Inclusivity

Honest Church - An Inclusive Welcome - We are 'affirming and learning'.

Honest church is a Student Christian Movement idea to encourage churches to be honest about the welcome that people will receive. This is especially informative for those who are part of the LGTBQ+ community, but also for those for whom gender may have been a barrier to full inclusion in worship in the past. Honest Church produces a spectrum of welcome, with 1 as a lowest score and 5 as a highest. Everything from 3 and above suggests that a person will not be discriminated against on the basis of their gender, gender identity or sexuality. Click on the picture on the right to find out more about honest church.

Gender and Ministry:

We are a completely Egalitarian Church. Women and Men are not restricted to particular roles in ministry, and we are about a level 4-5 on the honest church Spectrum for Gender-based inclusivity. At the moment our local church happens to have an almost entirely female eldership, with female Rector, Rural Dean, Archdeacon and Suffragan Bishop.

LGTBQ+ Welcome:

As a whole benefice, on the honest church scale for LGTBQ+ welcome, we are at a 3-4, as we lack representation as a rural church. Our hope is that everyone will feel welcome, and that we will grow into a more diverse church over time.

Our clergy fully embrace the Prayers for Love and Faith and are more than happy to meet couples, singletons and families of all shapes and sizes, who want to ask for God's blessing on their lives.

Inclusive Church - "are we nearly there yet?"

Five of our six Churches are currently working through the inclusivity statement of Inclusive Church, and seeking opportunities to hear more about their work, before considering signing up as Inclusive Churches. We are not on the official list, but we do agree with their Statement that:

“We believe in inclusive church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate.

We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality.

We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.”