Background
We reached out to several groups in September 2024 who share similar interests in order to find common ground in accordance with our aims and values.
Among the groups are One Body One Faith, Quest, Affirming Catholicism, Inclusive Church, The Naz & Matt Foundation and Unadulterated Love.
In February 2025 after receiving replies, we are publishing the letter sent privately in September 2024 in the interests of transparency.
Correspondence
Dear Chair/Executive/Secretary,
We are contacting you with details of our network which you may know was last launched last year.
We are LGB Christians, a new movement of lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians and our friends, motivated to defend the rights of LGB people in the face of increasing backlash and confusion. We are ecumenical, non-party political, and not affiliated with any organisation.
We are based in the UK but keen to develop contacts with other similar bodies wherever they are based.
Mindful of the many Christian and other organisations campaigning and educating on matters of sex, sexuality, and gender, we very much wish to join hands with others and work together on issues of shared concern.
We will work respectfully, valuing common ground and good disagreement. We will be open to collaboration with any organisation that upholds the nine protected characteristics as defined in law, including sex, sexual orientation and religion/belief.
What is distinctive about our initiative is that we will focus specifically on the rights, needs and contributions of LGB Christians and our friends, always being mindful of safeguarding responsibilities.
Like you, we are aware, for instance, of LGB Christians being asked to leave churches:
- for expressing gender-critical views,
- for being in same-sex relationships,
- and being barred from ordination or refused a blessing on the grounds of their sexual orientation, or for the views they hold about them
Homophobia in many guises remains prevalent within Christianity, and must be constantly challenged. We are also aware of good news stories showing how some churches are becoming more inclusive and rebuilding their ways of reading the Bible, for example in the work of Rev Nick Bundock at St James and Emmanuel, Didsbury.
We would very much like to share with you our statement of aims, our values, and our plans in greater detail.
These are some key contributions available on the website, and many more are coming.
- Revd Lorenzo Fernandez-Smal Same-sex attracted Christians are now caught between two competing orthodoxies
- Dr Sarah Rutherford Gender identity captures the cofe: The shameful brainwashing of children
- Rev Mike Starkey Reflections on Inclusive Christianity: Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Stonewall
- Rachel Evans A Scandal for Schools
- Debbie Hayton Exclusive: Debbie Hayton’s testimony
- Mark Chater Back to Nazareth: The Christian case for LGB Inclusion
- Benjamin Morse Paradise Calling: Inclusive Church and the Masquerade of Good Intentions
- Mark Bratton Book Review: Transformations – Grounding Theology in Trans and Non-Binary Lives by Alex Clare-Young
- All LGB Christians Press Releases
Please receive this letter as an expression of our desire to be open with you, and to collaborate wherever possible.
Please share this invitation with your Board/Trustees/Directors. Thank you.
Would you like to receive our newsletters?
We will be happy to answer questions and begin dialogue.
Yours in Christ.
Dr Mark Chater, Canon Mark Bratton, Dr Sarah Rutherford, Richard Kirker
on behalf of the steering committee