Category: Christianity

Some principles for making prayerful decisions

THIS WEEK, the church where my partner and I volunteer to run a monthly LGBT inclusive service, faced a huge decision – whether to commit to at least ten years of major fundraising and building work, or to walk away and start afresh somewhere else. A question this big was hard to answer – the …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/24/some-principles-for-making-prayerful-decisions/

Coming home – My story for #NationalComingOutDay

WHEN AN LGBT PERSON speaks of coming out, it often involves the moment of revelation to those closest to you, especially parents and family. October 11th is #NationalComingOutDay – so here’s my story: Coming out was certainly a major milestone on my journey, delayed and complicated by the fact that I spent three years in my twenties …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/11/comingoutday15/

Questions are the answer – nakedpastor and the search for understanding by David Hayward

BLOGGER AND CARTOONIST David Hayward was a Christian pastor in Canada for more than thirty years before leaving the paid clergy and setting up thelastingsupper.com, which he describes as ‘an online community for spiritually independent people’. Questions Are The Answer is the story of his journey towards ‘spiritual independence’, told in word and cartoon. You …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/07/questions-are-the-answer/

Kim Davis – Let me show you what persecution looks like

ON US TV today (Sept. 22), the clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to ANY couple because she didn’t believe in same sex marriage has said what hurts her most about how she has been treated since she defied the Supreme Court ruling on marriage in June – being called ‘a hypocrite’. Kim Davis …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/09/22/kim-davis-let-me-show-you-what-persecution-looks-like/

A very queer* time – Bishop goes viral, Quest continues, Love in the dock, God loves hugs & Michael’s mates

*Queer – originally meaning odd, used as a term of homophobic abuse, reclaimed by activists as a defiant act of liberation, now interpreted to mean radical transgression of norms – see my comments on Keith Sharpe’s book The Gay Gospels below. IT’S BEEN an extraordinary couple of weeks since my last post about the Bishop of …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/08/04/a-very-queer-time/

Bishop shares ‘absolute welcome’ with LGBT Christians

A CHRISTIAN community which warmly welcomes Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people, their friends and family, celebrated its seventh anniversary on Sunday 19th July, with the Bishop of Liverpool as their guest. The inclusive service, known as ‘Open Table’, meets on the third Sunday of each month at St Bride’s Anglican Church on Percy …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/07/20/bishop-shares-absolute-welcome-with-lgbt-christians/

Pride – the opposite of prejudice: From New York to old York

THIS SUNDAY is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, heralded as the birth of the international LGBT rights movement. Pride marches in cities across the world, including New York and London, are taking place this weekend to commemorate the struggle for equality that began in New York’s Stonewall Inn in the early hours of June …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/06/27/pride-opposite-of-prejudice/

A Coward with courage – challenging the Church, changing our image of God

LAST WEEKEND, director of Changing Attitude Colin Coward came to our church to give a series of reflections inspired by twenty years working towards a more inclusive church around the world. Colin is an Anglican priest who originally trained as an architect and subsequently as a psychotherapist.  He ministered for 19 years in inner-city parishes.  …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/04/25/a-coward-with-courage-challenging-the-church-changing-our-image-of-god/

A conversation that matters: #OpenChurch2015 conference

Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters. This was the aim of last week’s two-day conference Open Church: The church, sexuality, mission and the future hosted by Steve Chalke, Baptist minister and founder of international charity the Oasis Trust. Steve hit the headlines two years ago when he called for an ‘open conversation’ around same-sex relationships and …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/04/14/a-conversation-that-matters-openchurch2015-conference/

Reflecting on our identity as LGBT people of faith and as an LGBT faith community

BY POPULAR REQUEST, members of the community that meets monthly at St Bride’s Church, Liverpool for the Open Table LGBT service spent a day away again this month, six months after our first away-day last October. Following the theme of identity and individuality we explored in last month’s service, we developed and deepened this at …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/03/23/reflecting-identity-lgbt-faith-community/

Load more