Dear friends in Christ,
Last week, the Church of England’s General Synod gave its backing to establishing working and consultative groups to continue work on same-sex relationships and marriage, as the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process comes to a conclusion.
The Church has allowed for a new suite of prayers for local churches to use, to enable same sex couples to have prayers of blessing within regular church services. These Prayers of Love and Faith were approved in December 2023 along with Pastoral Guidance about their use in regular public worship services.
Churches are not, however, allowed to offer bespoke, or standalone services that look like wedding services. At the moment, those who have entered into a same sex civil marriage cannot be ordained in the Church of England. Those who are already ordained could face disciplinary processes if they were to enter into a same sex civil marriage, and they are unlikely to be able to take up new roles elsewhere.
You can read the summary of what was decided last week here.
LLF has tried to help the whole Church to have a careful, sensitive, informed conversation about human sexuality. It has acknowledged that people have different views on whether churches should be able to offer blessings for same sex couples and whether gay clergy should be permitted to enter into same sex civil marriage. Although parts of the process have seen grace-filled listening and have increased people’s knowledge and understanding of their differences, there has clearly also been painful disagreement.
Where we are at the moment is not where I had hoped Living in Love and Faith would end up. However, it is clear that the Church of England will still be working on this: working groups have been given mandates to bring back to General Synod some further proposals. So, although LLF itself has come to an end, the Church is not turning its back on the difficult topics of disagreement that need to be faced.
I want to acknowledge that the cost of this pain has been borne most of all by LGBTQIA+ people themselves, and that their pain continues in the current situation of uncertainty.
I hope that I have been appropriately clear about my own views. I believe that gay people should have the same opportunities as straight people to have their faithful, loving, and stable relationships blessed in church, and to know that the Church wants to support and celebrate the God-given love that is contained within their relationship. I value the ministry of LGBTQI+ colleagues who minister in the Church of England and do not believe that they should have to choose between marriage and ministry.
At the same time, I respect those who hold different views and who, in conscience, have not wanted the Church of England to take even the steps that it has towards offering Prayers of Love and Faith. I respect that you believe the doctrine of the Church of England as you have received it. I want you to know that you have the support and protection of your Bishop to express, with kindness and respect, the traditional teaching to which you hold fast.
Whatever the views we hold and the differences we are experiencing, I want to set out what I believe every LGBTQIA+ person should be able to expect from the Church of England in Suffolk.
That we will love all who come through our doors and will care for and protect them in every one of our churches, chaplaincies, and Bishop’s Mission Orders in the county.
That churches that have chosen to offer the Prayers of Love and Faith will do so joyfully, seeing the love of LGBTQI+ people as a gift not only within their relationship, but in the wider community. That churches that have chosen not to offer the Prayers of Love and Faith will be able to signpost people kindly to churches that will be able to do so.
That in all our churches, people will find welcome and care in a healthy church culture where disagreement is handled with transparency and respect.
That young people will be safe in our church communities, particularly as they figure out questions of identity, knowing that we see them as wonderfully and beautifully made by God, and that we see God’s love within them.
That those who, for whatever reasons, feel called to singleness and celibacy, are supported and encouraged in that vocation, valued as cherished members of our communities.
One of the things I notice and appreciate about churches in Suffolk is that they are there for everyone, particularly in rural communities where there aren’t lots of church options within easy travelling distance. I am glad that, in church, we can meet people who are like us as well as people who are different from us: young and old, richer and poorer, people of different ethnicities and nationalities, people with a whole range of different views and priorities. And that somehow, church brings us all together to worship God.
My prayer is that whatever our feelings now about where the Church of England is in relation to conversations about sexuality, and whatever our personal views, we can continue to build up our churches as places for everyone, founded on love.
In Christ,
