Seven years of the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process has taken the church backwards. It is now harder for LGBTQI+ people to thrive within the Church of England. This is the result of a significant failure of collective responsibility. The issues underlying the formal LLF process are not going away. There is a degree of collective trauma in the Church. This is the current reality. The Church of England finds itself facing a stark choice.
The Church of England is gradually, or not so gradually, evolving into something significantly different from the Church and the ethos of Christianity I grew up with and was trained to minister in. This is in part due to the natural passage of time. It is also the result of the regressive changes taking place in global cultures and societies, the anti-Enlightenment movement leading to more regressive, controlling, authoritarian political and financial systems. They are having, as I see it, an un-Christlike effect on us.
At the moment there is a significant body of conservative and primarily evangelical movements, churches and individuals, members of General Synod, who are blocking progress towards marriage revision. My impression, after three weeks spent visiting almost every church in one area of London, is that significant movement towards a much more open and welcoming attitude to LGBTQIA+ people is occurring within some of the charismatic evangelical groups. Catholic, inclusive, progressive congregations, on the other hand, continue to be reluctant to commit themselves publicly and visibly towards full equality and inclusion for LGBQTI+ people.
The contemporary attitude of the Church of England to sexual intimacy and pleasure is totally absurd. It is time for all groups pursuing equality, integrity and a healthy Christian sexual culture to major on a campaign to review with the greatest urgency the liturgical and legal, Biblical and theological teachings and traditions of the Church of England in relation to sex and intimacy.
Full equality in ministry and relationships for LGBTQIA+ people remains the only goal for those Christians living healthy spiritual and sexual lives in contemporary society, a society in which modelling non-abusive sexual intimacy within and outside marriage for heterosexuals is as important as achieving equality for LGBTQIA+ people. It’s time to table a motion proposing a total overhaul of the Church’s teaching on sex and marriage.
The Christian Church in general and the Church of England in particular is not manifesting, to my way of thinking, a healthy, creative, Christ-centred vision of God – a vision rooted in the teaching and life and wisdom of Jesus and of those men and women he invited to follow him and share his journey and who responded to his invitation.
The nineteen organisations and networks listed on this blog share, in my mind, a common interest, purpose and vision. They/We, are working towards the formulation of an answer to the existential question that haunts me – What kind of God do we believe in? A common, shared vision emerges from the statements of each group – one people in Christ, in creation, in shared experience and the pursuit of love, truth and justice, a vision that understands the universal, cosmic essence of the sacred, holy, divine presence in creation and in all of life and every human body, heart and soul.
We, diverse members of the human race, are one body, and the groups within the Christian Church that identify as progressive and inclusive, OneBodyOneFaith, Together, Equal, Changing Attitude England, Inclusive Evangelicals, Open Table Network and LGB Christians, Modern Church, Inclusive Church, Student Christian Movement, WATCH, Sea of Faith and Progressive Christianity Movement,
need to address the challenges presented by this year’s attacks on our identities and freedoms – and reform our relationships to create a unified working Body.
