Anglican canons and liturgies wisely uphold the
sanctity of Christian marriage as between a man and a woman for life.
 I am keen to promote accessible worship in the Church of England which is open to all, without
hindrances, because the gospel is for all people. I also want to champion changes to the canons to
remove “physical or mental infirmity” as an impediment to ordination.
 We have a great deal to learn in the Church of England from the worldwide Anglican family in all
its remarkable diversity, as I have witnessed first-hand as a member of the Anglican Consultative
Council, most recently at ACC-19 in Belfast, July 2026. I am eager to deepen our Anglican
Communion relationships and currently serve as a consultant to the Inter-Anglican Standing
Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO).
 In all our debates in the Church of England, I want to see an end to harsh language and political
posturing, so that all our conversations are grace-filled and attractive to a watching world.

I would appreciate you giving me an early vote.

With thanks, Andrew Atherstone
Nominators: Revd Dan Heyward and Revd Elizabeth Pitkethly

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