General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Election to the General Synod for Southwark Diocese – September 2026
House of Laity
ADRIAN GREENWOOD, Bermondsey & Rotherhithe Deanery
Nominated by Rosemary Wilson (Tooting) and Penny Lochead (Reigate)

Dear Deanery Synod Member,

Please give me a high preference vote (1st, 2nd or 3rd place):

I am seeking re-election to be one of the team of 7 lay people to
represent the Diocese of Southwark on General Synod for the
following reasons. If re-elected, I would play an active role.

1. General Synod is first and foremost the legislative body for the Church of

England, operating under delegated powers from Parliament. It passes Measures
and Canons and approves Regulations, Rules and other secondary legislation. It
also authorises Liturgies and provides scrutiny for the Archbishops Council and
others of the National Church Institutions (NCIs). As a qualified lawyer and long
serving Synod member, I am very familiar with all these processes and know
what can happen when due process is not followed.

1. The Bishops have articulated an exciting national Vision & Strategy for the

Church (which I support) to be ‘Christ centred and Jesus shaped’. They want the
Church to be a community of ‘missionary disciples’, to be ‘younger and more
diverse’ and to operate on a ‘mixed ecology’ basis, comprising parishes,
chaplaincies, digital and fresh expressions– as we adapt to new ways of being
and doing Church to reach out to our neighbours and communities with the
Good News of the Kingdom at this time of anxiety, confusion and loneliness.

1. Other priorities are to double the number of children and young active disciples

in our churches by 2030; a priority which I’ve been committed to for the whole of
my time in Bermondsey through the work of Salmon Youth Centre.

1. I am also passionate about equipping and enabling lay people to be the Church

and to achieving full mutuality between laity and clergy – the whole church
witnessing to the whole Gospel in the whole of life and in every part of the
Diocese - ‘Setting God’s People Free’. To this end, I help to organise the bi-annual
Woolwich Area Lay Conference and was the Deputy Chair to + Christopher of the
Lay Council in Southwark for its first 6 years.

1. In the past 5 years, Synod has approved the new Clergy Conduct Measure and

the Abuse Redress Measure and authorised new Liturgies for the Creation in
Christ and the 21 Martyrs of Libya. But despite much effort, we failed to
complete the passing of the new Mission & Pastoral Measure and attempts to
establish new central governance structures were not supported by the
Legislative Committee of Parliament at the final stage.

1. Looking ahead to the next 5 years, the aim is to complete the Mission & Pastoral

Measure in 2027, to establish new Structures for Safeguarding with a new
independent Safeguarding Authority and Complaints System and to continue

with work on Net Zero Carbon, Racial Justice, Estates Ministry and Diocesan
Finances – all of which I will support, along with submitting Questions and
participating in debates.

1. On sexuality and marriage, the issues are intensely sensitive and personal. My

approach is to welcome and encourage all who seek to follow Christ and, in
terms of formal liturgies etc. it is vital that the Bishops and Synod follow the
correct processes and operate within our theological and legal framework. I will
continue to support the doctrine of marriage as set out in Canon B30 and the
Book of Common Prayer, which is the teaching of the Church over centuries,
derived from Matthew ch. 19 (indeed the whole of Scripture) and repeated in
numerous recent reports from the Bishops. The two new Working Groups set up
by the Bishops have committed to report by July 2028

A bit about me: I am married to Marian and we have 3 children and 6 grandchildren,
who all live nearby – 4 of the grand-children attend church in the Diocese with their
parents. I attend St James Church Bermondsey, where I am Chair of the PCC Buildings
Committee and a former Churchwarden and Lay Chair of the PCC. I am Secretary to
the Bermondsey & Rotherhithe Deanery Synod and joint Deanery Lay Vocations
Champion, Lay Chaplain to Southwark Diocesan Synod and a member of the
Diocesan Council of Trustees. I serve on the Legislative Reform Committee of the
Archbishops Council. I am a member of the Evangelical Group on General Synod. I
have the time, energy, commitment, experience and expertise to serve in this
important role.

I spent the whole of my working life with a housing association in Tower Hamlets.
So, I am steeped in the issues of the inner city and the Kingdom values of social,
environmental & racial justice and the common good. My other roles include serving
as Company Secretary to the Salmon Youth Centre, chairing a small charity involved
with housing key Christian workers, deputy Chair of another Southwark charity which
matches volunteers to befriend isolated older people in the community and a co-
opted Trustee of a large Community Foundation in east London.

Penny Lochead writes – I value Adrian’s long and wide track record of serving the
Diocese and his commitment to enabling lay disciples to flourish.
Rosemary Wilson writes – Adrian is very knowledgeable of and respected on
General Synod; he was a great help to me when I started in 2021 and many others
and continues to make a great contribution to much of Synod’s work.

Thank you for reading this. I promise to be a faithful representative on Synod,
listening to your views, speaking on your behalf and reporting back regularly.
PLEASE GIVE YOUR 1st, 2nd or 3rd PREFERENCE VOTE TO ADRIAN GREENWOOD – so
that I may continue to use my experience as part of the Southwark team on General
Synod.

If you wish, please contact me at 15 Aspinden Road LONDON SE16 2DR or 020-
7237-6920 or [email protected]

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