Inclusive Church is an organisation founded in 2003 that advocates for the full inclusion of all people regardless of disability, economic power, ethnicity,

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, and

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

, in the Christian churches (especially the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

), including in the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More broadly, it seeks "to raise awareness about the ways that people feel excluded by the church".

Founding and organisation

Inclusive Church was founded in 2003, following the resignation of Jeffrey John, a

celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...

gay

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, as Bishop-''designate'' of Reading, following controversy over his homosexuality. It was also founded as a response to the Church of England's then-rejection of women as bishops. The organisation's petition against John's resignation achieved nearly 10,000 signatures. Its first chair (until 2005) was Giles Fraser, then vicar of St Mary's, Putney and later Canon Chancellor of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

; later chairs have been Giles Goddard (2005–2012),

Dianna Gwilliams Dianna Lynn Gwilliams DL (born 26 May 1957) is an American-British retired Anglican priest. She served as Dean of Guildford, 2013–2023. Early life and education Gwilliams was born on 26 May 1957 in Colorado, United States. She grew up in ...

(2012–2022) and Dan Barnes-Davies (since 2022). In the decade after its creation, Inclusive Church's focus broadened away from gender and sexual orientation. The organisation seeks to include all who feel excluded from churches. In 2014–2015, the organisation published a series of books under the title Inclusive Church Resource, dealing with disability, mental health, sexuality, poverty, ethnicity, and gender. Inclusive Church's national co-ordinator is Chantal Noppen. Its board includes elected independent trustees alongside representatives from other organisations with similar aims, such as Changing Attitude, the Association of Black Clergy,

Women and the Church Women and the Church (WATCH) is a group of women and men who have been campaigning for gender equality (and especially for the ordination of women as bishops) in the Church of England. The group was initially created during the 1990s as London WAT ...

, and Modern Church. Most member churches are part of the

, but there are also member churches from the

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

, the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. The URC is a Trinitarian church whose theolog ...

, independent churches and churches outside the UK.

Lectures

In 2013, Inclusive Church started hosting an annual lecture related to the organisation's goals. The inaugural lecture was given by Martyn Percy, then principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon, and later Dean of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

, and was entitled "Beyond Inclusion: Whose Church Is It Anyway?" In 2014, the lecture was given by

Linda Woodhead Linda Jane Pauline Woodhead (born 15 February 1964) is a British sociologist of religion and scholar of religious studies at King's College London Faculty of Arts and Humanities. She is best known for her work on religious change since the 1 ...

, Professor of Sociology of Religion at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

, and was entitled "Whatever happened to

Liberal Christianity Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology and historically as Christian modernism (see Catholic modernism and fundamentalist–modernist controversy), is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by prioritizing modern knowle ...

2015 General Synod campaign

In January 2015, Inclusive Church, in partnership with other organisations, began a campaign focused on the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

elections taking place later that year. The campaign aimed to "work against discrimination" in the Church of England during the five-year synod term. It was described by the campaign co-ordinator as "an attempt to increase the number of people on General Synod, both lay and clergy, who would take an inclusive line against discrimination on areas of gender, race and sexual orientation".

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.inclusive-church.org.uk/ LGBTQ Christian organizations LGBTQ and Anglicanism Christian advocacy groups