Tag: pastoral care

A brief history of Open Table – A journey in grace and truth

THIS is an extract from a newly published book, Journeys in Grace and Truth, which asks: Is it possible to hold a positive view of same-sex relationships while being a biblically rooted Evangelical? It features essays from twelve senior Anglican Evangelicals who believe so, and share how they came to new insights.  These include the current and …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/06/21/a-brief-history-of-open-table-a-journey-in-grace-and-truth/

#WeAreOrlando – Solidarity with those lost and injured in terror attack #OnePulse #LoveWins

SUCH a sad few days since news of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub broke on Sunday. The worst terror attack on US soil since 9/11, the worst gun crime in US history, and perhaps the largest murder of LGBT people since the Holocaust. How do we respond in the face of such horror? I have …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/06/17/weareorlando-solidarity-with-those-lost-and-injured-in-terror-attack-onepulse-lovewins/

One flesh: The play – #LGBTHM review part 7

In Interfaith Week, November 2015, the LGBT Foundation in Manchester held an event called ‘Believing In LGBT Young People‘, which was the inspiration for the Divine Love event I facilitated in Liverpool in LGBT History Month this February. At this event I met a young playwright and director who was promoting her new play, One Flesh, …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/05/17/one-flesh-the-play-lgbthm-review-pt-7/

Barnardo’s Faith Toolkit – #LGBTHM review part 5

  IN OCTOBER 2014, the UK Government announced £2 million funding for charities offering creative ideas to stamp out homophobic, biphobic and transphobic (HBT) bullying in schools. In March 2015, eight organisations received a share of the fund, including the children’s charity Barnardo’s, for its plan ‘to provide face-to-face support for victims of HBT bullying and training for …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/04/24/barnardos-faith-toolkit-lgbthm-review-pt-5/

Sorry seems to be the hardest word – On the C of E’s apology to LGBTI Christians

‘It’s a sad, sad situation, and it’s getting more and more absurd.’ So sang Elton John 40 years ago – his lament for a lost relationship could have been written for the Church of England this past month. At the first full meeting of its governing body this year, the General Synod met this week to …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2016/02/20/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word-on-the-cofes-apology-to-lgbti-christians/

A momentous decade – Reflecting on ten years of UK civil partnerships

IT’S TEN YEARS this month since the first civil partnerships for same-sex couples in the UK. The first couple to benefit from the new legal recognition for their relationship were Chris Cramp and Matthew Roche from West Sussex, on 5th December 2005. Yet when images from the first UK civil partnerships appear in the media …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/12/05/a-momentous-decade-reflecting-on-ten-years-of-uk-civil-partnerships/

Making noise for #AntiBullyingWeek, #InterfaithWeek, #TDOR

THIS WEEK in England there is an interesting combination of commemorations – Anti-Bullying Week, Interfaith Week, and Trans* Awareness Week, culminating today in Trans* Day of Remembrance (TDOR). I have been at four events in the past week to mark these campaigns: ‘An All Embracing Faith’ – Keynote speech by Ruth Hunt, CEO of Stonewall …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/11/20/makingnoise-antibullying-interfaith-tdor/

What is a ‘shared conversation’?

WHAT IS a conversation if it’s not shared? Talking to myself? Enjoying the sound of my own voice? Only hearing views I agree with? This odd phrase was chosen by the Church of England to describe its facilitated listening process to seek some reconciliation, or at least ‘good disagreement’ over diverse views on sexuality and same-sex …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2015/10/26/what-is-a-shared-conversation/

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/

Load more