The Church of England's planned two-year period of "facilitated conversations" on the issue of human sexuality is now underway.
The conversations were agreed by the House of Bishops after considering the recommendations of the Pilling Report which was published in 2013, in advance of the first same-sex 'marriages' in March this year.
In a recorded statement, which can be heard on the CofE's website, the Church's Director of Mission and Public Affairs, Malcolm Brown says there is no "hidden agenda" in holding the shared conversations.
Andrea Williams of Christian Concern said: "The Church's leadership says it does not plan to change centuries of Biblical teaching on marriage so we have to ask ourselves why we are going through this long process.
"We already have a situation where two ministers in the Church of England , Jeremy Pemberton and Andrew Cain have openly defied the Church by 'marrying' their male partners and there has been no effective discipline for them and no public statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury."
Malcolm Brown’s recorded statement talks of a desire to ensure that “some of the fears that are not certainly intended to be substantiated are dispelled”. He goes on to acknowledge that “there’s a lot of anxiety around about what may lie behind these conversations”.
David Porter, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Director for Reconciliation, who’s responsible for overseeing the conversations, says: "It is what it says on the tin. It's a process of shared conversation. It's about creating space that they can feel a certain amount of confidence because someone is there helping hold the ring, so that all voices will be heard; that people will be able to engage with each other in a respectful way, to come and talk about the change that we see in the culture around us in relation to questions of human sexuality, and the diversity that exists within the Church, about how we should respond as people of faith to that.”
Andrea Williams added: “The College of Bishops has said it wants the Church to be faithful to the Bible but already we see no public statement or action disciplining ministers in the Church of England who act or speak out in open defiance of biblical teaching.
"People who are changed by the power and the love of Jesus Christ are the people who change cultures. The Church is not there to reflect back the culture but rather to point to God's pattern and purpose for culture which is good for all. It is good because He made us and knows what is best for us. The unchanging Gospel is the hope of our nation and we the bride of Christ should be faithfully and fearlessly proclaiming that hope."
Listen to Malcolm Brown and David Porter here >
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