Colin Coward
Changing Attitude, Human Connection and ...

There is something missing in the public conversation about human connection and community identified by Catharine Viner in a recent Guardian article. I observe that human connection and community are also missing in the Church of England. Discovering this essence would be a valuable outcome of changing attitudes, helping people develop lives well-lived and enriching all our lives, engaging with unadulterated love and living life in all its fulness.

Changing Attitude, Human Connection and Community and Unadulterated Love

House of Bishops

Time to change the Marriage Canon

Time to change the Marriage Canon

It has become clear that the task for those of us campaigning for the full inclusion of LGBTQI people in the Church of England is to pursue amendment of the Marriage Canon and extend marriage in church to same-sex couples. It’s time we LGBTQI+ members of the Church of England and our tens of thousands of allies across every diocese held the bishops to account for their indifference to our presence in every diocese, to our integrity and spiritual gifts, to our fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to our incredible patience and endurance as the toxic, abusive culture has been uncovered in recent decades.

How do we change the House of Bishops?

How do we change the House of Bishops?

How do we turn the practical reality of Church of England parishes, churches, clergy and laity already providing a national network of inclusive, affirming congregations celebrating full inclusion into a vote in General Synod to change the Canons and rules that prevent lesbian and gay couples (and clergy in particular marrying and being married in church? It has to be a campaign that focuses time, attention and energy on the bishops.

The House of Bishops does not control our intimate, sexual lives

The House of Bishops does not control our intimate, sexual lives

The bishops are not in control of what we the people do sexually. From a young age, what the bishops said I could or couldn't do sexually (not that I actually knew back then what they said) has never affected the decisions and choices I've made. What I have done and do sexually and intimately is far too significant and deeply personal to me that I’ve never had a conversation with a bishop about sex.

The General Synod February 2026 Living in Love and Faith Debate

The General Synod February 2026 Living in Love and Faith Debate

It is clear from the General Synod Living in Love and Faith debate and the voting figures that significant numbers of the Houses of Clergy and Laity do not trust the House of Bishops to do anything that will achieve the outcome worked for by progressives seeking LGBTQIA+ equality over the past 8 years, or 15 years, or 40 years. As bishops speaking in the debate revealed, maintaining the unity of the Church of England is a higher priority for the House of Bishops than achieving a radical new Christian inclusion for LGBTQIA+ people – inclusion that includes equal marriage for clergy and laity.

Brave Deans and (mostly ) silent Bishops – Living in Love and Faith - time to find our voices and courage

Brave Deans and (mostly ) silent Bishops – Living in Love and Faith - time to find our voices and courage

The House of Bishops letter sets out an agreed position as the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process is brought to a conclusion and confirms an agreed approach to any further changes. I do not agree with the position reached by the Bishops, nor with their approach to further changes and I hope fervently that Together and every other group dissents from the House of Bishops’ position, abandoning the Church at the end not only of the LLF process but of seventy years of reports and endless meetings and Synod debates.

The public blessing of same-sex marriages NOW in the Church of England

The public blessing of same-sex marriages NOW in the Church of England

The public blessing of same-sex relationships, civil partnerships and equal marriage can be celebrated in churches now, without waiting for the House of Bishops to approve services. We can pursue this goal ahead of the equally important ultimate goal of changing the Marriage Canons to allow equal marriage in church.

Frankly Gay - Why do Christians lie about sex and abuse?

Frankly Gay - Why do Christians lie about sex and abuse?

Some months ago I came across Sam Howson’s YouTube videos and his response to the news about Mike Pilavachi and his abusive activities in the Soul Survivor ministry. Sam’s latest video, Frankly Gay, is an interview with Robert Thompson, vicar of the parish of St Mary with All Souls Kilburn and St James West Hampstead, member of General Synod and a comrade in the business of campaigning for a transformed Church of England in which the Archbishops’ promise of radical new Christian inclusion means exactly that for LGBTQIA+ people – radical equality in marriage and in ministry.

Changing Attitude England’s campaign goal: Full equality for LGBTQIA+ people in relationships and ministry

Changing Attitude England’s campaign goal: Full equality for LGBTQIA+ people in relationships and ministry

It’s time to go to work, time to organise ourselves, challenging status quo narrative, forming communities of resistance, offering counter-cultural models in the Church, develop our moral courage, standing up visibly and audibly, being active agents in pursuing the full equality of LGBTQIA+ people in the Kingdom of God. We are living in a potentially transformational era, aware as Christians of the existential changes affecting our planet and people; our spiritual consciousness is global and cosmic.

Tricksters versus magicians The state of the House of Bishops and worship in local churches

Tricksters versus magicians The state of the House of Bishops and worship in local churches

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.

Full equality in ministry and relationships for LGBTQIA+ people

Full equality in ministry and relationships for LGBTQIA+ people

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.