The Church of England's Living in Love and Faith listening process closes at the end of April 2022, so now is the time to get involved if you haven’t already!
What is Living in Love and Faith?
Living in Love and Faith is a learning and listening process taking place across The Church of England encouraging individuals, parishes, deaneries and dioceses, to explore questions about how identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage, fit within the bigger picture of the good news of Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to live in love and faith together as a Church?
Take part
Living in Love and Faith seeks to invite the whole Church to explore these questions using a range of resources – a course, a book, podcasts, films and an online library – to pray, study and learn together.
It’s easy to take part.
- Register on the Living in Love and Faith Learning Hub to access all the resources.
- Explore the full range of resources on the Hub together with others or by taking your own learning journey through them. If you are a leader in a church, you may like to consider running a group, or using the materials as part of a Lent course. There is also material available designed specifically with young people in mind.
- Respond Once you’ve explored the materials or been part of an LLF group, complete the online questionnaire or consider responding creatively to make your contribution to discerning what God is saying to the Church.
Responses must be in by 30 April 2022.
Find out more on the Church of England website by visiting: http://www.churchofengland.org/resources/living-love-and-faith
A unique opportunity to help inform the life of the Church
It is really important to respond. This is so that those taking the process forward can hear what Church members from a diverse range of views, perspectives and experiences are discerning on this important issue.
It is also a unique opportunity for you to play your part in the life and direction of the Church of England. It is about being open together to hearing what God is saying to the Church of England today.
The Rev Jane Winter is the Diocesan Advocate for Living in Love and Faith. In this short film, she explains more about her role and why she believes being part of these conversations is so important. (Also available to download on Vimeo)
More films:
- Meet our Living in Love and Faith Chaplain - The Rev Joel Edwards (Also available to download on Vimeo)
- The Rev Jayne Shillito, Curate in the Rural North West Kent group of churches, shares her experience of doing the Living in Love and Faith course
What happens next
Here’s what will happen once the listening and learning process finishes in April 2022:
- Findings published: Once the engagement process has closed, the findings of ‘Listening to the Whole Church’ will be published in September 2022.
- Discernment: Between September and December 2022, the College of Bishops will begin a discernment process in light of the LLF Book, and the findings of ‘Listening to the Whole Church’. They will use this discernment to create a set of proposals.
- Way forward: In February 2023, the General Synod will consider proposals from the College and House of Bishops and agree a clear direction of travel.
Find out more
If you would like to connect with those supporting the process in this Diocese, visit our dedicated Living in Love and Faith page.
You can also visit the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith pages on the Church of England website.