The Possibility of Difference

If you want to get a decent snap shot of how it feel to be gay around the church today, you could do worse than watch the first episode of season two of Queer Eye on Netflix. Catch up: Queer Eye sees five gay guys come and in a week help transform some poor straight bloke somewhere in Georgia into something like the man he always thought he was. Or wanted to be. Except...the bloke isn't always straight, it turns out. And in episode one of series two, the Fab Five help a straight woman transform her church hall from an empty shell into a vibrant hub for her community, with the bonus of working with her and her gay son... In the truck as they go to meet Miss Tammye in Gay, Georgia (yes, there's a town called Gay) the Five talk about their response to helping a church. One says he loves Jesus - it's the church he has issues with. One says he's always had great experiences and love from the church. One can hardly bear it; his upbringing was very religious and he jus...

The Church of England is enjoying a period of reflection as it prepares new teaching and pastoral documents on human sexuality. Inevitably, this means that various sides of the debate are enjoying some ecclesiastical Hokey Cokey. Some are putting their left foot in. Others are putting their right foot in. In, out, in out, everything's being shaken all about... At the beginning of May, the Diocese of Lichfield issued a statement saying they welcomed and honoured LGTB+ people. OK, we know where Lichfield stands then. They recognise there's a national debate, but they are pretty clear where they want that debate to end up. Lichfield is inclusive. Left foot in. The conservative evangelical Bishop of Maidstone (who, despite his title, isn't limited to Kent, but works with conservative evangelical churches across the country who for various reasons don't feel comfortable with their geographical episcopal oversight) responded to this . Right foot in. Of the responses ...

News in on The Possibility of Difference , to be published by Kevin Mayhew    this autumn:   I am delighted to announce that prolific writer and former Bishop of Oxford John Pritchard has provided a foreword to the book!  Bishop John writes:  Why another book?  Because this one has the unique gift of being personal, courteous and eminently approachable.  Marcus Green writes as a convinced evangelical who lives with his homosexuality in a relaxed and thoughtful way, loving his Lord and wanting to live in a Big House where there exists the ‘possibility of difference.’  I met Marcus in the underbelly of Blackwell’s bookshop in Oxford some time ago and congratulated him on his generous submission to a Church of England report on gay relationships. I asked if he had thought of writing it up in more substantial form. And now he has... Here are some other reactions that have already come in from those who have seen early copies o...