Our journey so far

In October 2018 the four bishops of the Diocese of Oxford issued Clothe Yourselves with Love: a pastoral letter on the inclusion of and care for LGBTI+ people within the diocese. Just over a year later, the diocese launched a chaplaincy service for LGBTI+ people and their families.

In November last year, the Church of England published a landmark set of resources to aid discernment and decision-making on questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. Living in Love and Faith is the most extensive research into this area by any church, and it’s designed to enable a period of church-wide learning and engagement to take place during 2021, after which there will be recommendations made for the future life and mission of the Church.

The resources draw together the bible, theology, science and history with powerful real-life stories designed to help every Christian explore questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.

In the Diocese of Oxford, we are encouraging parishes and deaneries to run the LLF course and to engage with the LLF materials between September and December. This timetable is to allow time for a proper focus on regathering after the lockdowns and, we hope, to enable the conversations to be face to face as well as online. The national Next Steps group will be gathering feedback from thousands of different groups across the country. This timetable will allow responses to be made as part of the national process.

We are encouraging everyone who engages with the LLF material to fill in the LLF survey available on the LLF Hub (there’s also a Word doc version available). Feedback is anonymous, but please include the code LWC28OD so we can track the number of responses from our diocese.

The LLF Next Steps Group have, with the agreement of the archbishops, extended the window for LLF engagement and response until April 2022. That doesn’t stop parishes/benefices engaging this autumn, but it does give some extra time for those who aren’t quite ready.

The change in timetable means that the findings of the Listening to the Whole Church process will be reported at the beginning of September 2022. The plan is to maintain the November 2022 General Synod meeting as the moment when a clear sense of direction is reached.

Register for LLF Course Facilitator training

Our team of LLF area advocates will be leading training for clergy and lay leaders who plan to facilitate the LLF Course in the autumn or early 2022.  If you are planning to facilitate the LLF Course with a local group in your parish/benefice or deanery, please register for a 2-hour workshop. Many of you will already have experience of facilitating learning or events. This workshop will help us explore together how to facilitate discussions in a sensitive and possibly divisive area.

We will consider adding more dates if there is sufficient demand for further sessions.

Whilst we’d love to connect locally with those doing the training, there are also some nationally run sessions coming up if they work better for you:

  • Tuesday 28th September (10am – 12pm)

To register for one of these sessions, please email Georgina Morgan.

All course material is available for free when you register on the LLF hub. There are also printed copies of the course booklet available – if you’d like a free copy please contact us.

Introductory webinars

In June we hosted three introductory webinars to introduce LLF to the diocese. These events were attended by more than 400 people across the diocese and received excellent feedback from those who attended.

You can watch the presentations within these webinars by clicking the links below. The presenter was Revd Dr Eeva John, the Church of England’s Enabling Officer for LLF.

LLF session 1: How can we learn well together

LLF session 2: Studying the Bible together

LLF session 3: Thinking about friendship

LLF session 4: The LLF journey

LLF Advocates

Please feel free to contact any of the LLF advocates below to find out more about how the LLF process might work in your context.

Berkshire Area

Revd Mark Bennet

Buckingham Area

Revd Gill Barrow-Jones

Doral Hayes

Dorchester Area

Revd Tess Kuin-Lawton

Oxford Area

Revd Anthony Buckley

Diocese-wide

Revd Marcus Green

Diocesan Facilitator

Revd Gill Lovell

Diocesan Facilitator

Hannah Ling

FAQs

Living in Love and Faith (LLF) is a landmark set of resources produced by the Church of England to aid discernment and decision-making on questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage. It’s designed to enable a period of church-wide learning using the LLF course, films, podcast and other resources in the online library. Find out more about LLF.

The LLF process is a unique opportunity to play your part in the life and direction of the Church of England. It’s about being open together to hearing what God is saying to the Church of England today. The hope is that churches across the country will run the LLF course in small groups and contribute responses (as a group or individually) to be gathered and fed into the next stage of the General Synod debate in 2022. Find out more about how to make your voice heard.

Start by asking your vicar or church leadership team whether they are or would consider running an LLF Course you can join. If your church is not taking part at this time, contact one of the LLF advocates to find out if there is a course running near you that you can join. There are other resources available on the LLF Hub including a book and podcast episodes. You can go through the resources yourself, but the hope is that most people will engage with the resources (most likely through the LLF course) with others.

Through the LLF process, it’s hoped that churches across England will engage in a discussion and learn together on questions of identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.

The process involving the whole church is also to gain feedback (through an online survey) to enable the Church of England to listen to your learning, reflections and experiences of engaging with the LLF resources. Your feedback will help inform discussions in General Synod. Read the full learning outcomes for the process.

We are encouraging everyone who engages with the LLF content to complete the survey which is available through the LLF Hub or as a Word doc. All feedback is anonymous, but we would love you to use the code LWC28OD so we can track the number of responses from the diocese.

If you have more questions, you can contact your area LLF advocate or send your question to llf@oxford.anglican.org.

Here’s a suggested prayer for anyone who wants to pray for the LLF process:

God, whose name is Love,
Whose gift is life,
Whose word holds all in being;
Bless Living in Love and Faith to your church
As we seek to grow together
Into the truth of our humanity and longings,
Into communities where all find welcome,
Into the fullness that is your image in us;
Through the Word made flesh,
Our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.

A comprehensive suite of LLF resources

  • Living in Love and Faith book – Amid the biblical, theological, historical and scientific exploration, each of the five parts includes encounters with real, contemporary disciples of Christ whose stories raise questions which ask us to discern where God is active in human lives. Order from Church House Publishing.
  • A five-session course for small groups – including videos and a booklet to use. Order your free copy of the LLF Course booklet.
  • Living in Love and Faith learning hub – an online resource library of over 300 resources to draw from including story films, podcasts, and teaching resources. Log in/register for the LLF hub.

Other links and useful information