Highlights - September 2025
Members of the Church in Wales’ Governing Body met for its Ordinary Meeting on Thursday, 18 September 2025 and Friday, 19 September 2025 in Newport. The meeting was live-streamed and you can read the summary and watch each session below.
Daily Sessions
Session One
Welcomes
The Governing Body opened with a formal welcome to the new Archbishop, the Most Revd Cherry Vann. She was introduced by the Bishop of St Asaph, the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, who recalled the famous phrase in the book of Esther: “Who knows, but for such a time as this you have been called by God.” Despite being a newcomer to Wales when Archbishop Cherry she arrived as Bishop of Monmouth five years ago, she had shown graciousness and sensitivity to lead that hurting diocese into a position of “hope and strength, and openness to its future under God”, Bishop Gregory said. These same skills will help her lead the whole Church now.
As Archbishop Cherry then took the chair as president of the Governing Body, she spoke of her deep honour and privilege to serve both the Church and country of Wales as Archbishop. She then led the GB in morning prayer.
Presidential address
A transformation of the Church’s culture would be the priority of her three years in office, Archbishop Cherry told the GB during her presidential address. She thanked those, including some opposed to women’s ordination or her civil partnership, who had offered her prayers since her election. “It gives me hope that amidst all our differences we can reach out to one another in prayer and so build a hopeful future together,” she said. But she could not ignore the “seismic change” in the Church since the GB last met in April.
The crisis in the Diocese of Bangor which led to the former archbishop Andy John retiring earlier this year had “brought many of us pain and confusion” - “None of us has been left unaffected.” She paid tribute to her former colleague, praising his efforts to refocus the bench of bishops around prayer and “honest conversation”. She urged members to pray for him, his family, the Bishop of Bardsey, the Rt Revd David Morris, as he discerned what was next, and the entire Diocese of Bangor, currently without a bishop, diocesan secretary or dean.
Her priority as Archbishop would be to “transform the culture” of the Church. Quoting from her address to the electoral college earlier in the summer, she said all the good work underway by local churches was being “undermined and
hidden under a sea of shocking headlines and bad news stories”. The Church could not flourish or regain credibility to speak into the public square until it develops a truly Christlike way of behaving.
She wanted to encourage three areas of attention: tending to the Church’s core purpose, tending to relationships with each other, and tending to our own individual relationship with God. Christians had to not simply proclaim the good news but live it out in how they loved each other, God and his world.
She recalled her time as a chaplain to a deaf community in Manchester, where she had learned the value of unequivocal welcome and seeing difference as a gift not a threat. The Church must be open to the many marginalised in Wales – whether through disability, poverty, homelessness, mental ill health, or because of their sexuality or gender – to form it into the likeness of Christ. “Only when the Church can be seen to be the Church can people be persuaded that it is the Church. The love of Jesus has to be seen to be believed.”
The Church’s calling in a fractured world was to be reconcilers and bridge-builders, but it had to earn the right to tell this better story about God’s love by modelling that same love to each other first. “Learning to love takes time. It’s a long hard road, requiring patience, kindness, perseverance. Sometimes, forgiveness, and always hope. But it is possible.”
She had seen this in a small group of the first female priests in England who regularly met with male clergy opposed to women’s ordination. The Church in Wales had a similar opportunity to nurture friendship across difference as it went on a journey to explore same-sex relationships, equal marriage, using power wisely, and holding each other to account. But if the Church protected itself, hid uncomfortable truths or kept silent in the face of wrongdoing, it would compromise everything, she concluded.
Before members began discussing Archbishop Cherry’s address in small groups, the chair Caroline Woollard (Monmouth) said her diocese had been transformed under Archbishop Cherry’s leadership, mostly be learning to listen to each other. “The emphasis was on healing and describing the kind of Church we wanted to be,” she recalled.
Session Two
After an hour in small group discussions, members fed back their tables’ thoughts. The Revd Dr Sue Hurrell (co-opted)’s group had lamented how much time was spent focusing on “big existential challenges” in the Church. Could we spend more time telling good stories about what’s happening in ministry areas, and valuing skills in lay people, she asked.
Melody Lewis (co-opted) said her group longed for the Church to finally shed its “arrogance” and instead go out to find people where they are and make common ground (and embrace more realism around closing unviable buildings).
The Revd Rana Khan (Swansea and Brecon) said his group wanted a Church where God\s love was preached in both actions and words. And a Church which was “humble, happy and a good listener”.
Hannah Wilkinson (St Davids) called for a “day of repentance” after “getting the dirty laundry out” so the Church could draw a line under things and move forward.
The Revd James Henley (Monmouth) praised the GB for having this healthy and necessary conversation which underlined the need for “undefended leadership” which rejects “the temptation to perform in the world”. There also needed to be uncomfortable but important conversations about what to when Church people fell short of Christian values.
The Revd Mark Thomas (Swansea and Brecon) said his table wanted the Church to become “deeply repentant” to regain the nation’s respect.
Wrapping up the discussion, Archbishop Cherry said it was important all churchpeople across the province engaged in this kind of listening exercise about what kind of Church they wanted to become. She pledged to ensure this issue remained high on the agenda and stop it “dropping off the cliff”. “It will require all of us to be part of the solution.”
Bench of Bishops report
The report from the Bench of Bishops was approved after a brief debate. The Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, the Rt Revd John Lomas, introduced the report by praising the newly prayerful culture within the Bench. Same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court ruling on gender, war in Palestine, and discernment were among the many issues the bishops had addressed in recent months. He also flagged up the upcoming Clergy Wellbeing Survey (a response to a previous GB request) which members voted to launch during February half-term.
Members asked further questions about the bishops’ interventions over Gaza, the wellbeing survey and boosting lay vocations alongside priestly ones, before voting to accept the report.
Session Three
2026 Lent Course
Appetites where whetted for next year’s Lent Course, which the Dean of Newport, the Very Revd Ian Black, explained would be based around the province’s six cathedrals on a journey through Lent: a journey from “Pancakes to Palm Crosses”. Each week there would be a video from each cathedral reflecting on different aspects of Lent: persistence, penitence, renewal, food, pilgrimage and more. Members were then shown a video trailer for the course.
Draft Code of Conduct
The first section of a new code of conduct for clergy and licensed lay ministers was approved by members after an in-depth discussion about the nature of spiritual abuse.
Archbishop Cherry she said the code of conduct arose from both deep theological conviction and practical need. Ministers must embody Christ’s love in all their relationships and be marked by humility, integrity and faithfulness. Their conduct was not just between them and God, but it mattered for the health of the whole Church, she added said. “When these standards are upheld our communities become safer and more lifegiving.”
The proposals grew out of a broader review into disciplinary matters last year, which concluded better to start afresh than revise the existing ministerial guidelines. Following the code will become a requirement of ministry for ordained clergy, and had already been endorsed by both the Bench of Bishops and standing committee. The first section being discussed today did not touch on things such as sexual behaviour or financial integrity which would be added later on, Archbishop Cherry explained.
The Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Ven Rhod Green, agreed the new code was vital work but questioned why spiritual abuse was being defined as a distinct category from other forms of abuse. This seemed to be at variance with previous Church in Wales reports on abuse.
The Dean of St Davids, the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, agreed and said other things which were not illegal, like bullying, should obviously still be prohibited. “It feels like this is undercooked, and needs more rigour and clarity – as it is I can’t support it.”
Leoni Oxenham (Monmouth) she said the code of conduct was urgently needed, even if it was not yet comprehensive. She raised questions around prohibited substances which could be legal yet misused by ministers.
The Archdeacon of the Gwent Valleys, the Ven Stella Bailey (Monmouth), argued definitions could evolve over time as they were used and urged the GB not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater”.
The Revd Andrew Lightbown (Monmouth) backed this perspective, saying the document helpfully included things without legal definition such as bullying or spiritual abuse; adding “ethos and culture” to law. It would be a mistake to not include things which could not be “forensically defined”.
Hannah Rowan (Monmouth) noted the Church already had procedures for major criminal misconduct and minor things but was “missing the middle”. She praised the new document for addressing things which are not criminal but fall short of the Church’s aspirations.
Tony Mullins (Llandaff) was saddened Church officers could be capable of everything from bullying to abuse. “This shouldn’t be necessary, but I support it because something is better than nothing.”
The Revd James Griffiths (Llandaff) said the code of conduct had to be as clearly defined as possible to avoid potential miscarriages of justice.
The Dean of Llandaff, the Very Revd Dr Jason Bray, asked if the code could be reviewed and amended after being approved today, given the shortcomings many members had identified.
The Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Revd Dorrien Davies, speaking in Welsh, said he believed the document was essential for the health and wellbeing of the Church in Wales. He agreed with Canon Woollard – to whom should we turn when considering these matters. It ensures that we follow proper procedures.
Responding to the discussion, Archbishop Cherry insisted the document was badly needed right away – and so not passing it would leave bishops and archdeacons empty-handed as they tried to deal with problems. This code of conduct played a vital role in the reset of culture she had spoken of earlier. The appendix did include a definition of spiritual abuse, although not undergirded by law.
The motion to approve the new code of conduct was passed 60-11, with eight abstentions.
Confirmation order of service
Bishop Gregory led the GB through approving a non-controversial tidying up of the various confirmation liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer. The bill was passed unanimously in all three orders.
Porvoo Communion
A church accidentally left out of the Porvoo Communion of Anglican and Lutheran denominations was admitted into the network. Bishop Gregory enthused about the Porvoo Communion as the “gold standard in Anglican-Lutheran relationships around the world” but told members the Faroe Islands Church (now independent of its Danish mother Church), now wanted to be included, a request which existing member Churches had to approve. The motion was passed.
Session Four
Question Time
Questions on liturgy, clergy pay, parsonages and the Church Growth Fund were asked and answered during a session on Thursday.
The Revd Ruth Coombs (co-opted) asked for an update on making the Church’s liturgy and language more inclusive and accessible to those who were neurodivergent or those unfamiliar with church.
In response, the Archdeacon of Margam, the Ven Mark Preece, said experts had advised the standing liturgical advisory commission best practice was not specially crafted texts, but more liturgical participation with the whole worshipping community. Churches should focus on providing accessible sensory environments and social interactions for neurodiverse people, although the commission was also looking at making liturgical language more comprehensible to non-churchgoers.
Archdeacon Rhod Green noted clergy stipends and pensions had recently been hiked in England and asked whether the Representative Body (RB) had plans to restore “parity with the Church of England as quickly as possible” to prevent Welsh clergy from crossing the border to find “better terms of service”.
Professor Medwin Hughes, the Chair of the RB, said it was “embarrassing” how long the Clergy Remuneration Review had been on hold but this was while the RB waited for guidance from regulatory bodies around its pension scheme. He also agreed parity with English stipends must be achieved swiftly.
Archdeacon Green suggested the RB set a deadline to the pension regulator to expedite their review, and also requested any increased to the stipend by funded by the RB not dioceses.
Philippa Dixey (Monmouth) asked if the Church in Wales should continue to own and maintaining parsonages.
The Archdeacon of St Davids, the Ven Paul Mackness, said the last time this question was floated in 2012, a working group had concluded the Church should not sell off homes and raise the stipend. It was vital clergy continued to live in their communities, and this could not be ensured without church-owned tied housing. It would also complicate deployment of clergy to areas of high house prices, he said. The bench had stipulated standards for parsonages across Wales, and this uniformity would be lost if clergy had to arrange their own housing.
Ms Dixey said she agreed with the Archdeacon’s points, but noted many perceived vicars to be sitting pretty in large homes while the Church pleaded poverty.
Barney Hawthorne (Llandaff) asked what objective metrics were being utilised to assess projects paid for by the Church Growth Fund, and whether such monitoring could be made public.
All applications to the fund must include monitoring, both qualitative and quantitative, Bishop John told him, although the metrics used varied widely. All larger-scale projects required a project manager, who could share what was being learned across the province.
Robert Charlton (Swansea & Brecon) asked if a year on from the rivers summit hosted by the Church whether there was any ongoing dialogue with the Welsh government and other stakeholders.
Archbishop Cherry said that the summit had helped focus attention on rivers and highlight solutions, but it was up to the government not the Church to take forward that work.
Raju Shrestha (co-opted) noted the Bible Society’s research into the so-called Quiet Revival, and asked what role the GB could play in engaging with this “fresh opportunity for new life, growth and transformation”.
Archbishop Cherry said there was much debate on the Quiet Revival, although everyone would celebrate signs of growth. The Church Growth Fund was evidence of the Church’s commitment to renewal, and she encouraged members to engage with the Fund and take back to their own mission areas “its stories of renewed hope and confidence”.
Mr Shrestha also asked if the Church was seeking to connect with diverse communities in Wales, beyond the English or Welsh-speaking communities already represented.
Archbishop Cherry said this was something the Church was not currently good at, although St Padarn’s was focusing on the issue.
Monika Prabhakar (co-opted) asked how the Church was being “prophetic in a shifting nation in which political discourse, morality and culture are in rapid flux”.
Archbishop Cherry said prophetic witness was an essential part of the Church’s calling, but was not merely speaking truth but pointing others to the love of God in the way we live our lives. The bishops had recently opposed assisted dying and spoken out on the Middle East and climate change – but the right to speak into the public square had to be earned by the Church, not assumed.
Della Nelson (Llandaff) said Christ had been “supplanted” as the centre of the Church by “alien agendas which have sapped our strength and robbed us of a national vision for evangelism”. How can the Church restore Christ to his rightful place?
In response, Archbishop Cherry said she agreed Christ must be at the centre of all the Church did and was, and if members believed the Church had been diverted from this call they must specify how so it can be debated. She reflected on the wide variety of outside agendas which might distract Christians from their essential calling, and said everyone must be “vigilant”.
Representative Body report
The role of the RB in retirement of the former Archbishop Andy John was explored during a debate into that body’s report. Prof Hughes, Chair of the RB, first ran members through the highlights of the report. The general fund’s income was £21.3m and expenditure was £24.2m, but this small operational deficit was offset by £64.7m investment gains. The Church’s investments increased by 9% to a total of £739m: “It was a good year,” he said. The total reserves of the RB to service the church have reached £927m. The finances are in a good position. There is care an stewardship being exercised.
The RB also spent much time in its June meeting discussing the situation in the Diocese of Bangor, Prof Hughes added. “This was a very difficult meeting,” he said. He is very aware of the pain and the feelings of people in the context of this meeting.
“I hear the pain, I hear the concern, and I hear the grief that was associated with what happened in Bangor.” Some had asked why the RB was getting involved in Bangor’s crisis, he acknowledged, accusing it of going beyond its remit. But the RB was responsible under charity law to watch over its funding, and its discussions on Bangor were solely around its fiduciary duty – safeguarding, oversight, finance and governance controls. “We grieve with the Diocese of Bangor and its cathedral,” Prof Hughes said, and insisted the RB’s measures were not punitive but supportive and aimed at recovery.
The RB had also signed off on stipends and salaries for 2026, but Prof Hughes noted this decision had been made before the C of E raised its stipend. Matching the C of E’s new level would require a 12% increase, but this should be seriously considered, he said. The Church Growth Fund has so far approved 11 tier one (below £10,000) and 10 tier two applications (above £10,000). Over 25% of the fund had so far been disbursed.
The RB agreed to support a non-compulsory collective green energy procurement scheme using the collective buying power of our churches to purchase green electricity and gas at competitive prices, enabling Mission and Ministry Areas to meet their Net Zero targets and, in some cases, to reduce costs.
Referring to the investments in the work of the dioceses including the Strategic Resilience Fund and the Church Growth Fund, which had so far allocated over a quarter of its total budget.
Speaking in Welsh, he commented that much had been said about investment, but there was no better investment than to hear the voice of Christ in our communities. There was no better investment than being able to build the Kingdom of Christ through such projects.
There had been difficult conversations in recent times but Christ was still at work within the Church in Wales, Prof Hughes said.
Archdeacon Stella Bailey (Monmouth), noted curates’ stipends were only a fraction over the minimum wage (extrapolated to an annual salary). Given clergy worked more than 40 hours a week, she suspected the stipend in real terms was now below minimum wage. Yes, clergy did receive housing and some fee income, but she feared younger people would be dissuaded from their vocations over financial fears. “We don’t want to use our working-class clergy.”
Canon Richard Wood (Bangor) then proposed an amendment which would instruct the standing committee and RB to reflect upon its June meeting and how a statement unilaterally issued after that meeting “was able to effect the immediate retirement of the Archbishop”. He was not criticising everything in the RB’s statement and was grateful for the support and scrutiny they offered to Bangor Cathedral as action was necessary. However, he wanted to probe into what authority the RB had in publishing their statement, especially given the GB’s standing committee was not consulted. He also criticised the RB’s decision to request all its members from the Diocese of Bangor leave the room during their discussions.
“It seems there was a desire to speak in response to headlines in the media, rather than to take counsel and discern God’s voice in the matter.” Effectively calling for Archbishop Andy to resign seemed a worrying borrowing from the more cut-throat secular business culture. Why was he not held to account through normal disciplinary procedures, Canon Richard Wood asked? “The RB is not the Church in Wales,” He concluded. “It is not the arbiter of discipline nor the discerner of the Church’s offices of ministry.”
The Revd Kevin Ellis (Bangor) supported the amendment, arguing the RB’s June statement had unintentionally condemned all ministry, including much which was good, done in the diocese.
The Archdeacon Missioner in the Diocese of St Davids, the Ven Mones Farah, said the Church had to figure out whether administration or finance was taking priority over mission and spirituality. Blaming the Archbishop for everything that went wrong in Bangor was not a “Christian response”.
Heather Payne (Llandaff) wondered if mission drove money in the Church in Wales, or was it the other way round. Too often the RB made big decisions and then came to the GB later for a “rubber-stamping”. Yet, she knew RB members had been careful to only act within their role as trustees, and opposed the amendment.
The Bishop of Llandaff, the Rt Revd Mary Stallard, supported the motion, not as a “criticism but an invitation” to reflection. Every level of the Church should think about its decision-making and its use of power. “For me, this feels like part of the call to that hard work of repentance.”
The GB then voted 61-20 (with six abstentions) to adopt the amendment.
Responding to the debate, Prof Hughes agreed reflection was helpful but reiterated the RB did solely what they had to as trustees. Others, including the Bench, should also reflect where they were in the crisis “to make sure that this will never, never happen again”.
The amended motion to receive the report was passed 82-3 with four abstentions.
Private members motion
Members backed re-opening the financial settlement on ministry costs after a private members motion proposed exploring increasing the RB’s contribution. Archdeacon Farah’s motion asked the RB to conduct an analysis of boosting its payments back to the levels pre-2005. Archdeacon Farah said his motion had been passed unanimously at his diocesan conference, as most ministry areas were finding it impossible to make their ministry share payments. “We are not asking for a revolution,” he said, “but a request for clarity.” He talked of a “two-pronged attack” in the Church, through both the Church Growth Fund and local ministry through traditional churches. He pleaded for the Church to “give another go” to local churches rather than assuming they could not return to growth.
Dioceses were “groaning” under the strain of financial restraints while ministry areas burned through their reserves to keep the lights on and stipendiary clergy numbers were lower than ever before. Contrasted with this, the RB’s finances were in rude health, Archdeacon Farah noted. “It’s an eye-watering amount of resource we have – we are a very rich Church.” There was abundance at the centre, yet scarcity at the edges. “This imbalance cannot continue.”
He reminded members of the Rowe-Beddoe report of 2005, which cut the RB’s share of local ministry costs and placed heavier burdens on dioceses and parishes. It may have been necessary at the time, but the “seeds planted then have now born bitter fruit”, he said. Since then, Sunday attendance has declined steadily and congregational giving has withered, even before the pandemic prompted the current crisis.
As a result, clergy were preoccupied by financial survival and gripped with anxiety over decline, morale has plummeted and relations become strained, Archdeacon Farah said. “Something fundamental has gone wrong – now is the time to act.”
Seconding the motion, Nigel Evans (St Davids) said the Church must acknowledge it was “in crisis” over attendance and finances. Whatever the topic on a church’s agenda, it always came back to a lack of money, leaving little time or resources to carry out mission. “We are doing things on a shoestring, with peeling walls and buckets to catch the leaks,” he lamented. The situation was unsustainable and “time is running out for action”.
The Revd Annabel Elletson (Swansea and Brecon) passed on a message from her ministry area council, which sought licence to underpay parish share slightly to release money to support some “very low-cost and impactful mission initiatives”.
Dean Rowland Jones said the Church was struggling because local churches had to cover about two-thirds of the cost of ministry, whereas it historically used to be about a third. She recalled how in the 1990s the crunch began, with real fear the RB could not meet pensions liabilities. This led to cuts to clergy numbers and the Rowe-Beddoe settlement, but had produced some “unintended consequences,” Dr Rowland Jones said. Trustees of the RB must have “courage” in how they thought through their responsibilities, she added; anything lost from the balance sheet was actually “investment” in the common objective of the whole Church.
Speaking in Welsh, Bishop Dorrien said: Those of us with long memories who could remember the Rowe-Beddoe report will appreciate why this motion has been brought forward. It was discussed in the Diocesan Conference in St David’s last year. We need to have a clear discussion about the proposal.
Turning to English, he said: The time had come for a revision of the 2005 settlement, which would help the Church move towards “renewal, revival, restoration and resurrection”. Quoting Churchill, he said: “Give us the tools and we will finish the job”.
Bishop Gregory defending the hard work of the RB in supporting the Church. They had funded clergy during covid when churches were “immobilised”, and carried the costs of clergy pensions. They’d also invented the various evangelism funds the whole Church now enjoyed. But he agreed with Bishop Dorrien – it wasn’t fair his congregations had to now shoulder the bulk of the costs of ministry themselves. When first ordained in 1983 the RB paid 79p in every pound of clergy stipends. That fell to 42p thanks to Rowe-Beddoe, but next year would be just 19p. Some of his churches had only three years of money left, while many clergy lay awake worrying about how to meet their share. Mission areas were tightening their belts, while the RB’s resources continued to grow. He backed the modest motion, which only sought to open a conversation.
Prof Hughes said he fully backed the motion. “We need the opportunity to put everything on the table.” He welcomed the opportunity to listen carefully across the province, so they could together construct a better model with honesty about the costs and benefits of different options. “I hear the anguish, the concern, the pain across the province. Now is the time to have that conversation.”
Bishop John said clergy in his diocese worked flat-out: “We are hollowed out.” Churches that would never secure grants from the Growth Fund or find innovative “entrepreneurial” sources of income must have support, he said. The RB could trust the Church’s clergy now to squander any extra money.
Sue Rivers (Llandaff) said volunteers in her ministry area no longer had the energy to write bids for grants and relied on jumble sales to keep the lights on, while they heard the RB had millions. “Something has gone wrong.”
The Archdeacon of Meirionnydd, the Ven Robert Townsend (Bangor), spoke of the challenge of buildings and churchyards, which were an albatross around ministry area’s necks as much as parish share.
Mr Thomas supported the motion, but noted Anglicans had work to do in growing a culture of generous giving compared to other denominations. “If money is tight here, it’s tighter in other countries.”
Archdeacon Farah wrapped up the debate with a challenge: “Why would God give the Church in Wales any more pennies from the local if we are sitting on so much,” he concluded. The motion was carried.
Session Five
Same-sex relationships
A fresh conversation on same-sex relationships began on Friday, as GB members shared honestly their thoughts on the soon-to-elapse temporary blessings and what the Church should do next.
The Bishop of Llandaff, the Rt Revd Mary Stallard, opened the session by telling members it was really about “the Church that we want to be”. The temporary blessings approved in October 2021 would lapse next September. Option one was do nothing and allow the liturgy to end; option two would make the blessings permanent, and option three would be to go further and open up marriage for all couples. She also floated more radical ideas from diocesan consultations, such as ending the Church’s role in providing legal weddings for anyone, and instead solely blessings. No decisions would be made today, which was instead an opportunity for more respectful, heard in a spirit of forgiveness.
Dean Ian Black said it would be pastorally “unthinkable” to simply scrap the blessings. The Church must make this provision permanent, and go all the way to same-sex marriage. Marriage had changed before, from a patriarchal chattel transaction between men, so why not expand it again to include gay couples?
Dr Hurrell said Christians had always read scripture in different ways and even Jesus had reinterpreted Old Testament laws. It was not the Church’s job to deny God’s blessing on obviously good covenantal relationships. “Where love is, there is God.”
Isaac Olding (Swansea and Brecon) said the Church must not concede to secular culture or false teaching. An openness to procreation (biologically impossible for same-sex couples) lay at the heart of marriage, and hence the Church must bow to scripture and not redefine what counted as sin.
Lacey Jones (co-opted) spoke of a God of radical love and inclusion, whose presence who was present in loving same-sex relationships. She backed option three.
The Revd Jim Griffiths (co-opted) questioned what uptake there had been for same-sex blessings, which had come at the cost of jeopardising Church unity. We could not agree to disagree as it was really a question of the authority of scripture. All other denominations which had adopted same-sex marriage had seen decline accelerate he warned.
The Revd Robert Moore (St Davids) said having his civil marriage blessed earlier this year was a “moment of profound grace and deep inclusion”. But a blessing was not a marriage, and he longed for the Church to celebrate fully same-sex sacramental marriages as holy (while protecting consciences for those who could not agree).
The Revd Andrew Lightbown (Monmouth) spoke passionately about his own family experience of people choked by guilt, addiction and even premature death because their sexuality could not be affirmed. “You can’t fudge equality – you can’t be a bit equal.” If the Church did not achieve full marriage equality it would be a “deeply sinful Church”.
The Archdeacon of St Asaph, the Ven Andy Grimwood, said he was both proud of the Church’s engagement on this and pained by the blessings, which had caused faithful clergy and members to leave the Church. He was upset his Church would consider challenging the “clear teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ” which would cut us off from the worldwide apostolic Church.
Ms Coombs had known exclusion from church marriage and settling for a blessing because she was a divorcee. She appreciated the hurt of those who could not stomach equal marriage, but as a minimum the blessings must be retained, she argued.
The Archdeacon of Carmarthen, the Ven Matthew Hill (St Davids), supported moving to full same-sex marriage, but acknowledged without a common mind some people would have to leave the Church.
The Revd Matt Davis (Monmouth) was in a clergy team with mixed views, while his congregation were mostly comfortable with him conducting blessings. Yes, same-sex marriage might scare some, but upholding an unjust status quo to calm anxious traditionalists was not the way forward. “Bravery is needed – please help us tackle these issues in an open way.”
The Revd Melanie Prince (St Davids) said traditionalists like her had also experienced pain: watching the GB in 2021 approve the blessings “felt like the bottom falling out of my world” she said. No good fruit had come of this: she knew of 11 clerics who’d left the Church over that decision, and other churches who’d lost half their congregations.
The Revd Ian Yemm (Llandaff) reflcted on his long journey from Catholic seminary (where he’d met his now husband) through to ordination in the Church in Wales in 2020. “It is a wonderful place to be a gay priest,” he said, and hoped for gay marriage in church soon.
Archdeacon Farah said it was a mistake in 2021 to step forward into blessings without first deciding the final destination. Christians cannot pick and choose what and who they love – they must love LGBT people and God’s word. He backed option two as causing the least difficulty to both sides.
The Revd Ruth Rowan (co-opted) felt like her same-sex relationship was “under attack”. She and her partner deeply believed they were called by God to be married to one another, and to remain in the Church in Wales. “Do you have the courage to allow us to follow what God asks us?”
Archdeacon Green found both perspectives “coherent and compelling”; the gospel trajectory was towards radical inclusion, but Jesus himself had approvingly quoted the Genesis definition of one man and one woman marriage. He was “nervous of the Puritans on both sides”, who deplored their opponents as either bigots or heretics and instead favoured compromise. Option two meant “no-one gets everything they want and no-one has to leave”.
Ms Nelson said the Church was rash to act without any data about how the blessings experiment had gone. She asked for a fourth option – to extend the trial. The Church must humbly acknowledge God was the final authority on marriage, and he had stated in scripture what marriage was.
The Archdeacon of Wrexham, the Ven Dr Hayley Matthews (St Asaph) argued the Bible could be used to say whatever you wanted it to, and its prohibitions may not apply to the Church today. Jesus had always led her to “inclusion, inclusion, inclusion” – so she supported option three.
Mr Thomas raised the concern of church unity, a deep priority of Jesus. “I’m not convinced that a 51-49, or even a 70-30, vote would represent reaching a common mind.”
Hannah Wilkinson (St Davids) asked if a Church offering same-sex blessings or marriage could be safe for same-sex attracted Christians called to celibacy. She backed letting the blessings lapse.
Canon Rana Khan (Swansea and Brecon) urged the bishops to consult with their companion dioceses across the Anglican Communion to see how a decision on same-sex blessings would impact them overseas.
Hannah Rowan (Monmouth) said she had not found the discussion “safe at all” for people like her. Being denied the “sacrament” of marriage hurt her deeply and the blessings were “profoundly inadequate”. If the GB thought she was “God’s mistake” they should have the courage of their convictions to abolish the blessings, rather than back a cowardly compromise of blessings without marriage. “It doesn’t make any sense theologically – we either bless something because it’s good or we don’t.”
Canon John Connell (Monmouth) said blessing same-sex couples was among the greatest privileges of his ministry. He backed option three.
Members then spent time in small groups discussing these issues further.
Session Six
Embrace the Middle East
Will the Church in Wales respond to the call for solidarity from suffering Christians in Palestine. That was the question posed in a presentation from Jamie Eyre, the chief executive of Embrace the Middle East, an ecumenical charity which addresses poverty and injustice in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine. “No-one could remain unmoved by the appalling devastation being wreaked in Gaza,” Archbishop Cherry said as she introduced Mr Eyre, especially given the small Christian minorities “holding out against all odds against the threats that surround them”.
Embrace had been partnering with Middle Eastern Christians from 170 years, Mr Eyre said, but he had come to words from brothers and sisters in Gaza, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Bethlehem, places he used to regularly visit before the war. He had friends sheltering from airstrikes in churches or working in the Christian-run hospital in Gaza. “Gaza is a human catastrophe – I’ve seen nothing like it,” he said. And yet he remained struck by how God’s grace was at work among Christians he knew there.
Genocide was a contested legal term and could be a distraction, Mr Eyre said. Regardless, the war was unimaginable horror for an innocent civilian population.
He thanked the Archbishop and others for adding their names to a powerful open letter from UK Church leaders, for refusing to look the other way. Beyond Gaza, Palestinian freedoms were being whittled away in the West Bank too under Israel’s right-wing government, through checkpoints and land grabs. “The two-state solution is increasingly an illusion,” he said. All Palestinian Christians wanted was equal rights under the law, to not be forgotten by the global Church as they remained despite many hardships in the birthplace of the faith. “What will you do,” he concluded. “Will you respond to our brothers and sisters and their call to be heard?”
Dr Sarah Rowland Jones urged members to write to their MPs demanding pressure is placed on the Foreign Office to speak up. Mr Eyre echoed this, saying letter-writers had helped get his team into meetings with key Foreign Office officials.
Canon Wood asked how Christians could speak to Israeli people to put pressure on their government. There were many protests in Gaza, including hostage families and reservists refusing to fight, but the government there did not engage.
Archbishop Cherry thanked Mr Eyre for his powerful presentation, saying it had been “hugely challenging” to hear stories of brothers and sisters who stayed in a place of danger and fear yet retained their hope. “The least we can do is to hold them in our prayers.”
Reports from the Standing Committee
The reports from the GB’s standing committee were approved on Friday without significant debate. Tim Llewellyn (St Davids), the committee’s chair, the reports and mentioned a report on the former bishop Anthony Pierce would now be published in November rather than October due to delays in Maxwellisation. He then moved two amendments which made minor drafting corrections to the constitution, which were passed without debate. Both reports were then accepted by the GB.
Farewells
Archbishop Cherry led farewells to her predecessor Andy John, who retired as both Archbishop and Bishop of Bangor in the summer. She said the whole Church thanked God for his faithful service and “all he brought to the life of the Church”.