We have been busy uploading all sorts of new content to our YouTube channel this month. The first new video is of our latest Annual Lecture by Ellen Clark-King - well worth a watch. The transcript is also available on our website.

Secondly, we have finally overcome some technical difficulties to upload the entirety of last year's Disability Conference, which was the first one we did online, with the help and partnership of our friends at HeartEdge and St Martin-in-the-Fields. Enjoy watching all those videos here.

I first came across Inclusive Church when our church decided to ‘come out’ as inclusive. We realised that if we wanted people to know they would be welcomed and accepted, then we needed to tell them. So we contacted Inclusive Church and the now, ‘OneBodyOneFaith’ and registered with both.  

We wanted to go beyond just registering and we bought the set of Inclusive Church books which our clergy have read, and one of our house-groups used them for study and then shared with the rest of the church. We had, for example, a presentation on poverty and inclusion, including a drama, and highlighted the ways that someone without much money could feel uncomfortable in church life (‘please donate to this’, ‘suggested donation’ for that, and the offering plate being passed around with only sometimes a mention that it’s fine to just pass it along). We sent a letter to the government with our concerns about the rollout of universal credit and the foodbank rep gave us a reminder of what was needed at the moment (the foodbank collection box was always out each week).

I have been grateful to be connected to Inclusive Church for resources and information, for attending the annual AGM lecture with my colleagues (listening to, and then meeting, Ruth Hunt in 2018 was wonderful!), and it feels very important to me that there is this whole network of people with the same interest at heart – of wanting to share the inclusive heart of God in how we live and in how we do church. We are not alone, which is wonderful (and also means that there are people there who have likely got ideas and resources when we get stuck!).  

I’m an ambassador with Inclusive Church now and happy to hear from people who want to find out more, or to connect with an inclusive church. I am delighted to work together with the other inclusive city centre churches so that we can help people to find the church, or churches, that are a good ‘fit’ for them. We also work together as part of a team who plan Christians at Pride, Birmingham (in the parade and on the roadside), advertising together to welcome students, and sharing information and resources throughout the year.  

Inclusive Church is crucial in helping us all to live out inclusion – there are others who understand, who can help resource and share advice and ideas, and the online register helps people to find us (and helps inclusive churches to find each other) – it’s all invaluable. Thank you Inclusive Church.

Ruth Yorke is a Deacon in the ministry team at Carrs Lane Church in Birmingham city centre and a regional ambassador for Inclusive Church.

IC blogs and news

As promised, there are two new IC stories this month: Anthony Freeman, the secretary of our board, has written his, and one of our regional ambassadors, Ruth Yorke, has written hers too. You can read Ruth's above or on our blog, and you can read Anthony's on the blog too.

There are two further blogs this month on the website. The first is about a new organisation representing UKME (minority ethnic) ordinands and curates in the Church of England. The second is about the inclusive candidates for the General Synod elections, which are now underway.

The consultation with members and supporters on your experience of online church is closing on the 30th September. The response has been really good. This is your last chance to have your say!

The IC Annual Review for 2020-2021 is out now. You can read it and download it on our website.

Other news

Augustine Tanner-Ihm is the new curate at one of our inclusive churches, St James and Emmanuel in Didsbury, Manchester, and he has been profiled in the Manchester Evening News. Worth a read!

Methodist churches are now able to conduct same-sex marriages, as the paperwork has been complete. Read more from Ruth Yorke in the Regional Ambassadors section below.

We have a great network of ambassadors covering different parts of England and Wales. They are the representatives of Inclusive Church on the ground. You can find out who the ambassadors are - and where they are - by looking on the Regional Ambassadors page of our website.

Details of the role description for ambassadors is also available on the website. If you want to be an ambassador for your area, get in touch with the National Coordinator.

New ambassador for Lichfield:

David Babbington has moved on to work at Mirfield, so we have a new ambassador to replace him in Lichfield. Welcome to Colin Townsend and thank you to David for everything you've done! You can get in touch with Colin through the Regional Ambassadors page.

Update from Birmingham ambassador, Ruth Yorke:

The UK Methodist Church has now released the papers approved by the General Register Office that will make it possible for Methodist Churches to be registered for weddings of any couple - same sex and opposite sex couples!

This is a long-awaited move for many Methodists, and I am excited that we will soon be able to offer anyone who would like to, to get married in church - which is as it always should have been.

Whilst I'm sorry it's taken us so long, as I said to someone recently, 'even when it's frustrating when someone's late to a party, the only thing to do then is just welcome them and get on with the party'. Whilst we wish it had all happened sooner and people have had to wait too long, we are grateful to finally be in this place.

Alongside this decision at Methodist Conference this year, there was also a decision to ban any kind of conversion therapy in, or in the name of, the Methodist Church, and to write to the government about this. Also, there was a decision to communicate an unreserved and complete apology to people who are LGBT+ for how they have been treated in the church, and a commitment to make things different for the future, partly in the implementation of a new 'strategy for Justice, Dignity and Solidarity'.

Methodist Conference also committed to being clear about gender pronouns and, where possible, using gender neutral language in its official reports and documents. The report about relationships also spoke about recognition and support for couples cohabiting and couples divorcing.

There are people who struggle particularly with the decision around marriage, and if you would like to, please hold in your prayers churches having discussions in the coming weeks and months about what to do in their local church now that the decision is theirs to make. I am grateful and excited to be part of an inclusive and affirming church, and we are very much looking forward to being able to authorise marriages of any couple who love each other, and to celebrate with those couples and their loved ones.

The Methodist church liturgy and resources are on this page if they may be of interest.

Every Wednesday, between 6 and 6.30pm, OneBodyOneFaith are hosting an online space for prayer called 'Rhythm'. Find out more on their website.

Sunderland Minster is holding a celebration service to mark it becoming an inclusive church! This will take place on the 27th September at 7pm. Contact regional ambassador, Jacqui Tyson, for more information.

On the 2nd October, CRCOnline are hosting an online conference entitled 'Worship in a Digital Age'. The keynote speaker will be Professor Stephen Burns from the University of Divinity in Melbourne. Find our more and book through the Eventbrite page.

The 10th annual conference on disability and church, a partnership between St Martin in the Fields & Inclusive Church- (Still) Calling from the Edge - will take place on Saturday 16th October 2021.  We'll be online again this year, hosted by HeartEdge. Details and registration through Eventbrite.

PCN are hosting the final Marcus Borg memorial conference on the 19th October. It is entitled Progressive Christianity: Hope for the Future? To find out more and book, go to the PCN website.

From the 29th to the 31st October, Holyrood House are offering a residential LGBTQI+ retreat led by Urs Mattmann, a psychotherapist and Christian author on spirituality. You can find out more on the Holyrood House website. 

To ensure that you continue to receive this newsletter, please make sure you let us know if you change your email address.

The content of the newsletter is drawn from a number of sources including individuals and partner organisations. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect a 'formal viewpoint' of the Inclusive Church trustees, individual members of Inclusive Church or registered inclusive churches.

You can see an online version of this newsletter and previous newsletters by going to the newsletters page of the IC website.