I’ve launched a Vlog, related to the Unadulterated Love website and blog, to explore exactly this - what kind of God do I believe in, what kind of God does the Church believe in, what kind of God do you believe in.
Collegiality and Tutufication
Canon Mark Oakley has coined a new word, saying “we need a brave Tutufication of the Church, allowing bishops more creativity, freedom of speech and honesty about what they believe, with a commitment to never let religion compromise justice.” I believe the entirety of the Church of England needs a far more radical ‘Tutufication’. For a start, the Church needs bishops who with the courage and independence of mind to individually Tutuficate themselves. Today’s House of Bishops is composed of men and women with none of the Christian conviction, courage, radicalism, independence of mind, freedom of heart and soul, playfulness and energy that fuelled Desmond Tutu and transformed people open enough to respond to his proclamation of God’s unconditional love, energy, truth and justice.
The abusive toxic culture produced by the evangelical doctrine of penal substitution
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.
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.
Campaigning for radical LGBTIQ+ inclusion
Why do we, LGBTIQ+ people become so quickly disputatious and defensive among ourselves? Because we have been living in an incredibly unhealthy, abusive, toxic environment in Church and Society for centuries for starters. We don’t seem to recognise that this unhealthy, toxic, abusive environment continues to dominate nationally, however much our local church seems to be welcoming and valued. There is a reluctance to organise ourselves to campaign actively for an ambition far greater than the Archbishops’ understanding of what radical inclusion means - a really radically inclusive outcome for LGBTIQ+ people.