His Majesty The King will inaugurate the newly elected General Synod of the Church of England at a ceremony in London on Tuesday 17 November. His Majesty will attend a service at Westminster Abbey before moving to the adjoining Church House, Westminster, where he will address the inauguration ceremony in the Synod chamber. Archbishop Sarah and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, will also give addresses.
It will be the first inauguration of a new Synod in The King’s reign and first in the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally’s tenure. A total of 487 members will serve on the new Synod for its five-year term – the 12th since the body was created in 1970.
Voting took place over a three-week period earlier this autumn to elect the members of the Houses of Clergy and Laity and the suffragan members of the House of Bishops.
Following the inauguration, Synod will hold a short group of sessions which will include an update on safeguarding and discussions on subjects including the challenges of maintaining church buildings; funding the church’s mission and clergy wellbeing.
The General Synod is the national assembly of the Church of England. Its role includes considering and approving legislation affecting the whole of the Church of England, formulating new forms of worship, debating matters of national and international importance, and approving the annual budget for the work of the Church at a national level.
It replaced an earlier body known as the Church Assembly under the Synodical Government Measure 1969.
Seven people will be attending from the Diocese of Norwich, having been voted in and elected in 2026. The Clergy representatives are Revd Graham Kirk-Spriggs, Revd Canon Simon Ward, Revd Hannah Morris and Revd Dr Patrick Richmond. The Lay representatives are Helen Grogutt, John Brydon, David Ryczanowski. They will serve for the 2026-2031 term.