LIB DEM CHRISTIAN FORUM
Autumn 2023
Christmas Service
We are very pleased to announce that we will be holding a Christmas Service jointly with Christians on the Left and the Conservative Christian Fellowship.
Date: Monday 4th December
Time: 7pm
Venue: Westminster Central Hall
To book tickets, click on this link; lhttp://tiny.cc/ChristmasService
Michael Prior Lecture to be given by LDCF member
John McHugo
“The Very Stones Cry Out”
The Gaza Crisis in Context
Saturday 18th November 2023 –12.00am – 3.30 pm.
Lecture and Round-Table discussion
on the current situation in the Holy Land
at Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church,
235a Kensington High Street, London W8 6SF.
12.00 noon.
In person and online
To book, click on this link:
Working with other AOs
We are working on achieving closer relationships with other Associated Organisations of the party. For several years, we have had a close relationship with the Humanist & Secularist Lib Dems and we are reaching out to other AOs too. Lib Dem Women have just announced that they are offering a discounted membership fee of just £6 a year to everyone who is a paid up member of another AO. This is open to everyone, not just women.
Click on this link to join Lib Dem Women at the discounted rate:
Life style choices
I chose this bit of pavement
As opposed to the fists of my dad
I chose this freezing night
Instead of the rapist at my house
I chose this metal park bench
Because my tenancy ran out
I chose to live off begging
As I couldn’t afford the rent
I chose to be beaten in the night
As my parents didn’t approve of my life
If this is what you really believe
Then spend a night time in my shoes
I’ll spend Christmas at yours
And you can have my tent
Si Zec
Thank you thank you thank you
A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who has been paying their membership via PayPal and has switched to paying by standing order. PayPal was the only option approved by the Party when joining online which is why so many people are paying this way, but PayPal deduct a substantial fee from each payment. Just by switching to a standing order, LDCF get to keep all of your contribution. If you would like to change your membership to a standing order direct to LDCF either to change from PayPal or to increase your giving, please click on this link:
AGM Update
We held our AGM on 21st October and a good crowd assembled to listen first to Bishop Graham Tomlin speaking about the Centre for Cultural Witness. You can find out more about this here:
https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/priorities/centre-cultural-witness
He spoke about how our culture wants to hear stories - stories about Jesus,about our faith journey and about faith in society.
He discussed how prominent Christians such as C S Lewis and Dorothy Sayers lived in a story-telling period during and after the Second World War, which was a time when church attendances rose, bucking the general trend of the last century. Graham answered a number of questions before parting and encouraging us to share our journeys with people around us.
We then went on to the AGM part of the meeting. The link to the AGM paper is in the email.
We discussed the financial position, which is good, but leaves little room for special activities. I encourage members to consider their giving, understanding that
these are difficult times.
I explained that the David Campanale situation was ongoing and I could not share much information. I read out Simon's message to the group.
We talked about conference and the Disagreeing Well fringe event and agreed that we would have further discussions about the broad subject. I suggested we might also have some more topical discussions, in a safe place for all attendees.
We had a long discussion about a constitutional change, where HQ have asked us to confirm that we will agree that our members must follow the party's code of conduct. (We only have members who are members of the Party all members of the party already have to agree to follow the Party's code of conduct so this was only a paper exercise). Our concern was that we had not at that time received this policy, but we agreed by a small majority that we should minute acceptance without condition. This agreement was on the basis that we would discuss the wording at the next executive and could if necessary change our constitution again via an EGM.
We re-elected the current Executive into the same positions and I asked
members to consider whether they or friends might consider joining the exec, even if they were not currently members. It is one of my key ambitions to broaden the Executive and we have three spaces we can occupy. We could not re-elect our Presidential team, as they had not formally agreed to continue. Since the session, Jane and Simon have agreed to continue and I will chase Sal and Tim for confirmation.
We concluded with prayer.
Toby Price
Two positive perspectives on Gay Christians.
1 - TV’s ‘Sex Education’ and faith in young people
[Spoiler alert - if you plan to watch or are watching the series, I am writing about one of the key storylines in the final series, so look away now if you don’t want to know the score!]
For anyone who has not watched the Netflix series Sex Education, you may be surprised at its content. It is brash and sometimes extremely over-the-top, but it is also warm and moral, covering all the topics young people worry about. It is hard not to love the characters with all their flaws and anxieties.
As an education for us, it is worth a watch, whether we are parents, grandparents or friends of young people. The series does not just cover sex. There are stories about cancer, depression, disability, friendship and popularity, death and even stories about adults, family relations, separation and divorce and post-natal depression.
Here comes the spoiler!
In the final series, there is a strong storyline about two young Christians - one gay and the other transgender. In one scene, they pray together. I can’t think of many mainstream TV series
that show Christians praying together.
The transgender
Christian struggles to know whether he should be baptised at the church he attends, given his identity and behaviours.
To cut a long story short, the gay Christian, played by Ncuti Gatwa (also the new Doctor Who) decides in the end that he is being called into the church as a pastor.
The series focuses on the sadness of these Christians being outside their churches, not on any anger, even when the church refuses to accept a donation from the school, as the church sees the school’s values as too liberal. This story helps us to understand the importance of loving and including these young people in our fellowships, whatever our ultimate view of their behaviours.As a very sad postscript, Shay Patten Walker was a trans activist and worked as Sex Education’s gender story consultant on series four. She sadly died by suicide at the age of 24 last year. While knowing nothing about her individual story, I pray that others who feel similarly suicidal can find a home in our churches and a
hope in Jesus.-
You may also want to have a look at how Teen Vogue covered this story.
Eric’s Sex Ed Arc Shows the Complexity of Queer People’s Relationship With God
Toby Price
Last year, I completed the Living in Love and Faith course run by the Church of England. This course comprised listening to interviews with a range of people,, mainly couples. The interview with one young man has stayed with me. He described himself as gay but said that God had made it clear to him that he should no longer be involved in a sexual relationship with another man and had ended his relationship. He has now committed himself to remaining celebate but insisted that he had found great blessing in doing God’s will. His church family have replaced the family he might have had and as Godparent to many children he had found peace and contentment.
Lizzie Jewkes