This page was last updated on 3 Feb 2024.
Official Lists of the Committees and Commissions of the General Synod
Peter Owen, Liverpool, UK (peter@peterowen.org.uk)
The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England
The Appointments Committee of the Church of England
The Crown Nominations Commission
The Business Committee of the General Synod
The Church Commissioners for England
The Ecclesiastical Committee of Parliament
updated 22 Nov 2023
| Joint Presidents (ex officio) |
The Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Revd & Rt Hon Justin Welby The Archbishop of York The Most Revd & Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell |
| Five other ex-officio members | Prolocutor of the Lower House of the Convocation of Canterbury The Venerable Luke Miller (London) Prolocutor of the Lower House of the Convocation of York The Revd Kate Wharton (Liverpool) Chair of the House of Laity Canon Dr Jamie Harrison (Durham) Vice-Chair of the House of Laity Mrs Alison Coulter (Winchester) one of the Church Estates Commissioners (appointed by the Archbishops) Mr Alan Smith, (the First Church Estates Commissioner) |
| Two Bishops elected by and from the House of Bishops |
The Rt Revd Martin Seeley, Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich The Rt Revd Jonathan Frost, Bishop of Portsmouth (elected Nov 2023) |
| Two Clerks in Holy Orders elected by and from the House of Clergy |
The Ven Dr Miranda Threlfall-Holmes (elected Nov 2023) The Revd Dr Ian Paul |
| Two lay persons elected by and from the House of Laity |
Dr Rachel Jepson Mr James Cary |
| Up to six persons appointed by the Archbishops |
Mrs Maureen Cole Revd Charlotte Cook Mr Joseph Diwakar Mr Matthew Frost Mr Mark Sheard Canon John Spence CBE (until 30 Sept 2023) Mr Carl Hughes (from 1 Oct 2023) |
| Secretary General | William Nye |
| Vision & Strategy | Directors: Dave Male & Debbie Clinton |
| Central Secretariat | Director: Simon Gallagher |
| Faith & Public Life | Director: The Rev Dr Malcolm Brown |
| Cathedral & Church Buildings | Director: Emily Gee |
| Education | Director: The Revd Nigel Genders |
| Ministry Development | Director: The Rt Rev Chris Goldsmith |
| Human Resources | Director of People and Change: Christine Hewitt-Dyer |
| Legal Office | Director: The Revd Alexander McGregor |
| Communications | Director: (acting) John Bingham |
updated 24 June 2022
| Chairman appointed by the Archbishops | The Ven Pete Spiers (Liverpool) |
| one bishop elected by and from the House of Bishops |
vacant |
| three clergy elected by and from the House of Clergy |
The Revd Canon John Dunnett (Chelmsford) The Revd Andrew Moughtin-Mumby (Southwark) The Revd Canon Dr Andy Salmon (Manchester) |
| three laity elected by and from the House of Laity |
Mrs Rebecca Chapman (Southwark) Mrs Lucy Doherty (Portsmouth) Mrs Sarah Finch (London) |
| two members of the Archbishops' Council | Dr Rachel Jepson (Birmingham) The Ven Luke Miller (London) |
Secretary: Jenny Jacobs
updated 15 July 2022
Members for five years from 1 September 2022
| voting members | |
| ex officio | The Archbishop of Canterbury The Archbishop of York |
| three elected pairs of members of the House of Clergy of General Synod |
The Revd Claire Lording (Worcester) and The Revd Joanna Stobart (Bath & Wells) The Revd Esther Prior (Guildford) and The Revd Lis Goddard (London) The Revd Paul Benfield (Blackburn) and The Revd Canon Andrew Cornes (Chichester) |
| three elected pairs members of the House of Laity of General Synod |
Ms Christina Baron (Bath & Wells) and Miss Venessa Pinto (Leicester) Miss Debbie Buggs (London) and Miss Prudence Dailey (Oxford) Mr Temitope Taiwo (London) and Mr Clive Scowen (London) |
| six members of the Vacancy-in-See Committee of the diocese whose bishopric is to become, or has become, vacant |
|
| ex officio non-voting members | |
| the Archbishops' Appointments Secretary | Mr Stephen Knott |
| the Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary | Mr Jonathan Hellewell |
For each vacancy one member of each clergy and lay pair will serve on the CNC.
Normally one of the Archbishops presides at meetings of the Crown Nominations Commission.
Where the Commission is to consider the vacancy of the Archbishopric of Canterbury or York the person to preside shall be an actual communicant lay member of the Church of England appointed by
and this person shall be a voting member of the Commission.
For a vacancy in the Archbishopric of Canterbury the number of members from the diocese of Cangterbury will be three. In addition five representatives of the Anglican Communion will be voting members.
updated 8 Feb 2022
| Chair elected by and from the Synod | Canon Robert Hammond (Chelmsford) |
| one bishop elected by and from the House of Bishops |
The Rt Revd Martin Gorick, Bishop of Dudley |
| three clergy elected by and from the House of Clergy |
Fr Paul Cartwright (Leeds) Revd Mark Ireland (Blackburn) Revd Jody Stowell (London) |
| three laity elected by and from the House of Laity |
Mr Clive Scowen (London) Mrs Michelle Obende (Chelmsford) Mr Nic Tall (Bath & Wells) |
| appointed by the Archbishops’ Council |
Mr Joseph Diwakar |
Secretary: Dr Jacqui Philips (Clerk to the Synod)
updated 3 February 2024
official list
| Chairman: The Archbishop of Canterbury | The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby |
| The Archbishop of York | The Most Revd and Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell |
| Church Estates Commissioners (appointed by Her Majesty) |
Alan Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner [from 1 Oct 2021] Mr Andrew Selous MP, Second Church Estates Commissioner |
| Church Estates Commissioners (appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury) |
The Revd Canon Flora Winfield, Third Church Estates Commissioner |
| elected by the House of Bishops |
The Rt Revd Vivienne Faull, Bishop of Bristol The Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury The Rt Revd Graham Usher, Bishop of Norwich The Rt Revd Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester |
| elected by the House of Clergy |
The Revd Preb Dr Amatu Christian-Iwuagu (London) The Revd Sarah Geileskey Revd Christopher Smith |
| elected by the House of Laity |
Mr Richard Denno (Liverpool) Dr Nick Land (York) Dr Cathy Rhodes (Sheffield) Mr Robert Zampetti (London) |
| elected by the Deans | The Very Revd Mark Bonney, Dean of Ely The Very Revd Rogers Govender, Dean of Manchester |
| nominated by His Majesty | Suzanne Avery Mr Christopher “Kif” Hancock [from 1 Jan 2023] Duncan Owen [until 31 Dec 2022] Mr Nigel Timmins [from 3 April 2021] |
| nominated by the Archbishops | Morag Ellis KC Remi Olu-Pitan Busola Sodeinde Helen Steers Mark Woolley [vacancy] |
| State office holders | The First Lord of the Treasury The Lord President of the Council The Lord Chancellor The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The Speaker of the House of Commons The Speaker of the House of Lords |
The Board of Governors comprises all the Church Commissioners except for the State office holders.
updated 18 July 2020
| Peers | MPs |
| The Rt Hon the Baronesss Butler-Sloss GBE (Crossbench) The Earl of Cork and Orrery (Crossbench) The Lord Cormack (Conservative) The Baroness Eaton DBE DL (Conservative) The Lord Elton TD (Conservative) The Lord Faulkner of Worcester (Labour) The Lord Glenarthur DL (Conservative) The Baroness Harris of Cleveland DL (LibDem) The Baroness Howarth of Breckland OBE (Crossbench) The Rt Hon the Lord Jones (Labour) The Lord Judd (Labour) The Lord Lexden OBE (Conservative) The Lord Lisvane KCB DL (Crossbench) The Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall (Labour) The Lord Plant of Highfield (Labour) |
Fleur Anderson MP (Labour) Sir Peter Bottomley MP (Conservative) Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Labour) Fiona Bruce MP (Conservative) Dr Lisa Cameron MP (Scottish National Party) Miriam Cates MP (Conservative) Rt Hon Sir Roger Gale MP (Conservative) Rt Hon David Lammy MP (Labour) Rachael Maskell MP (Labour) Gary Sambrook MP (Conservative) Andrew Selous MP (Conservative) Jim Shannon MP (Democratic Unionist Party) Rt Hon Sir Desmond Swayne MP (Conservative) Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP (Labour) Martin Vickers MP (Conservative) |
From the UK Parliament website