Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Are Charismatic Evangelical Anglican churches becoming more welcoming and open to LGBTQIA+ people?
Jonathan Surviving Church Three Years On after a NDA: Lessons Learnt
Archdruid Eileen The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley Re-envisioning the Midsomer Benefice
Many thanks to Colin Coward for his explorations. I did a similar tour around London diocese on foot, via tube, bus, etc. in 2011-15. I still make periodic forays (my office is now close to St Paul’s). The rehabilitation of St Leonard’s Shoreditch is, it has to be said, something of a relief: it seemed pretty benighted when I went there, but there were then significant crowds at St John’s Hackney (though it then badly needed a lick or more of paint). My experience of a decade or more ago was that central London had been metamorphosing into a sequence… Read more »
I’m struck by Colin Coward’s description of the security at some of these churches. I have encountered an evangelical church whose doors are closed and only accessible if someone with a lanyard opens them for you. I really don’t understand why a church would conduct itself as if it were the HQ of a massive business. The cynical part of me assumes it is to keep out the poor and the lame, who might spoil the vibe.
Although I know some churches in the USA have security of this kind, for good reason (see the reports from Minneapolis this week), I am surprised to hear of it in the UK. My own parish, in Pennsylvania, does keep the doors locked when the buildings are not in use, but the idea of having a security officer at the door during worship services appalls me.
It’s good to hear from Colin Coward that some evangelical churches are more welcoming to LGBTQIA Christians but for me that avoids a fundamental question. As Christians we believe that we are all loved by God (Sinner and Saint).and God will judge, not us. So by what right does a church get to pick and choose who it welcomes to God’s table ? Our welcome should be unconditional and if it isn’t that is a grave sin. I am David not Dave because I was Christened David not Dave. I find it very ironic that the informality of “Dave” is… Read more »
Paul was a bit picky.
I would never walk through the doors of a Church where the minister’s name is Nicky, Dave, Pete or Matt. It’s bound to be insufferably ‘trendy’, very judgemental and where the preacher propounds arrogant evangelical certainty.
Yeah, after all Jesus would never have given his mates nicknames would he? He’d never have called his friends “Rocky”, or “Thunder sons” would he?