In recent press we have seen a flurry of different voices, including from within the Church of England and along the softer side of the evangelical world such as Tony Campolo and Jen Hatmaker make pronouncements in their support of blessing gay relationships. I remember my own distress when I heard of someone I looked up to at Wheaton College, Julie Rodgers, herself a same-sex attracted, celibate Christian coming out in support of same-sex relationships and gay marriage. This news was like a pang in my chest as culture’s pressures came down on someone whose faith was brave enough to stand with God, and not fall to the huge cultural pressure to affirm same-sex marriage in a culture which has little to no theological patience or understanding.

This could also include to some degree, Alan Chambers Manning who is the ex-president of Exodus International, which transitioned from an ex-gay therapy ministry in the 80s [I was deeply relieved by this] to a parachurch ministry that provided pastoral support for same-sex attracted Christians who agree with the Biblical position (an important distinction many in the media miss). Most of those involved in Exodus in its last days repudiated in the post-Freudian strangeness of ‘ex-gay’ therapies. Chambers closed the ministry stating that it was “the responsibility of the Church” to support same-sex attracted or gay Christians, and not a parachurch ministry. This was an idealist move with some grave cultural impacts, weakening the support-base for Christians like myself. Instead, we find ourselves repeating St Augustine’s cultural error: we fall into the dualism of either hating or affirming our fallen bodies.

I was recently involved in the Shared Conversations, a closed event at the General Synod of the Church of England, invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd Justin Welby.

Read here