Category Archives: Living in Love & Faith

Finding a Way Through: February 2024

by the Revd Dr Charlie Bell, Fellow at Girton College Cambridge, Assistant Curate, St John the Divine, Kennington and a consultant to the LLF Implementation Pastoral Guidance Working Group Well, there goes another General Synod. It has been rather a strange … Continue reading

Posted in Charlie Bell, General Synod, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, structural differentiation | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Slouching Towards Synod*

by Helen King, member of General Synod, editor Usually things start to settle down in the week before General Synod meets. The agenda is out, Questions are submitted and the written answers awaited, and people read through the various papers … Continue reading

Posted in Bishop David Gillett, Does the Bible Really Say, Living in Love & Faith, marriage | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Response to the ‘Letter from Seven Bishops’: A Theology of Inclusion

by Fr Alex Frost, Vicar of St Matthews, Burnley and member of General Synod After reading the recent document around the Doctrine of Marriage and today’s sequel by seven Church of England Bishops, I wanted to ask myself: Am I, … Continue reading

Posted in Culture and faith, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, marriage, Social Justice | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Plotting the Division of the Church of England

by Nic Tall, member of General Synod and Secretary of the General Synod Gender & Sexuality Group If you have been paying attention to the church press recently, you will have a sense of grumblings from conservative parts of the … Continue reading

Posted in General Synod, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, Nic Tall | Tagged , , | 56 Comments

Press release from the General Synod Gender & Sexuality Group and from Inclusive Groups

During last week’s General Synod, the chair of the debate on the Living in Love and Faith process rightly noted that it’s not a question of who claps loudest, or for longest. Nor is it a question of how many … Continue reading

Posted in General Synod, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, marriage | 1 Comment

The Dam Has Broken: Synod and Beyond

by the Revd Dr Charlie Bell, Fellow at Girton College Cambridge, Assistant Curate, St John the Divine, Kennington and a consultant to the LLF Implementation Pastoral Guidance Working Group There is a moment each morning, as most of the world slumbers, … Continue reading

Posted in Charlie Bell, General Synod, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith | 8 Comments

Vile Bodies?

by Adrian Thatcher, Honorary Professor in the Department of Religion and Theology, University of Exeter and a Trustee of Modern Church So now we know! While the authorization of same-sex marriages within the Church of England remains a distant dream, … Continue reading

Posted in Gender, General Synod, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, Social Justice | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Polluted Ground or Holy Ground? Going Forward to the November Synod

by the Very Revd Dr Mandy Ford, Dean of Bristol I trained alongside men who did not believe that I could be a priest. We were friends, we learned together, we prayed together, we drank gin together. But as our … Continue reading

Posted in Gender, General Synod, Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, Mandy Ford, marriage, Ordination | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Collateral Damage: How Unjust Treatment of LGBTQIA+ People Harms the Church

by Ruth Harley, curate in the Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership All names and some details have been changed to protect the identity of those whose stories are told in this article. Let me tell you about Mary. She’s a woman … Continue reading

Posted in Human Sexuality, LGBT Stories, Living in Love & Faith, marriage | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Same-sex Marriage and the Book of Common Prayer

by Evan McWilliams; brought up in conservative evangelical non-conformity, he is now Associate Vicar at St Mary Abbots in Kensington The Form of Solemnisation of Matrimony, typically called the marriage service, is one of the chief delights of the Book … Continue reading

Posted in Human Sexuality, Living in Love & Faith, marriage, Ordination | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments