General Synod - A brief reflection of my five years ministry serving The Church of England General Synod.

**Fr Alex Frost** is the vicar of St Matthew’s the Apostle, Burnley, where he grew up. He describes himself as the ‘fundamentally unemployable’ host of The God Cast, a podcast devoted to issues of faith and spirituality, which has featured celebrities such as Eamonn Holmes, Alastair Campbell, Edwina Currie, Dom Joly, George Galloway, Anthea Turner and football legend Lou Macari. Anthea Turner and football legend Lou Macari. Ordained in 2015 after a mixed career working as a football referee, manager at Argos and a stand-up comic, Fr Alex now also serves on The Church of England General Synod for Blackburn Diocese. He is married to Sarah and has three children. Fr Alex made headlines when he featured in a 2021 BBC documentary The Cost of Covid – One Year On, which has been viewed over 12 million times since it was aired. Running a food bank from a car park in Burnley, helping the desperate amid his flock as the pandemic raged, Fr Alex’s down-to-earth style of ministry struck a chord with people of all faiths, cultures and classes across the UK in a time when the divide between rich and poor widens cataclysmically. The Church of England priest, who sports tattoos of his favourite band Depeche Mode, has become the last bastion of support for many in the aftermath of austerity measures, Government cuts and Covid 19 upon a community already ravaged by poverty, addiction and neglect. More recently Fr Alex has been front and centre campaigning for the reclassification of Ketamine, including working as part of a Government consultation, and has featured on National Media outlets including Good Morning Britain, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live. Fr Alex has also spearheaded a campaign for more working class vocations in the Anglican Communion, and in 2025 brought a Private Members Motion to the National Church. His address received a standing ovation and in January 2026 the church unanimously supported his proposals and is now pressing ahead with his plans. He is due to travel to Pakistan in mid 2026 as part of documentary investigation into the unexplained death of his parishioner Kelsey Devlin. Kelsey features heavily in Alex's first book, and the project is being supported by documentary maker Masood Khan and ITV.