The Iwerne Trust produced many of the most prominent Evangelical Christian leaders, people associated with Reformed theology in the Church of England over the past 40 years. At the heart of the Iwerne philosophy was a brand of wholehearted, sacrificial, masculine Christianity maintained by a detailed programme of supervision. Its origins lie in the toxic culture created by the founder of the Iwerne network, Eric Nash. John Smyth’s regime of abuse continues to affect the culture of today’s Church of England. The powerful theology and culture of the movement is being leveraged in contemporary debates on gender and sexuality. It is abusive.
Living in Love and Faith in crisis: the latest manifestation of abuse in the Church
Changing Attitude England believes a moment of crisis has been reached in the sixty year period in which the Church of England has been addressing homosexuality, lesbian and gay sexuality, trans issues and LGBTIQ+ issues. The Church is confronted with a moment when it is either able to engage fully with the presence of LGBTIQ+ people and create a healthy environment in which we are treated as adults and equals or it is unable to do so and continues to abuse us.
The inability to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy Christianity
We are all implicated in the systemic abuse of people within the Church of England because we, the Church, have become infected to a greater or lesser degree by our inability to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy ideas about God, healthy and unhealthy theologies, healthy and unhealthy readings of the Bible, healthy and unhealthy practices and teachings. The Church will not begin to overcome the effects of this unhealthy, abusive culture until it is able to examine with clarity exactly what is healthy and unhealthy in today’s Christian teaching and practice.
Purposeful Sexuality – naive, dangerous ideas about LGBTIQ+ and straight identities
Ed Shaw, a church pastor in Bristol, part of the team of the Living Out group, and a member of Living in Love and Faith Pastoral Advisory Group has recently published Purposeful Sexuality. Ed’s ideas about LGBTIQ+ people as revealed in his book demonstrate the theology and experience of people who have internalised a punitive version of God found in salvation theology. Ed is just one among thousands of people in the Church of England who either share his theology or are intimidated into accepting this false, dangerous theology by powerful conservative networks in the Church. The LLF book and course would not be necessary but for their deep influence within the Church of England, in the hierarchy and in every diocese.
Whither the Church of England – London diocese an exemplar?
David Goodhew’s blog Whither the Church of England? charted the Church of England’s declining trajectory in terms of numbers. Goodhew reported that most C of E dioceses have seen a deep decline in attendance in recent decades but only one diocese, London, has grown. He argues that the C of E learn from the Diocese of London, respecting rather than criticising the elements (largely the HTB model) that have created this success. Thanks to Changing Attitude England’s strong links with the Diocese of London, we are learning from a variety of sources that it is the diocese with the highest reported level of systemic homophobia, abuse and prejudice against LGBTIQ+ people. Is this the kind of model diocese those who wish to arrest the decline in numbers in the Church of England wish to replicate elsewhere?
Victim of abuse failed by London bishops who perversely then pursue the victim’s defender
This blog describes the abuse experienced by Rachel Gillingham at St Luke’s, Kentish Town, and the complaint for misconduct raised against Fr Robert Thompson, Vicar of St James’ Church, West Hampstead in the same Deanery under the Clergy Discipline Measure. Fr Robert is supporting and advocating on behalf of Rachel. The hierarchy of the Church of England when dealing with cases of abuse has repeatedly prioritised the defence of the reputation of individual bishops and of the Church rather than recognising the impact on victims and the priority to deal effectively with the abuse perpetrated on them. Rachel’s abuser has not been effectively dealt with by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, nor by the Bishop of Edmonton the Rt Revd Rob Wickham, who instead pursue Robert, a gay priest.
Sex, Power, Control – Changing Attitude, LLF and the House of Bishops
Sex, Power, Control: Responding to Abuse in the Institutional Church by Fiona Gardner has valuable lessons for those involved in the Changing Attitude England Campaign to challenge the bishops, the people who are ultimately solely responsible for the LLF process and its outcome. The steering group for CA England believes we must reclaim our narrative for the full equality of LGBTIQ+ people in ministry and relationships, taking back the narrative from the Bishops, clear that we are not objects to be analysed but people with explicit demands and expectations. We will spell out for the bishops and the Next Steps process exactly what equality means for us, saying explicitly what we want and do not want when bishops present LLF to Synod. LLF is a distraction - the now is the time for radical challenge.
Living in Love and Faith in a Systemically Abusive Church
The Living in Love and Faith book is to be published on 9 November 2020 just weeks after the publication of three devastating reports about safeguarding failures and abuse in the Church. Despite the progress in understanding made in the previous reports about homosexuality contemporary C of E practice and culture is still shockingly abusive and homophobic. Many people are implicated in abuse or in covering up abuse to protect the reputation of bishops and senior clergy and of the church. The LLF report must be judged by the degree to which it recognises the systemic culture of prejudice and homophobia in the C of E and makes recommendations to deal with this effectively and speedily.
How to confront a hypocritical and abusive institution
On Monday, Jayne Ozanne, a member of the General Synod and campaigner for LGBTI equality, talked about “the deep levels of hypocrisy that exist among certain church leaders” and said she believed it’s time to end this hypocritical charade, time for honesty and plain straight speaking. I believe it is time to force the Church of England to face the truth, confronting Archbishops and bishops and the people who control the levers of power in the institution with the truth directly from the inside.
I repeat: The Church of England is systemically abusive
Transgender and Intersex friends of mine and the wider Transgender and Intersex networks to which they belong are angry at the way they feel the LLF process abused them. The serious concerns reported repeatedly by some have not been taken onboard. From my liminal place in relation to the Church of England my perspective is clearly at odds with those who are committed to the protection and preservation of the institution. I do not see best practice or the highest interests of LGBTI+ people being upheld.