Prayers of Love & Faith for same-sex couples available from this Sunday
Screenshot from Living In Love & Faith: Moving Forward, published by the Church of England in February 2023. WATCH HERE [3.5mins]
UPDATE 14/12/2023: Appeal for CofE churches to use Prayers of Love & Faith this weekend
ABOVE: Appeal from the Church of England Gender & Sexuality Group [GSGSG] and partner organisation for churches to use Prayers of Love & Faith during regular worship this Sunday.
BELOW: Extract from the Appendix to the GSGSG statement with suggested prayers that could be used to pray for every same-sex couple in a church community.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND House of Bishops has approved the trial of a selection of readings and prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and asking for God's blessing for same-sex couples this week.
The resources, known as Prayers of Love and Faith [PLF], can now be used in Church of England services for the first time from Sunday 17th December 2023.
The House of Bishops has commended the PLF texts ‘for use in regular public worship or private prayer’, are published today, together with pastoral guidance which sets out how they could be used.
This means that the prayers can currently only be used in regular scheduled services, ‘such as a Sunday Eucharist or Evensong’, according to a Church of England statement, which adds:
The House also continued to discuss separate proposals for special standalone services for same-sex couples to be formally authorised under canon law.
The Church of England’s governing body, General Synod, held an extraordinary meeting in November to debate a motion on the PLF resources. The motion which narrowly passed a vote of all three Synod houses of (Bishops, Clergy and Laity) called on the bishops to consider whether stand-alone services for same-sex couples could be available on a trial basis.
The House of Bishops has said there will be wide process of consultation regarding the provision of these prayers, and whether or not to allow them to be used in stand-alone services:
‘to ensure that whatever is agreed serves to promote unity and has broad support across the Church’.
The PLF resources are part of the outcome of a seven-year period of ‘listening, learning and discernment’ known as Living in Love and Faith.
The Bishop of Leicester, Martyn Snow, and the Bishop of Newcastle, Helen-Ann Hartley, are chairing the group overseeing the introduction of Prayers of Love and Faith.
Bishop Helen-Ann said:
‘The Prayers of Love and Faith are resources to pray with and for a same-sex couple who are committed to one another in faithfulness and love. They are intended to enable those who wish to give thanks for and joyfully mark that commitment before God and their community of faith’.
Bishop Martyn added:
‘These Prayers are offered as pastoral provision. It is our prayer that they can be used with grace and understanding. Sharing them will be a blessing to the whole Church.’
In a review of November’s General Synod published last week, Nic Tall, a member of the House of Laity, and a founding member of the Open Table Taunton community, wrote:
I encourage anyone who would wish to have a service in church to celebrate their relationship, in the presence of God, their family and friends, to make the most of the opportunity to do so once the trial begins. As well as the personal importance of being able to celebrate loving relationships in church, this would also be a wonderful opportunity to show the church and our communities that such services belong in our churches.
If you are in a same-sex relationship and thinking of using the Prayers of Love and Faith to celebrate your relationship and commitment, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us confidentially here.
The Open Table Network also works in partnership with churches in four other traditions: Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed, which allow their ministers and churches to conduct same-sex marriages if they wish, and the Church in Wales, which approved a liturgy for the blessing of a same-sex marriage or civil partnership in September 2021, for a pilot period of five years.
