Living in Love and Faith

The Church of England has been struggling for some time to find ways of resolving the disagreements that exist at all levels within the church on questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage, and on our pastoral practices in relation to these questions. These are questions which some of us may not want to consider and may instinctively seek to avoid. For some of us they may be painful and difficult to contemplate. But they will not easily go away and we cannot ignore them for much longer.

Following the General Synod meeting of February 2017 the Archbishops issued a joint letter in which they said that 

‘We need a radical new Christian inclusion in the church. This must be founded in Scripture, in reason, in tradition, in theology and the Christian faith as the Church of England has received it; it must be based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and a proper twenty-first century understanding of being human and being sexual.’

This led to the Living in Love and Faith project, the results of which were published earlier this year in the form of a set of resources, including a book, a short course, video materials and a comprehensive reading list. 

The Bishops of the Church of England have invited every one of us to engage with these resources and to learn ‘…how the Christian  understanding of God relates to questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.’ Above all they exhort us to walk with them ‘…in a new stage of our common life in Christ so that speaking the truth in love, godly discernment and right decisions can be made over contested matters of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage’. Their prayer is that ‘…all of us, the people of God, take time and listen and learn together.’

It is important to note that there is no agenda behind these materials. The aim is enlightenment, to shine a light on what for some people are dark corners and to discern ways in which Christians might understand the issues. Where there are disagreements and doubts, and there will be some, the hope is that we can all co-exist together and live with them and be guided ultimately by love.

The Diocese of Durham discussed this at Diocesan Synod in May and everyone is encouraged to study the materials and, if possible, attend a Living in Love and Faith study course which parishes and deaneries are being encouraged to provide later this year.

It is planned to hold a Parish course in church. There will also be a Deanery course on 6 Thursdays using  Zoom.

On six successive Wednesdays commencing 15^th September we will run the LLF course in church at 7.00pm for any who wish to attend. (An online course covering the same material will be offered on Thursday evenings (7.00pm) commencing October 21^st over Zoom). The course involves discussion, study of scripture and listening (both to one another but also to the stories of others made available to us through video and audio material).

All are welcome.

September 15^th: Learning Together: What does it mean to learn together as followers of Jesus Christ? 

September 22^nd: Identity: How does our identity in Christ relate to sex and gender? 

September 29^th: Relationships: What kinds of relationships does God call us to? 

October 6^th: Sex: Where do our bodies and sex fit in to all of this? 

October 13^th: Life together: How do diversity and difference affect our life together as a church? 

October 20^th: What next?

A huge range of course material has been made available online. Whether you are able to attend a group or not you may wish to investigate this:

Living in Love and Faith materials are available at https://www.churchofengland.org/LLF You can download a pdf version of the book and/or access a wide range of videos and other materials and it’s all free.