Inclusive Church
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 identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, and sexual orientation, in the Christian churches, 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 gay priest, 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 was Giles Fraser, then vicar of St Mary's, Putney and later Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral; later chairs have been Giles Goddard, Dianna Gwilliams, Dan Barnes-Davies and Allie Kerr.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, and Modern Church. Most member churches are part of the Church of England, but there are also member churches from the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church, 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, and was entitled "Beyond Inclusion: Whose Church Is It Anyway?"In 2014, the lecture was given by Linda Woodhead, Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University, and was entitled "Whatever happened to Liberal Christianity?"