IN 1984, charismatic preacher Billy Graham came to Liverpool at the invitation of local churches as part of a six-date tour called Mission England. This June, his son Franklin intends to come to the city, though the venue has withdrawn the booking, as have all seven of the other UK venues on his planned tour. So what’s going on?
TODAY the YMCAs in the Liverpool City Region gathered for a carol service in the city’s Parish Church, opposite the world famous Liver Building. As the chaplain for YMCA Liverpool and YMCA St Helens, I gave a reflection on the Christmas story and what it means for the people the YMCA supports
AS PART of the tour of Merseyside by Queer Virtue author Liz Edman last month, I took part in a panel discussion called ‘Queer Faith Voices’. Liz uses the term ‘queer’ in the academic sense, as a verb meaning ‘to disturb / disrupt false binaries’. These binaries can relate to gender (male/female) or sexuality (heterosexual/homosexual), but they can be so… Read more »
Next weekend I am privileged to be taking part in a panel discussion called ‘Queer Faith Voices’ as part of a tour by a visiting US priest and political strategist Liz Edman. She is the author of Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know About Life and Love and How It Can Revitalize Christianity (Beacon Press, 2016). This is a guest post by Jen Williams promoting the tour.
As part of YMCA Liverpool’s commemoration of World Homeless Day 2019, residents and staff gathered to celebrate the opening of a new Memorial Garden at its headquarters, Hope House. As chaplain for this extraordinary community which offers supported accommodation for people experiencing homelessness, it was my privilege to dedicate the garden to the memory of YMCA members who are no longer with us.
For the past three years, the Open Table LGBT+ Christian community based at St Bride’s in Toxteth has coordinated the Christians At Pride group in the Liverpool march.
THIS was the reflection I gave as part of my Action At Home – Module 5 of the Journey of Hope pilgrimage in Christian peacemaking and reconciliation. Read more about the Action At Home here or listen to a recording of this reflection here (15 mins). Tonight as we consider how we might make peace, be reconciled and become activists… Read more »
My greatest lesson from this Action At Home was that peace and reconciliation start with me – if I want to offer opportunities for peace and reconciliation to others, I need to start with myself.
THIS is the story I shared as part of the Radical Hospitality module of the Journey Of Hope pilgrimage: About two years ago, I dreamed that I travelled back in time and saw myself as a teenager. My younger self approached me and gave me a hug. The day before, I had visited a secondary school to discuss what more… Read more »
In 70 countries, loving someone of the same sex is illegal and, in 7 countries, it is punishable by death. In many more countries citizens are denied their right to live as their true gender identity, and 369 murders of trans and gender-diverse people were reported worldwide in 2018. As well as legal discriminations, social homophobia, biphobia and transphobia daily… Read more »
