CofE: Liberals face setback

Liberals in the Church of England hoping to change its stance on same-sex relationships appear to be suffering a setback.

At its most recent meeting, the House of Bishops agreed that standalone services of “Prayers of Love and Faith” affirming LGBT relationships would need a special process known as B2. This requires a two-thirds majority in all three Houses of the General Synod, the CofE Parliament. “On the basis of previous votes,” commented the Church Times, “this seems likely to forestall their introduction”.

Bishops also decided there should be no immediate change to the rules that ban church ministers from being in same-sex civil marriages. Any future changes, however, would only need a simple majority rather than two-thirds in each part of the Synod. Evangelical Synod member Amanda Robbie said: “I think this is pretty positive for now. But the 2026 Synod elections are very important.” She said it would only take a few more orthodox lay members in Synod to block future liberalisation.