catholic,orthodox,pcc | GS 2026 Candidates

BUILD THE FUTURE
When we arrived, the Rectory was uninhabitable
for four months because of airborne asbestos. It
was nearly two years before the builders finally
left, having had to repair or replace almost
everything from the windows, to the water
system, to the roof.
A CASE STUDY
PUT DECISIONS WHERE THE
CONSEQUENCES ARE FELT
As a member of the PCC, on the village Parish Council, and as a clergy spouse, I see what
happens when the policies and systems of the wider Church meet the messy reality of
parish life.
I have also spent much of my working life trying to make things work — in business,
public service, the Honourable Artillery Company, the Police and the world of comedy.
I learned that when good people repeatedly produce poor results, the first question
should not be what is wrong with the people? It should be what is wrong with the system?
People respond to the incentives and pressures around them. Good intentions do not
make us stop being human. A badly designed system can produce bad outcomes without
anybody intending them.
We should therefore stop asking only whether an idea sounds good. We must also ask
what happens when real human beings actually live inside it.
HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE SYSTEM?
I believe passionately that the Church’s future
does not have to be a smaller: fewer people,
fewer buildings, and a community increasingly
separate from the rest of the country.
I believe something much more ambitious is
possible:
A confident, outward-looking Church for the
whole nation, deeply rooted in Christianity and
open to everyone - including the many people
who live by Christian values but who are not
yet regular church goers .
BEAULIEU RECTORY
Looking after clergy is not simply an act of kindness. It is good church management.
ALEXANDER COWIE / GENERAL SYNOD DON’T MANAGE THE DECLINE :
The Parish was horrified.
Had the Parish been allowed to, there is little
doubt the problems would have been sorted
locally, for less cost, and faster. Instead, decisions
had to be made through the diocese, turning
obvious problems into questions of policy,
entitlement and cost, followed by exhausting
delay.
“ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER AND BUILD EACH OTHER UP.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:11
THIS IS NOT ABOUT CLEAN AIR AND WATER.
IT IS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN RESOURCES ARE KEPT AND DECISIONS ARE MADE FURTHER AWAY THAN THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE WITH THE CONSEQUENCES.

WE HAVE MISTAKEN ABSENCE
FROM CHURCH FOR ABSENCE
OF FAITH
COMMUNITY GLUE
At its best, a church is community glue: the
solid mast of a ship that people can cling to
when the sea gets rough. Most of the time they
won't need to cling to it. But that doesn't mean
they don't want it there.
I want every church to be a genuine asset to its
community; somewhere people can find their
way to God without first having to find their
way into the church.
IF ELECTED, I WOULD ARGUE FOR THREE THINGS:
01
02
03
PUT DECISIONS WHERE THE
CONSEQUENCES ARE FELT
SHARE KNOWLEDGE WHEREVER
IT IS USEFUL
MAKE THE CHURCH SOMEWHERE
PEOPLE WANT TO BE
Give parishes more
resources and
responsibility for
things they
understand best, while
retaining central
services where there
are genuine
economies of scale.
We waste enormous
amounts of time
reinventing things
that someone
somewhere in the
church has already
worked out. We need
to get much better at
sharing what works.
If you are looking for a candidate whose aim is to manage the
Church's decline, I'm not for you.
But if you think the Church needs someone who wants to build
its future, will ask difficult questions, will listen carefully, will
follow the evidence, and will keep trying to make things work,
I would be grateful for your vote.
In a world dominated by
digital distraction, one of
our greatest strengths is that
church is somewhere to put
the phone down and be
with other people and with
God. We must become
better at offering that space
in people’s lives.
ALEXANDER COWIE / GENERAL SYNOD
As a clergy spouse, I am often surprised
by how readily people talk to me about
their faith. When they discover I am the
Rector's husband, they explain why they
don't go to church, apologise for not
going more often, or tell me they are
Catholic, Orthodox, or “a different sort of
Christian”. Yet, when they feel free to
make the choice for themselves, many
start coming to church.
These are people who might easily be
overlooked by a Church that measures
faith by how loudly it is expressed.
I won't always have the right answers. But my
objective is not to win arguments or grind a
particular theological axe. It is to build a
healthier Church.
I am standing because I care about whether
what we do actually works.
We have inherited something extraordinary.
Not a perfect Church, not a Church that
belongs to us, but a Church woven into the life
of this country and entrusted to our care.
“THE LORD LOOKS AT THE HEART.”
1 SAMUEL 16:7
ALEXANDER COWIE - 07740 255446 - [email protected]