General Synod Election Candidates 2026

I am standing for election to General Synod because I believe passionately that the Church of England has a future,
and that we should approach that future with confidence, imagination and hope.
My name is Matt Austen, and I currently serve as Chaplain to Haileybury College in Hertford - A boarding school of
almost one thousand pupils from all over the world. Prior to this I was Chaplain of Christ’s Hospital School in
Horsham, and served my curacy in the Diocese of Chelmsford. Prior to ordination, I served for twelve years in the
ranks of The British Army, which included service in Afghanistan, and around the globe. I am 41 and married to
Rachael, a music teacher. I have three Children, aged 12, 8 and 2.
We are living through a period of profound change, both within the Church and in the society we are called to serve.
It is easy for our conversations to become dominated by decline; declining attendance, declining resources,
declining numbers of clergy and the increasing pressures upon parishes. Those challenges are real, and Synod
must take them seriously. But decline must not become the story we tell about ourselves. The Christian Gospel
remains as compelling, transformative and necessary as it has ever been and the primary mission of the Church is
to find the courage, energy and imagination to proclaim it afresh.
A Church that grows younger
Much of my ministry has been spent working with children and young people, and this has profoundly shaped my
understanding of the Church's mission.
In my present ministry as a school chaplain, I have the extraordinary privilege of ministering within a large and
complex educational community. Day by day, I encounter young people with vastly different experiences of faith.
Some arrive with a strong Christian background; many have little or no connection with organised religion at all.
Yet I have repeatedly discovered that young people are far more open to questions of faith, meaning, belonging,
prayer and spirituality than we sometimes assume.
The question that we are faced with in our generation is not simply, "How do we persuade young people to come to
church?" It is also, "How do we become a Church in which young people can genuinely encounter Christ, belong,
participate and eventually lead?"
My experience has convinced me that growing the Church younger requires more than programmes or initiatives. It
requires relationships. It requires excellent worship. It requires authenticity. It requires us to take young people's
questions seriously rather than simply giving them the answers we think they ought to want.
Schools represent one of the greatest missionary opportunities available to the Church of England. Across the
country, clergy, chaplains, teachers, church schools and parishes encounter millions of children, young people and
families. We need to be far more ambitious about what those relationships might mean for the future of the Church.
I would bring to Synod the experience of someone actively engaged in that work and an unwavering conviction that
children and young people must not be treated as an optional extra in the Church's mission. Growing younger
must be at the heart of our vision for growth.
The parish at the heart of the Church
Alongside that commitment, I am a passionate believer in the parish system.
For centuries, one of the great gifts of the Church of England has been the simple but radical proposition that we are
there for everyone.
The parish church is not a club for its members. It is the Church's presence within a community: baptising, marrying,
burying, celebrating, mourning, feeding, visiting, praying and simply being.

At its best, the parish system embodies something deeply important about our theology. Ministry is not provided only
where it is profitable, fashionable or easy. The Church accepts responsibility for the cure of souls in every community
across the land.
Of course, our structures must evolve. New worshipping communities, chaplaincies, church plants and fresh
expressions all have an important part to play in our common life. I have no interest in setting innovation against
tradition, but innovation must strengthen rather than inadvertently dismantle the extraordinary inheritance we already
possess. That means properly supporting parish clergy and lay leaders, taking seriously the pressures under which
they serve, and ensuring that decisions about finance, deployment and strategy recognise that local ministry is not
merely one programme amongst many. It is fundamental to who we are.
Experience beyond the Church
I would also bring to Synod a breadth of experience formed beyond purely ecclesiastical life.
My experience in the Army taught me a great deal about leadership, service, responsibility, teamwork and the
importance of belonging to something larger than oneself. It also brought me alongside people from backgrounds
and experiences very different from my own. That experience continues to shape my ministry.
So too does working within education and within a substantial and complex organisation. Ministry in that
environment involves pastoral care and worship, but it also requires leadership, the very best safeguarding
practices, strategy, communication and the ability to work constructively with people who hold very different views.
I believe Synod benefits when its members bring experience of the wider world into its deliberation; The Church
must speak to the nation as it actually is, not simply to the Church as we sometimes imagine it to be.
Looking positively to the future
I would come to General Synod with passion, dynamism and energy.
I will not agree with everybody, and I do not expect everybody always to agree with me. But I believe deeply in
generous debate, careful listening and the possibility of disagreeing well. Having friends from across the different
traditions of the Church of England, I know too well of both the importance of following one's conscience, and of the
huge importance of the respect that all parts of the diverse Church of England deserve. I am affirming of same sex
relationships, and fully supportive of all in ministry. The Church must always be the benchmark for loving
service, most especially when we disagree.
Above all, I want us to recover confidence.
We need to ask difficult questions about structures, finance, vocations, ministry and mission. We must be prepared
to change where change is necessary. But those conversations should be driven by our belief in what the Church
can become, rather than simply by anxiety about what it might lose.
I want a Church which is younger and more confident in sharing the Gospel. A Church which invests in its parishes
and clergy. A Church which values its inheritance without being imprisoned by it.
A Church which is imaginative enough to try new things and humble enough to learn when they do not work. A
Church which takes children and young people seriously. And a Church which continues to be present in
communities throughout this country, serving people whether or not they ever appear on an electoral roll. I am
standing for General Synod because I want to play my part in building that Church.
There are significant challenges ahead, but I believe there is also enormous opportunity. I would bring my
experience of ministry, education, the Army and institutional leadership to Synod. Above all, however, I would bring
energy, optimism and a deep confidence in the future of the Church of England and in the Gospel we are
called to proclaim. Please do not hesitate to get in touch directly if you have any questions.
01992 706314 [email protected]

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