General Synod Election Candidates 2026

GENERAL SYNOD ELECTION 2026

ELECTION ADDRESS BY ROBERT PERRY

Have your say at the online hustings: Wednesday 16 September 2026 6.30pm on Zoom
https://usO2web.zoom.us/meetin g/register/kzT2XXYrT6GInGdmhO_BkA)

Dear Elector

| write to ask for your support in the forthcoming election of members of the House of Laity of the
General Synod. | was privileged to represent the Diocese from 2021 and now seek re-election.

My Background

Although | was born in Hampshire in 1954 | have lived in Cornwall since 1963, university and my first
job excepted. | began attending church in 1965 at Carbis Bay, where amongst other areas of church
life | learned to ring bells — this is still a great interest of mine. Upon my return to Cornwall in 1982 to
take up a post with the County Councill moved to Truro, andsince then have worshipped at both Truro
Cathedral and Kenwyn. | am currently secretary of St Mary’s (Truro) PCC. I hold various roles in the
Cathedral, and am also a member of Kenwyn with St Allen PCC andits Assistant Treasurer. These
roles give me a good understanding of both cathedral and parochial life.

More widely, | was Lay Chair of the Diocesan Synod for three years, and remain a member of it. |am
also a member of Powder Deanery Synod. At diocesan level | serve on various committees.

| hope that this outline shows that | have a broad experience of parish, cathedral and diocesan
life. I feel that | am well placed to use that experience as a representative of the Diocese on the
Church’s national body.

During the last five years | have been lobbied by various people ahead of particularly contentious or
divisive votes in the General Synod. | have replied to every approach which | received, and have
reported back after the vote, indicating whataction | had taken. It is essential that your representatives
tell you how they voted, and if | am re-elected | should aim to continue with this policy over the life of
the new Synod.

My Beliefs

| happily accept all aspects of Christian doctrine as the Church of England has received them. In
terms of churchmanship, | tend rather more to a moderately catholic viewpoint than to an evangelical
one, butl can happily worshipin churches of eitherconviction. | am asupporter of the Inclusive Church
movement, and strive for the creation of a church which welcomes all people, regardless of their
disability, gender. race and sexuality.

The new Synod
Five years ago, when | was first elected as a member of the General Synod | knew little about how it
functioned. | now have a much better idea of the way in which itworks. After the 2021 election there
was an exceptionally large number of new members, and whatever the outcome of these current
elections the issues which the incoming Synod will face will to some extent be those with which it has
grappled with over the last five years. These will include:
e Human sexuality, and how the church will, as | hope it will, become fully inclusive of all who
seek to follow Christ
e Safeguarding — how best to create and sustain an effective professional safeguarding service
which is locally based while demonstrably independent of the Church
e Recognition of our responsibilities as temporary custodians of our God-given natural
environment, and encouraging society at large to face up to the challenges of climate change

But there are also other challenges:

e the place and role of religion in a society which threatens to become ever more secular

e the future of the parochial structure within a church which struggles in the face of seemingly
continual financial problems to maintain it as we have become accustomed to it

e the weak financial position of so many of our parishes, the difficulty of finding people willing
to serve as churchwardens, PCC officers and members, and the need to sustain all our
worshipping communities, both in our towns and, particularly in Cornwall, in our many villages
and rural areas

e acontinuing fall in the number of clergy

We mustalso rejoice in the recent increase over the past five years of the number of people attending
Church of England services. Of course, this is not the experience of every church and congregation,
but there are signs of growth, and the new Synod must be active in encouraging and sustaining this.

Onward and outward

We have to meet potential new worshippers on their ground rather than on ours. The traditional
“Sunday morning at11.00” approach may have worked seventy years ago when Iwas born butit plainly
doesn’t now for all for whom Sunday is now primarily a leisure — or shopping— day. So we mustbe
open to new patterns of worship and new ways in which people can encounter the wonder and the
majesty of God. We must also be ready to accept that not all of these will necessarily work, and so
know when to discard them while all the time maintaining the courage of our Christian convictions.

If you trust me with your vote — and ideally your first preference vote — | should try to ensure thatall
my voting decisions, and all other points at which | can exercise any influence, would be governed by
a desire to be as openly supportive of these core principles as possible.

If you have any questions for me please do get in touch. Whether you support me or not, please do
exercise your vote, and keep all the candidates in your prayers. Whatever differences there may be
between us on the key issues which currently face our church they are so much less than our essential
unity in Christ.

Thank you for reading this address.

= Robert Perry [email protected]
( ~~ 3 The Hideaway, Tremorvah Barton , Truro TR1 1NR

07966 844250 / 01872 277117

Truro Cathedral from
Kenwyn Church Tower

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