TODAY is the day that the person who inspired me to begin sharing my story steps down as the President of the Methodist Conference, the governing body of the Methodist Church of Great Britain. Barbara Glasson was the Methodist Minister for Liverpool City Centre from 1999-2009. During this time I encountered the community she led, called Somewhere Else (aka the… Read more »
LAST MONTH, in my role as Open Table Network Coordinator, I was interviewed by Revd Phillip Johnson, vicar of the Parish of Malvern Link With Cowleigh, which is discerning whether to host an Open Table community. Phillip and I met in 2019 while taking part in the Journey of Hope pilgrimage exploring Christian reconciliation in action. His peace-making ministry has… Read more »
IT’S BEEN a year since the sixth step on the Journey of Hope pilgrimage of training in ‘Christian peace-building and reconciliation… to inspire and equip Christian leaders to become skilled practitioners of reconciliation in their churches and communities.’ reconcilerstogether.co.uk The pilgrimage journey included five residential modules from January to June 2019 – I wrote my reflections on each of the previous steps… Read more »
This is a reflection on two Bible texts: Isaiah 43:1,4 and Mark 5:1-20, created for an online gathering of LGBTI+ Christian groups on Friday 22nd May 2020
Tens of thousands of Christians lit candles in their homes and prayed on Sunday 22nd March in response to a call to prayer initiated by the Presidents of Churches Together in England (CTE). So many participants shared photos of their candles on social media that CTE reports the hashtag #candleofhope became Twitter’s second most trending hashtag in the UK during Sunday evening. Often on… Read more »
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 This June, his son Franklin intends to come to the city, though the venue has withdrawn the booking, as have all seven of the other UK venues on his planned tour.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?
AT A carol service this month, hosted by the Open Table inclusive Christian community in Liverpool, I read one of the prayers, which I found moving, inspiring and too good not to share. It’s a prayer for Christmas morning produced by enfleshed.com, a website which provides resources ‘that matter most. that addresses honestly, tenderly, and directly, the beauty and pain of living… Read more »
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.
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.
