Statement of Inclusion/Affirmation

As a result of our deep engagement with the Bible, our prayerful listening to the experience of sisters and brothers, and our honest communal searching for grace, love and truth we (Haddenham Baptist Church) want:

• To fully affirm gay and lesbian individuals as beloved children of God;
• To be clear that gay and lesbian individuals, and couples, will be welcome within our church family. They will be able to belong and serve in any position in line with their gifting, desire and call;
• To celebrate committed, monogamous gay and lesbian relationships, as life-giving and God honouring, and so commit to supporting and honouring those relationships, which will include marrying couples who are ready to make that commitment.

Our Story

In late 2023, we (Haddenham Baptist Church) felt called to consider the position of lesbian and gay Christians within the life of our church. This arose due to some broader questions being asked within our denomination and a deep desire to live out our mission statement of being a place where anyone can encounter the grace of God, where everyone experiences the love of God, and where together we try to live the life of God. We felt it was an essential task to clarify what that grace, love and life might look like in the life of lesbian and gay Christians.  And so, we decided to take the entirety of 2024 to listen, to pray, to reflect and to study together in the belief that God would speak to us and lead us into truth.

Throughout 2024 the congregation were encouraged to read around the topic and to pray about the decisions that lay ahead of us. The bulk of our collective reflection took place during 7 Sunday evening sessions. We began with three sessions looking at the Bible. In the first session, we explored how we read the Bible – what principles and techniques we use to interpret and understand the different books of the bible. In our second session, we engaged with the strongest arguments for maintaining a traditional understanding that same-sex sexual activity is sinful. Then in our third session, we engaged with the strongest arguments for revising the traditional understanding to see that scripture may not be condemning same-sex activity as we know it today, and how scripture can be seen to affirm committed gay and lesbian relationships.

In the next two sessions, we heard from the lived experience of gay Christians. We began with a gay Baptist minister who is in an active relationship. We heard his story of life and ministry and how his position and understanding had developed over time. In the next session we heard from a gay man (who had previously been in paid pastoral ministry) about his experience of same-sex attraction and ministry, within his deeply held conviction that the bible required him to remain celibate.

In our final two sessions we gave some time to reflecting on our understanding of church membership and marriage, as well as listening to the experience of individuals within our congregation and we prayed together.

Then in January 2025 we brought this stage of the process to a close at our church meeting where people shared their experience of the process, what they had learned, their fears and where they felt God was leading us. It was an incredibly moving and powerful experience, where everyone present attested to the presence of the Holy Spirit amongst us and leading us. At the end of the meeting we voted to affirm that gay and lesbian Christians would be welcome into Church Membership (100% support of the congregation), that gay and lesbian Christians could serve the church in any position – including leadership – that they were called to (97% support of the congregation), and that the church would register our building to conduct same-sex marriages (89% support from the congregation).

Through this process we have learned to read the scriptures more deeply and consistently. To listen to the experience of people with a variety of experiences other than our own, and to discover the work of the Holy Spirit within those people. And we have learned to learn from one another, to respect difference, but to strive for a way forward that hears and respects those feelings and opinions. We trust that we have followed the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit throughout the process, and we are now more of the church that God has called us to be. But we also recognise that this is just the end of the beginning of a process seeking to be that place where anyone can experience God’s grace, where everyone experiences God’s love and where together we live the life of God. We pray that it will be just the first step in becoming a church that affirms the work of God in the life of every individual we meet. We think particularly of those who have often been marginalised in wider society and within the church because of their story, their history, their ability, their characteristics, or just because of who they are. For we recognise that God’s radical and freeing grace, welcoming and transforming love, and challenging and purposeful life is offered to any and to all. We pray that we will be a church who seeks to offer that welcome and that anyone may find it amongst us.