CAMPAIGNERS with opposing views of Living in Love and Faith (LLF) have responded to the General Synod’s decision on the next steps for the project after a five-hour debate on Thursday of last week.
The LLF process is ending, but the work will be taken forward by two new groups: the Relationships, Sexuality and Gender Working Group, and the Relationships, Sexuality and Gender Pastoral Consultative Group.
For the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), its national director, the Revd John Dunnett, said last Friday that the Synod’s acceptance of the House of Bishops’ proposal “to repaint the LLF bus and keep the journey going” risked “perpetuating the pain of many” unless they worked out how to accommodate “theological oil and water” in a way that provided “safe spaces” for everybody.
“CEEC’s conviction is that this cannot be done without a differentiated arrangement. We hope and pray that the House of Bishops will welcome such a discussion in order that a way can be found to resolve this ongoing and fractious disagreement,” he said.
A statement from Together for the Church of England, released after the debate, said that the House of Bishops had steadily retreated, owing to “threats and intimidation”, from what the Synod had agreed in 2023.
“The Church of England remains in an unjust and indefensible position,” the group said, even though “the pain of deferment and dithering” had been clearly expressed in the chamber.
“Among people in the pews, and among faithful LGBTQIA+ Christians across the country, the need for reform is clear. . . The [new] working group must start its work, and do so without any further delay.”
The group announced that it had drafted a private member’s motion as a first step towards “a full and serious discussion about the doctrine of marriage”. The motion says: “That this Synod affirm that there are no fundamental objections to being in a committed, faithful, intimate same-sex relationship, and that such a relationship can be entirely compatible with Christian discipleship.”
The Revd Robert Thompson, who was unable to attend the Synod in person as he was recovering from surgery, posted on X: “This debate is not about ‘issues’. It is not about ‘sensitivities’. It is not about ‘both sides’. It is about whether the Church will continue to treat queer love as a tolerated irregularity, or recognise it as a site of grace. . .
“For decades LGBTQIA+ people have carried the spiritual burden of this institution’s hesitation. We have been told to wait. To be patient. To understand process. To appreciate nuance. Meanwhile we have baptised children, buried the dead, preached the gospel, and prayed the liturgies, knowing that our own covenanted love remains the one thing the Church cannot quite bring itself to bless without qualification. Let that hypocrisy sink in.”