The Revd Ayo Audu has represented the Diocese of Oxford on General Synod since June 2024, while serving as Associate Minister at St Frideswide's Church, Water Eaton. This September, Ayo takes up a new role in the Diocese of Ely as Director of Contextual Training at Westcott House, Cambridge.
The current membership of General Synod formally dissolved on 14 July, ahead of elections taking place later this year. With his time representing the Diocese of Oxford closed, Ayo shares a poignant reflection on what first drew him to stand for election.
On the Feast Day of St Stephen in 2025, the US government launched targeted airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) militants in northwest Nigeria. Unexploded ordnance from that action landed and destroyed property in four remote areas on the flight path of the missiles. One of those remote areas where the unexploded ordnance fell is called Offa.
It was in Offa, a sleepy, agrarian town where as a teenage boarding house student, having finished my sessional examinations and avoiding the fierce heat of the summer sun under which my classmates played football, I was to be found lurking in the shadows of a dog-eared copy of Jeffrey Archer’s First Among Equals. Captivated by the careers and personal lives of four fictional British politicians, my heart was set on become a British Member of Parliament just like Simon Kerslake. Four years later, the blockbuster television take on Michael Dobbs' House of Cards featuring the utterly ruthless Francis Urquhart made it to Offa on VHS cassette and sealed the dream for me.
Somehow, no-one remembered to tell me that the chances of a boy schooling in Offa making it to Westminster were zero to none. Ignorance, they say, is bliss.
But I guess God must have been listening, because in July 2024, two casual vacancies arose in the House of Clergy on General Synod. By this time, I had been ordained priest and was serving in the Diocese of Oxford. I stood for election and, to my surprise, won.
What connection does being on General Synod have with my dreams of being elected to Parliament?
Well, not only does the General Synod hold one of its annual sittings in Westminster (Church House Westminster, not the Palace of Westminster; mind). But the measures passed by General Synod are as good as laws of the land (once they go through a process of ratification by Parliament). So, somehow, through God’s prevenient grace, I have achieved a childhood dream.
Why have I led you on a rambling tale from Offa to Westminster, you might wonder? Well, If I could do it when my chances were zero to none, I believe your chances are much better than mine, and so you can too.
I am persuaded you should stand for election to General Synod this summer.
It has allowed me to indulge my passion for law-making, which is how we regulate and shape society. During my time on General Synod, I was part of a working group that brought a motion to Synod calling attention to the challenges faced by people from working-class backgrounds who seek to offer ministry in the Church of England. This found unanimous support at Synod - a not very common outcome! - and then led to the creation of a Working-Class Advisory Group (WCAG) to drive engagement with the strategy for developing working-class vocation and ministry.
From the outside, understanding how Synod works looks impossible. But once you get elected there’s lots of support and encouragement. There are many helpful guides, including the famous Survival Guide to the General Synod.
You will make friends and get to meet people both across and within your own church tradition. Synod presents opportunities to work across difference, and you soon learn to see past positions to the human in all of us. And this is why it is important that a range of voices is heard on the floor of Synod.
I have already spoken about the debate on working class vocations; I championed this cause to give voice to people I meet daily in my parish who, although called and willing to offer ministry to the church and their community, are barred by boulders because they were never in the imagination of those who designed the current structures and systems around vocations and ministry.
I hope that one day, I can look back and see people coming through who otherwise would never have considered ministry, and this on the back of the work that I and others like me have done to make the difference.
Stand for Synod
New members are being elected to General Synod this year – and you are invited to stand as a candidate.
General Synod is the national assembly of the Church of England. It shapes and approves laws that affect the whole of the Church of England. It agrees new forms of worship, debates matters of national and international importance, and approves the annual budget for the work of the Church at national level.
Joining General Synod is a fantastic opportunity to represent the concerns of your community and your diocese at a national level. Almost anyone who attends church regularly is likely to be eligible to stand for election as a lay member. There is a supportive induction programme to help new members in their roles.