General Synod Election Candidates 2026

I would be honoured to be trusted with your first-preference vote, and please
feel free to contact me now or, if I am elected, with any questions: [email protected]
Professor
Helen King

Nominated by
Vaughn Lawfull, Lay Chair,
Wallingford Deanery Synod

Seconded by
Sue Scott, Lay Chair, Abingdon Deanery Synod,
and Deputy Chair of the House of Laity, Diocesan Synod

Thank you to those of you who voted me onto General
Synod in 2021; it has been a busy 5 years. I take your
support very seriously, so I have been at every day of
Synod, in person, apart from this year when I had to
attend the York Synod online.

After 7 years in my late twenties as one of the youngest
members, I knew what I was getting into. But as a mostly
retired person in my late 60s (probably the typical
Church of England person in the pew), I have been able
to be far more involved than I could then. My last two
posts gave me a sense of our huge diocese, with 15
years at the University of Reading and 6 years in Milton
Keynes at The Open University.

Who am I?
A child of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, baptised
as a baby, and later confirmed in the Church of England.
Like many of us, I went through a time of wondering
about my vocation and was led to see that, for me, the
core theme is communication; so, I’m an authorised lay
preacher at my parish church in the market town of
Wallingford, where I’ve lived for over 20 years. Our
benefice comprises the town and two villages, and we
are a silver Eco Church.

Before that, my work in higher education took me around
the UK and beyond. I have worshipped at a gathered
evangelical church in Surrey, Anglo-Catholic churches in
London and Liverpool, college chaplaincies, and Anglican
churches in Paris and Vienna, so I know the breadth of
our Church pretty well. Church crawling, one of my
hobbies, has given me a sense not only of the challenges
facing small rural churches but also of the imaginative
ways they serve their people. I feel most at home in a
parish, with its roots in the community and its fuzzy
edges.

I also went through some years of not attending church
at all, coming back after an experience of God’s
presence as I walked down a city road one dark night.

Getting involved
I’m someone who wants to get involved if something
needs doing; that’s how I ended up in my church as an
intercessor, reader, and server, with stints on the coffee
rota and, in my previous church, cleaning the brasses. It
is also how I came to serve as a Street Pastor for over
ten years. Being with people means conversations
happen as they open up about their deepest feelings,
fears, and needs, and that for me is where mission
happens.

Serving my community includes volunteering outside the
‘church bubble’. As the main carer for my mother in her
final years, I felt very isolated. So, I regularly take
communion into a local care home, and I volunteer with
the Home Library Service and the Talking Newspaper:
first as a reader, then, when their needs changed, as a
copier.

Education: my career and my passion
Education was not just my career but also underpins
my faith. I have led many nurture courses in the parish
and been a Chapel Homilist at an Oxford college. While
on Synod, I have used my experience in higher education,
as a professor and as a quality assurance consultant, in
the service of our Church:

• I successfully stood for election as the Synod lay
representative on the national Ministry
Development Board, which covers increasing
vocations, funding theological education, and the
practicalities, from approving courses to
standardising maternity policies.
• Within our diocese, I have been invited to draw on
my experience in online education to help with the
Learning Hub, as well as being a member of the
Formation for Ministry Oversight Board.
• When Synod members were asked if we would
serve as trustees at theological colleges and
courses, I said an enthusiastic ‘yes!’ and was
appointed to Westcott House. A review of the
future of theological training is underway.

Image credits: Helen King (© BBC/Yourkevitch)

Education is behind all my speaking and writing
activities, including media work; I have spoken on In Our
Time, Woman’s Hour, Start the Week, and many
podcasts, including The Godcast. I was recently
appointed President of Modern Church, where I have
written for their journal.

I have my own blog on church issues, and I edit the Via
Media News blog.

Safeguarding
At my first Synod meeting in 2021, I put in a formal
Question about safeguarding, so I quickly linked up with
others concerned about our poor treatment of survivors,
as well as with some survivors themselves and our
diocesan safeguarding staff. I have spoken in debates,
urging fuller independence.

I know that some in our parishes think the training they
undergo is too much, but I disagree. As well as listening
to those who have been abused, we need to have our
eyes opened to what still happens, including spiritual
abuse, domestic abuse, and abuse of power.

Full equality in ministry
Ever since I was on Synod for my first stint, back when
women deacons and priests were being discussed, I
have been passionate about equality in ministry and
about gender justice.

My stepdaughter is a priest in secular employment.
During the last five years, I also served as a trustee for
Women and the Church (WATCH).

On the Oxford Vacancy in See Committee, I was amazed
that we still had to vote on whether to accept a bishop
who does not ordain women. In our diocese, just under
40% of our priests are women, and not recognising the
validity of nearly half of our clergy risks undermining
their wellbeing and morale.

The Committee elected me to represent the diocese on
the Crown Nominations Commission, which will find our
next bishop.

Full inclusion
I am committed to full inclusion, as modelled by our
God who lived among us in Jesus, an inclusion
covering age, disability, race, class, gender, and
sexuality. I participated in the Oxford Diocese Regional
Shared Conversations. Then I was asked to join the
national team preparing Living in Love and Faith,
working with the History sub-group. I am currently vice-
chair of Together for the Church of England, and I have
been convening the Together group at General Synod.

I voted for the Prayers of Love and Faith to welcome
same-sex couples in our churches, and I support
equal marriage, with no expectation that all churches
would offer this; as with marrying divorced people, it
would be up to the incumbent’s conscience. In my late
40s, I met my husband online through Christian
Connection. He had been widowed, remarried, and then
divorced before we met, and we made our vows in our
church; not all incumbents would take such a service,
even now. I am so glad ours did!

Listening and learning
Synod is about voting, but also about listening and
learning. I have been called to speak about subjects
which go far beyond my core interests of education,
safeguarding, and inclusion, including in debates on
sports ministry and on trust. I’ve learned how everything
connects: an unexpected synodical highlight in the last 5
years was the excellent debate on sustainable flowers in
church, linking the important international, national,
and local dimensions of being an Anglican, allowing us
to understand how local decisions interact with
environmental concerns, and affirming the value of the
voluntary service from all the lay people on whom our
churches rely.

I would be honoured to earn your first-preference vote.
Please feel free to contact me now or, if I am elected, with any questions.
P R O F H E L E N K I N G @ G M A I L . C O M

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