Bishop to the Archbishops opposed to equality of LGBTIQ+ people

Bishop to the Archbishops opposed to equality of LGBTIQ+ people

On Monday the Rt Revd Dr Emma Ineson’s appointment as the Bishop to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York was announced. In October 2016 Revd Dr Emma Ineson was among evangelicals who signed a letter to all members of the College of Bishops. The letter said the Bible is clear that God has given the marriage of one man with one woman as the only context in which physical expression is to be given to our sexuality and any change in the Church’s teaching or practice – such as the blessing of sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage - would represent a significant departure from the authority of the Bible. Where does her appointment leave the Archbishops’ commitment to a new radical inclusion? Bishop Emma will be in a powerful position, able to influence the outcome of the Living in Love and Faith process and having huge influence over the content and culture of the next Lambeth Conference.

Sex, Power, Control – Changing Attitude, LLF and the House of Bishops

Sex, Power, Control – Changing Attitude, LLF and the House of Bishops

Sex, Power, Control: Responding to Abuse in the Institutional Church by Fiona Gardner has valuable lessons for those involved in the Changing Attitude England Campaign to challenge the bishops, the people who are ultimately solely responsible for the LLF process and its outcome. The steering group for CA England believes we must reclaim our narrative for the full equality of LGBTIQ+ people in ministry and relationships, taking back the narrative from the Bishops, clear that we are not objects to be analysed but people with explicit demands and expectations. We will spell out for the bishops and the Next Steps process exactly what equality means for us, saying explicitly what we want and do not want when bishops present LLF to Synod. LLF is a distraction - the now is the time for radical challenge.

Campaigning to create a Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community

Campaigning to create a Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community

In A Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community, John Pavlovitz argues for a Church that manifests the characteristics of radical hospitality, total authenticity, true diversity, and agenda-free community, a Church seeking the Bigger Table. Pavlovitz grew up in Central New York, a white, middle-class, suburban, Italian, Roman Catholic boy, raised on gluten and guilt. Later, living among artists, musicians, dancers, and actors, a decidedly bohemian alternative congregation in Philadelphia, he worked out that people’s gender identity and sexual orientation made them no less image bearers of the Divine; their love was a reflection of the heart of God, not because of who they loved but because of how they loved – deeply, truthfully, and sacrificially.

Refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules

Refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules

For seven decades the bishops have taken to themselves the right to decide who we are and what we are allowed to be and how we are allowed to function in the Church, lay or ordained. And still we play along with this, suppressing what we know about ourselves, playing the Church game according to Church rules. I have been edging my way towards saying “we refuse to conform to your rules any longer.” That is what re-launching Changing Attitude England is doing – refusing to play by House of Bishops’ rules.

Finding confidence in a radical vision of faith, sexuality and gender

Finding confidence in a radical vision of faith, sexuality and gender

We are faced with a number of challenging realities at the moment, spiritual, national and global, from the after effects of Brexit to the realities of the climate crisis and the Covid 19 pandemic. Dealing with LLF and the Church of England’s inability to allow LGBTIQ+ people to determine our own agenda and develop the space I, for one, expect the Church to create for us, adds to the emotional and psychological disturbance. John Pavlovitz’s account of his own transforming journey to recognise that LGBTIQ+ people also require equality in Church and Kingdom is a restorative stimulus to faith in my own radical vision.

Changing Attitude resumes campaign for full equality of LGBTIQ+ people

Changing Attitude resumes campaign for full equality of LGBTIQ+ people

Changing Attitude England has revived our campaign for the absolute equality of LGBTIQ+ people in the Church of England meaning equality for those in lay and ordained ministry in selection, training and appointments and also in relationships, civil partnerships, marriage and sexual activity. We have concluded that it is time to launch a public campaign to convince the bishops that nothing less than a commitment to the equal status of LGBTIQ+ people will be acceptable when the House of Bishops brings proposals to a meeting of the General Synod anticipated to be in November 2022.

The necessity for radical LGBTIQ+ activism in the Church of England

The necessity for radical LGBTIQ+ activism in the Church of England

As I read an article in the Guardian yesterday about Kehinde Andrews, the UK’s first Black studies professor, I wondered what effect it would have, in the context of the Living in Love and Faith process, if I replaced all the references to black with LGBTIQ+. Here is a very abbreviated version of the article. What effect does this have on you?

Forty LGBTIQ+ people and allies write a second letter to thirty five bishops

Forty LGBTIQ+ people and allies write a second letter to thirty five bishops

In November 2020 a pro-LGBTIQ+ group wrote to thirty two bishops known to be supportive of LGBTIQ+ people. Eleven replied. We have written a second letter, this time to thirty five bishops, reminding them of the questions we asked in the first letter. We believe the LLF is primarily yet another attempt to resolve the conundrum the Church of England has been trying to find a way out of for two decades or more. We have asked the bishops a second time - are you prepared to ensure that when the LLF process returns to Synod in 2022 you will take responsibility for tabling proposals that enact the Archbishops’ commitment to radical inclusion?

LLF and Systemic Homophobia in the Church of England

LLF and Systemic Homophobia in the Church of England

Homophobia is woven through Christianity’s culture, teaching and practice, unnoticed. When the Living in Love and Faith process was announced I warned that it was simply a further delaying tactic but people wanted to believe in the process and the commitment made by the Archbishops to radical inclusion. Now I warn that when it is brought to Synod in 2022 nothing radical will be proposed. Instead there will be a further period in which the implications of the current process will be re-processed and digested. The purpose of the campaign that the re-created Changing Attitude England group is conducting is to engage creatively with the bishops in the hope that by the time they bring proposals to Synod in 2022 they will understand that if they do not address equal marriage in church and equality for clergy and lay ministers, we will be really angry, and they will know why.

How pro-LGBTIQ+ bishops responded to letter about LLF process

How pro-LGBTIQ+ bishops responded to letter about LLF process

At the end of November 2020 we wrote to thirty two bishops known to be supportive of LGBTIQ+ people in the Church of England following the publication of videos by The Church of England Evangelical Council and Christian Concern. Ten bishops responded, twenty two didn’t reply. A summary of the responses is included here. We are about to send a second letter to the thirty four bishops.