Engaging with Living in Love and Faith. 
Living in Love and Faith sets out to inspire people to think more deeply about what it means to be human and to live in love and faith with one another. It tackles the tough questions and the divisions among Christians about what it means to be holy in a society in which understandings and practices of gender, sexuality and marriage continue to change. It seeks to help all members of the Church of England engage with these issues and hear God’s voice speaking into society today. The feedback from engagement across the church this year will inform discussions next year on whether or not to change the Church of England’s stance on marriage and human sexuality.
Will you be part of the conversation?
If you sign up to a course you can expect:
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To meet together with a facilitator and about 4 other people for 5 different topics (sometimes condensed into 2 longer sessions).
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To discuss issues including identity, relationships and sex from a variety of Biblical and contemporary perspectives using Bible passages and videos.
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To have your voice heard and your opinions, after the course, fed back into the national church’s deliberations
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To be expected to be open-minded and willing to engage respectfully with those who may hold different opinions to you.
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To have access to a chaplain should you want to discuss matters further and in confidence.
We hope you will be able to sign up to the course and engage in this very important moment in the life of the Church of England.
There will be 2 Living and Love and faith courses running across the Deanery before the deadline on the 30th April 2022.
For adults – Saturday 23rd April 9am -2pm (bring your own lunch) and Saturday 30th April 9am -12.30pm both at St Barnabas Church Hall, 115A Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill Swindon SN2 1AB. Please attend both sessions. If you would like to attend this course please contact David Caine (TwelveTwentyFive@msn.com or 07774 150426) and tell him your name and church.
For young people – Lydia Morey (Interim minister at St Peter’s Penhill and St Philip’s Upper Stratton) and Simon Robertson (from St John’s Haydon Wick) will be running the Living in Love and Faith course for young people at secondary school in the Easter holidays. The sessions will take place at St Peter’s Penhill Dr, Swindon SN2 5EP from 3.30-5.30pm on Tuesday – Friday and Sunday 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 24th April. If you have any questions or would like to register a young person for this course, please contact Lydia (moreylydiam@gmail.com or 07967 135403). Parents and carers will be asked to consent to the issues covered by the course (Identity, relationships, sex, sexuality and marriage) being discussed by their children.
You can find further information on
the Diocese of Bristol website https://www.bristol.anglican.org/transformingchurch/living-in-love-faith/
the LLF hub https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/living-love-and-faith/living-love-and-faith-learning-hub