Cambridge University colleges hold new chapel services for gay and transgender Christians in a bid to be more inclusive

Nov 25, 2017 by

by Eleanor Harding, Mailonline:

Three Cambridge University colleges are holding special new chapel services for gay and transgender Christians in an effort to be more inclusive.

The sermons aim to create a ‘safe sacred space’ and show that Christianity can be welcoming of anyone, regardless of ‘sexuality or gender identity’.

One service, held recently at the famous King’s College Chapel from where Christmas Eve carols are broadcast, involved the congregation sitting on rugs on the floor and listening to trendy relaxing music in a bid to break with tradition.

Reverend Andrew Hammond, chaplain at the college, said he believed Church teaching needed to change on controversial issues because what mattered was the ‘quality of the love, not the gender of the lovers.’

For the first time, he is holding three ‘inclusive’ services this term aimed at helping lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Christians to ‘encounter God’.

Meanwhile Trinity and St John’s colleges have announced they are also holding similar events.

Reverend Hammond told student newspaper Varsity: ‘I wanted to do something that was very, very different, but still cohered with the general values of the place.’

He came up with the idea after being invited to perform Amazing Grace with drag queen Courtney Act at a student event earlier this year, and was moved by the positive response.

See also: Chaplains coordinate to hold radically inclusive services, by Anna Menin, Varsity

See also: Special support needed for young evangelicals at Kings College, by Julian Mann, VirtueOnline

 

Related Posts

Tags

Share This