General Synod Election Candidates 2026

Keith Watson
49 Wilton Crescent, Shirley
Southampton SO15 7QG
07791496283
[email protected]

Nominator 1: Simon Clift
Nominator 2: Tara Watson

I am a Communicant member of St James by the Park, Shirley within the Southampton Deanery.
I currently serve on the Winchester Diocese Synod and have served on the PCC. I have been
involved in prayer ministry, worship, Alpha, preaching and the PCC Building Committee.

I am 66 years old and have been married to Tara for 40 years. We are both retired and volunteer
in various roles for local charities and our local church. We have 4 grown-up children and enjoy
our role as grandparents.

Before I retired, I had a long career in IT where I held senior management positions in large
multinational organisations such as IBM and ADP as well as SMEs (Small and Medium
Enterprises) such as Ordnance Survey and Fleet Tutors. I tried to lead organisations with an
emphasis on wise Christian leadership and ethics. I also led a Christian Fellowship at IBM.

I am passionate about sharing the good news of Jesus in words and deeds to those inside and
outside church life as well as growing long term disciples who want to build God’s kingdom
through loving others in grace and truth. As part of this passion, I volunteer once a month as a
team leader for a NTE (Night-time Economy) patrol for Street Pastors in Southampton. We
minister Christian love from 10pm to 4am on a weekend to the homeless and those enjoying a
night out providing reassurance, safety and support through caring, listening and helping.

I was elected to serve as lay representative for the Diocese of Winchester in 2024 and have
endeavoured to make a positive contribution from the floor.

In terms of what I believe I can bring to the General Synod,
•
My experience as a Christian leader in industry will help me absorb, process and make
decisions on complex proposals and technical procedures in the General Synod.
•
As a lay representative of the Winchester Synod for the past two years, I understand the
types of proposals which are likely to be proposed at the General Synod.
•
My experience leading a Christian Fellowship in industry will help me to understand any
proposals for supporting and enabling Christians in the workplace and charities.
•
Being involved in many church evangelistic ministries enables me to understand how
any Synod proposals can enable the sharing of the good news with others.
•
My experience leading worship in various modern and older and contexts, enables me to
make a strong contribution to any proposals to draw worshippers closer to Jesus.
•
Close members of my family have suffered from depression, and I have suffered from
cancer and a heart attack. I have made use of counselling for various issues I have had
to cope with during my life. This will help me analyse proposals to support Clergy
Wellbeing for those in various ministries.

How I would approach my role at General Synod
I believe the previous sessions of the General Synod have spent too much time on proposals
that divide Synod representatives and damage our relationship with the wider Anglican Church.
I want to work to gain support across various traditions and restore our relationship with the
Wider Worldwide Anglican Communion. In addition, many of the proposals have been internally
focussed within the church rather than motions that seek to share the good news of Christ
through the church in the world. I want to promote and support motions that seek to grow God’s
kingdom by gaining support from various views within the church to all proposals that support
the Five Marks of Mission. I will endeavour to speak in Spirit and Truth to motions that reject the
traditional view of marriage recommendation by the church elders in the Thirty-Nine articles.
Now is the time for the Church of England to reflect a distinctiveness from today’s society in
terms of support for the vulnerable and disenfranchised in society. In all my roles, both in
industry and the church, I have not been afraid to speak out when I feel it necessary, particularly
to represent others on issues that lay people in the Diocese are concerned about. As a
newcomer, I believe I can be a fresh voice in the Synod.

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