radical new Christian inclusion
The events of the past two weeks, the meeting of General Synod in November 2023, the conduct of the entire LLF process and the incompetence of the Church to respond the victims of abuse and implement an effective Safeguarding system all demonstrate to me a Church that has none of the characteristics that communicated to me 60 years ago by practice and example what Christianity looks and feels like. Words were not needed.
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have been bullied by conservatives into abandoning their commitment to create a radical new Christian inclusion. This information was given yesterday to one of the meetings held in the Lambeth Palace Library as part of the new phase of the Living in Love and Faith process.
The place of LGBTQIA+ people in the Church is still unresolved. We are certainly not being granted equality in relationships or ministry. We are being denied equality in marriage. Homophobia and transphobia (and misogyny) continue to be protected as legitimate ‘Biblical’ expressions of ‘orthodox’ Christian teaching and truth. I believe we have arrived at a moment when the essence of Christian teaching has to be reframed to emphasise the primacy of God’s unconditional, infinite, intimate love the Gospels reveal in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, rooted in his core message, his teaching, actions and wisdom.
I anticipate that the work undertaken by the College and House of Bishops, integral to the Living in Love and Faith process and to the outcome at General Synod in February 2023, will be judged “incompetent, ineffective and unfit for purpose. This will be a tragic end to what has in many ways been an effective exercise. I hope I will be proved wrong, too pessimistic, but Church that is unable to ensure that its safeguarding practice is so inadequate is unlikely to produce proposals that are adequate to the most basic of LGBTQIA+ expectations.
According to the Bishop of London LLF offers the whole church the opportunity to explore what ‘radical new Christian inclusion’ means. It is not something that can be achieved by a top-down process of publishing a definition but something that the whole church needs to discover and live out together. The LLF Course never mentions radical new Christian inclusion, let alone invites people to explore a definition together. In providing no introduction to the concept nor any account of how it is to be lived out the bishops, the teachers and guardians of the faith, have proved themselves inadequate to the prophetic vision and courage required to ensure the LLF process is functional and will deliver a visionary outcome.
The Bishop of London, chair of the Next Steps Group, has replied to our letter asking the NSG to define radical new Christian inclusion. She says it is not something that can be achieved by a top-down process of publishing a definition of ‘radical new Christian inclusion’ but something that the whole church needs to discover and live out together and that is what LLF is trying to achieve. The LLF Course does not mention of radical new Christian inclusion. Apart from seven pages in the LLF Book, the bishops have provided no guidance to help people think about, let alone respond to, the vision presented by the Archbishops in 2017 and taken as a sign of hope for LGBTIQ+ people.
