General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Rev Rachel Noël
Vicar, St James Church, Pokesdown

Proposed by The Reverend Canon Professor Liz Stuart
Seconded by The Reverend James Pitkin

Summary
I’ve been part of this Diocese since 1997, as an unpaid youth leader, a PCC
member, and now as a parish priest in Bournemouth. My pre-ordination
working life was spent in organisational change and strategy; more recently
I’ve served on the Diocesan Board of Finance and Bishop’s Council.

Why am I standing for Synod?

Every priest I know is being asked to do more with less. Parish share goes
up, buildings need money we do not have. At the same time, trust in the
national Church has been badly damaged by our failures in safeguarding.
Rebuilding trust is not optional – it is the work.

Our Church’s vision: Jesus-centred; simpler, humbler, bolder; a church of
missionary disciples where mixed ecology is normal, that is younger and
more diverse. I believe that vision is right. I also think we are further from it
than we like to admit, and that saying so plainly is the first useful thing
anyone can do.

Good governance is not an optional extra to our mission. It is how we
actually care for each other – inside the Church and beyond it. Get it wrong
and people get hurt; we know that now, at considerable cost.

The challenges are significant yet we also have the deep hope of abundant
life, the promise of light that Jesus offers.

What would I bring?

I know how the money works. I spent three years on the Diocesan Board of
Finance and Bishop's Council. I have read real diocesan accounts and sat in
the room for hard decisions — and I know how much of a parish priest's
week gets eaten by processes designed by people who never had to run
them.

I know how large organisations change. After an MBA, I worked across
Carnival UK on organisational change and process improvement, and spoke
internationally on it. Structural and cultural change is slow and takes
detailed, long term commitment.

I know how to get something through. I am part of the Church of England's
national Neurodiversity Working Group whose motion was unanimously
endorsed by General Synod in July 2026. Thirty years on PCCs and 15 as a
school governor have taught me that patience and paperwork achieve more
than indignation.

I think differently - and that is useful. I am neurodivergent. It is why I read a
set of papers differently from most people in the room, and why I notice
what is missing from them.

CONTACT
12 Harewood Avenue, Pokesdown,
BH7 6NQ
07432213946
E: [email protected]

I would welcome your
first preference vote
I am pleased to support Rachel and encourage you to vote for her.
Rooted in her love for Jesus and his Gospel, she has the vision of an
artist, the perception of someone with years of experience in
governance, and the pastoral heart of a seasoned parish priest.

Reverend Canon Professor Liz Stuart, Associate Priest, St Matthew’s & St
Paul’s, Winchester. Area Dean, Winchester.
GOVERNANCE EXPERIENCE
• Winchester Diocesan Board of
Finance, Bishop’s Council 2021-
2024
• CofE national Neurodiversity
Working Group — motion
reached General Synod July
2026 - 2023 +
• Member of Winchester
Diocesan Synod 2014 +
• Diocese of Winchester Clergy
Wellbeing review group 2022 +
• 15 years of school governor
experience (ongoing)
• Trustee, Modem — a hub for
leadership, management and
ministry 2015-2024
• Trustee, Sarum College and
STETS; helped take STETS
through merger 2012-2018
• 30 years' experience serving on
PCCs

What can I offer you?
•
A promise to listen to you and to pray with
you, and to pray for the Church.
•
My willingness to challenge and to listen.
•
Insistence that our values are built into our
governance, not bolted on.
•
I am committed to equality for everyone, at
all levels and roles within the church,
regardless of disability, economic power,
ethnicity, sex, gender identity, learning
disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or
sexuality.
•
Enthusiasm for the local church, and for
people to encounter God wherever they are.
•
Commitment to clergy wellbeing, to supporting parish priests and
funding local parish ministry.
•
Safeguarding never treated as box-ticking, but as central to our gospel
witness. I fully support the move to independent safeguarding
structures and mandatory compliance, ensuring that victims and
survivors are heard.

How will I work with you?
•
There are things this Church disagrees about that better process will not
solve. So: I will not coerce anyone's conscience, I will not sideline
people whose convictions differ from mine, and I will say plainly what I
am doing and why.
•
I would rather be trusted by people who disagree with me than
admired by people who already do. If you disagree with me, I will still
listen to you, still pray with you, and still tell you the truth.

Who am I, and what is my background?
I grew up in South London, was deeply involved in the Baptist Church, and
preached my first sermon at seventeen. I am an accidental Anglican: I
turned out to be allergic to the floor polish at my Baptist church, so started
going somewhere new — and fell in love with the Anglican liturgy, its
rootedness across time and place.
I read Maths and Philosophy at Nottingham, married, and settled in North
Baddesley, Romsey Deanery in 1997. I found silent prayer in a Julian prayer
group, take an annual silent retreat at St Beuno's, and am a member of the
Community of Hopeweavers, where silence, prayer and creativity are part
of my rule of life. I trained at STETS and have served parishes in
Christchurch, Lyndhurst and now Bournemouth deaneries.
KEY SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES

•
Neurodivergent
•
Prayerful
•
Enthusiastic
•
Creative
•
Strategic
•
Optimistic
•
Analytical
•
Passionate
INTERESTS

•
Creative pursuits including:
crochet, stitched textiles, fused
glass, origami, drawing &
painting, photography
•
Strategic board games, logic
puzzles, online games
•
Walking by the sea, or from
pubs with friends!
SPEAKING & TEACHING
• BBC Radio and television on
neurodiversity, mental health,
faith and the Church
• Training & theology for
Cuddesdon, Westcott House, and
the national DDO conference
• Disability Conference at St Martin
in the Fields
• Dioceses of Winchester,
Gloucester and St Albans re
neurodiversity & faith
• … and others
At a time when the Church of England is navigating complex national
questions, Rachel offers a refreshing, collaborative, prophetic and
inclusive voice. She will be an exceptional advocate for the clergy.
I strongly encourage you to give your first-preference vote to the Revd
Rachel Noël.

Rev James Pitkin Rural Dean of Romsey, Rector of Thorngate & Blackwater
Benefice, General Synod Member 2015-2026
My painting of the woman at the
well statue at Chester Cathedral

baptist,benefice,clergy wellbeing,deaneries,diocesan board,dioceses,disability,disciples,ecology,equality,finance,gender identity,gospel,inclusive,independent safeguarding,liturgy,mental health,mission,neurodiversity,ordination,parish share,pcc,pccs,prayer,safeguarding,sexuality,survivors,victims,witness,youth