Each year between 1,800 and 2,000 representatives of the Baptist Churches and colleges who are members of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) meet for an Annual Assembly.  The Faith and Society Department of BUGB and Affirm (the Baptist Network affirming Lesbian and Gay Christians) held a well-attended Seminar at the May 2013 Assembly on the Pastoral Care of LGBT Christians at which stories were shared by LGBT Christians and Jeremy Marks told the story of the journey of Courage from “ex-gay” to affirming of faithful same-sex partnerships.   This is the first year that such a seminar has been held as part of the official programme and the fruit of many years of patient faithful witness “one heart at a time” encouraging fellow Baptists to move on a journey of understanding and discernment seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

A session on the final morning of the Assembly, involving the whole body of delegates began with a Biblical discussion of Isaiah 42 suggesting the way God calls his servant people to deal with new situations.  A senior Regional Minister shared that one of his the children is gay and now in a civil partnership and said he spoke as a “parent struggling to understand”.  Delegates then broke into groups to discuss the question “How are we to respond in missional and pastoral ways to people in faithful same-sex relationships within our churches?”  Feedback through a number of listeners revealed a genuine engagement – a “wrestling with the subject” as BUGB President Ernie Whalley described it.  It is a continuation of the conversation that Baptist minister Steve Chalke called for recently.  A report of the session is available through the following link:
http://www.baptisttimes.co.uk/index.php/news-national-news/924-monday-morning-session-discussion-on-same-sex-relationships

We are greatly encouraged by the Assembly and believe we are moving to a place where in a very Baptist way we can share our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus and our trust in the Holy Spirit, acknowledging we have a great deal to learn from each other.  This will involve disagreeing well, building confidence through the things we agree about, turning away from stridency, oozing gentleness and above all seeing Christ in each other.

Martin Stears-Handscomb, Avril MacKenzie-Parr

Joint Co-ordinators         Affirm (the Baptist Network)

For more information on ‘Affirm’ email: [email protected]

The Church of Scotland has voted by a clear majority to allow individual congregations to appoint openly gay ministers in Civil Partnerships.

The decision followed 2 years of reflection and debate, and marks a watershed in mainstream churches.  The Presbyterian Church of Scotland has a substantial conservative wing, but proposers of the motion hope that the church will stay together because it does not require more traditional congregations to ‘opt out’ of having a gay minister.  Rather is allows congregations to ‘opt in’.

At the same session of the church’s General Assembly, an alternative motion which simply reaffirmed the traditional rules of the church was rejected.

The key principles of the compromise…

1. Would not require the Church to abandon its traditional position.

2. But would allow individual congregations – by decisions of their Kirk Sessions – to depart from the Church’s traditional position.

3. Would allow ministers and deacons (current and prospective) who are in civil partnerships to be selected for training and to be trained. Would also allow them to be ordained/inducted into a charge the Kirk Session of which had decided to depart from the Church’s traditional position.

 The full text can be seen here:

 Importantly the resolution also preserves “liberty of opinion and responsible expression” and “would not permit harassing or bullying”.

The Church of Scotland is the largest religious group in Scotland with over 40% of the national population claiming it as their church.  If this historic vote by the Kirk succeeds in opening up recognised ministry to people in same-sex partnerships, while also preserving church unity, it may well be a blueprint that other denominations will consider.

Dear Friends

More Evangelical leaders back same-sex partnerships!

Following Steve Chalke and Rob Bell, more Evangelical leaders and pastors are speaking out for same-sex partnerships.

In the USA, Jim Wallis…

In a wide ranging interview with the Huffington Post, Sojourners’ founder and leader, Jim Wallis has said that he supports gay marriage as part of a much needed wider renewal of marriage in American society.

“I think we should include same-sex couples in that renewal of marriage, [but] I want to talk marriage first. Marriage needs some strengthening. Let’s start with marriage, and then I think we have to talk about, now, how to include same-sex couples in that deeper understanding of marriage.”

Jim Wallis has often been called a ‘progressive Evangelical’ by supporters and opponents alike, with his strong campaigning stance on issues such as poverty, social justice and climate change, but this is the first time he has gone on the record to support same-sex marriage.

You can see a video of the interview in full at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/05/jim-wallis-faith-politics-immigration_n_3024458.html

In the UK, Rev Paul Bailey…

…has become one of the first African-Caribbean Pentecostal ministers in Britain to state that the Black Christian community should be more inclusive and welcoming of gay people, and that the Bible contains theological grounds for same-sex marriage.

In an interview for ‘Keep the Faith’ magazine, which serves Black Pentecostal Churches in the UK, Paul pointed to Jesus example of welcome for the oppressed and a pattern of inclusion which continually pushed the boundaries of religious acceptance.  On the traditional ‘clobber texts’ he said,

“The statements in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Romans, 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy refer to a range of homosexual acts, but not to the issue of same-sex orientation, or to loving relationships between people of the same gender. Scripture should be applied in the light of God’s welcome of excluded peoples. If the Scriptures do not prohibit same-sex love, then who are we to exclude those whom God has included?”

Paul Bailey co-pastors The Regeneration Project in South London.

London Pride Service 2013

This year’s Pride Service will take place at 6pm on Saturday 6^th July at St Martin in the Fields Church, Trafalgar Square.

This year, Accepting Evangelicals and Evangelical Fellowship have been asked to plan the liturgy and the preacher will be Rev Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans Cathedral.  The service will be led by our own Benny Hazlehurst.

Unfortunately, since the venue and date were set last year, the date of the Pride March has been moved to the weekend before, so we and Christians at Pride want to encourage as many people as possible to come back on the 6^th July.

And Blackpool Pride…

Organiser Nina writes:

“After the success and fun of being in Blackpool Pride Parade last year we’ll walk as a group of Christians again this year. Last year several denominations joined in and we had a wonderfully positive reception from spectators who cheered and applauded. The crowd was delighted to see Christians standing up for a message of full acceptance for all people.”

To join Christians@Pride at Blackpool on Sat 8^th June email [email protected]  The day begins with bacon butties, prayer and praise at 9am, North Shore Methodist Church.

Greenbelt Festival 2013

Following our success at last year’s Greenbelt Festival, we have applied to hosting an exhibition stand again this August.  As last year, we will be doing this in partnership with Evangelical Fellowship, Two:23, and Affirm (The Baptist Network).

The stand will be in the G-source Tent and we will need a team of volunteers to staff it over the weekend (23^rd – 26^th August 2013).  If you would like to help, please email Benny at the following address: [email protected]

We can order weekend tickets for volunteers at a discount price so let us know if you are interested.

Other Events…

Our partner organisations also have a number of events over the coming months:

The Evangelical Fellowship for Lesbian and Gay Christians.

Our next conference is from Friday 25th October 5 pm to Sunday 27th October 2pm.  It is led by Rev Brian Smith with the title ‘Story Telling as part of the Christian life’.

For full details and booking form visit  http://www.eflgc.org.uk/events.asp#Forthcoming

Or phone John on 020 8411 0040

Two:23 Network

Has a full programme of speakers for 2013 at their meetings in London.

Satuday 18^th May – Ruth Valerio who is on the leadership team for Spring Harvest

Saturday 21^st September – Padraig O Tuama from Belfast

Saturday 30^th November – Steve Chalke from Oasis

More information is available here – http://two23.net/our-meetings/

And finally, ‘Ex Gay’ ministries…

One of our members drew our attention to a petition following a letter of apology from one of the leading advocates of ‘Reparative Therapy’ which claims to change sexual orientation by Christian discipleship and ministry.

John and Anne Paulk’s appearance on the cover of Newsweek magazine in 1998 provided huge publicity for the ‘Ex-gay’ movement when they claimed that reparative therapy had changed or cured their homosexual orientation.  They also wrote the book “Love won out” to persuade others to seek change in their sexual orientation through Christian ministry.

Now, however, he has issued a letter apologising for the damage his campaigning has done “to countless people” and stating categorically that it did not change his sexual orientation.

He continues, “Today, I see LGBT people for who they are — beloved, cherished children of God. I offer my most sincere and heartfelt apology to men, women, and especially children and teens who felt unlovable, unworthy, shamed or thrown away by God or the church.”

The petition asks for Newsweek (now a web publication) to publish an article with the same prominence to update the full story and the damage which Ex-gay ministries have done.

God Bless and Keep You…

Accepting Evangelicals