OTN Director to train for ordination as a Methodist minister
LEFT TO RIGHT: Kieran Bohan, Director of the Open Table Network; Superintendent of Liverpool South Circuit Revd David Goodwin; retiring Chair of Liverpool District Revd Dr Sheryl Anderson; Revd Peter Hughes, minister of St James’ Woolton (where Kieran has been a member since 2022); and fellow trainee minister Obeth Thevanesan, at Liverpool Hope University Chapel on 9th June 2024.
“I felt strongly that ordained ministry might yet be open to me in the Methodist Church, having grieved that it was closed to me in the Catholic and Anglican churches, as a married gay man.”
THE HEAD of a charity which creates and sustains welcoming and affirming spaces for LGBT+ people within Christian communities has been approved for ministry training by the Methodist Church in Britain this week.
Kieran Bohan, Director of the Open Table Network (OTN), learned in February that he would be recommended for training in preparation for ordination as a Methodist presbyter. This recommendation was confirmed at a meeting of the Methodist Conference, the governing body of the Methodist Church In Britain, on Wednesday 3rd July.
In September, Kieran will begin a three-year part-time Postgraduate Diploma in Theology, Ministry and Mission at the Queens Foundation in Birmingham. He has applied to serve in the ‘specific context’ of the LGBTQIA+ community for at least the first five years after ordination in 2027, so he can continue to support OTN’s growing ministry.
The 53-year-old was one of the founding members of the first Open Table community in Liverpool in 2008. He has supported its growth from one to nearly 40 communities since 2015. Open Table communities are hosted in churches from five different Christian traditions, including the Methodist Church.
The course at the Queens Foundation is shared with ordination candidates from the Church of England and others preparing for various forms of ministry. The ministry of Open Table is already familiar to some of the team at the Queens Foundation. OTN Patron and former Bishop of Liverpool the Right Revd Paul Bayes serves on the college’s governing body, and OTN Patron and former President of the Methodist Church Revd Dr Barbara Glasson has just retired from her role as a Tutor in Pastoral Theology there.
The call to serve in the Church is not new for Kieran. He began training for Catholic priesthood in the 1990s but was not ordained. From 2005 to 2011, he supported the ministry of Liverpool City Centre Methodist Church, where Barbara Glasson was the minister. From 2011 to 2021 he supported the wider church community at St Bride’s Liverpool, which hosts the first Open Table community. He also worked for several ecumenical Christian charities before going full-time with OTN in 2020.
Kieran met his husband Warren, another founding member of the first Open Table community, in an LGBT+ Christian group meeting at Liverpool City Centre Methodist Church in 2007. In 2012, they were the first couple to register a civil partnership in a place of worship in the UK.
Kieran said his call to ordination was renewed unexpectedly while on retreat in 2021:
‘I had felt called to ordained ministry since I was in secondary school, but having tested this in the Catholic Church in my twenties I had thought it was closed to me because of my sexuality. My time on retreat in 2021 was an unexpected breakthrough. I felt strongly that ordained ministry might yet be open to me in the Methodist Church, having grieved that it was closed to me in the Catholic and Anglican churches, as a married gay man.’
Revd Dr Barbara Glasson, Patron of the Open Table Network, said:
‘Kieran had thought that his on-going and deep vocation to ordained ministry could not be fulfilled because of his sexual orientation and lifetime commitment to Warren, but the decision of the Methodist Conference to permit the marriage of same-sex couples has opened up this possibility for him again. Kieran is a theologically literate, wise and gentle human being. He will flourish with the opportunities offered to him through ministerial training in the Methodist Church.’
Revd Dr Sheryl Anderson, Chair of Liverpool Methodist District, said:
‘OTN contributes to the mission and life of the national Christian community across many denominations. That its Director is a Liverpool Methodist is something of which the local circuit and the Liverpool District is very proud. The Network has been identified as one of the fastest growing church planting movements in England.’
OTN Co-Chair Sarah Hobbs said:
‘Kieran's contribution to Open Table's establishment, development, and growth has been pivotal. His diligent, godly character has shone through this work, and everyone associated with our network is delighted that the Methodist Church has recognised his obvious call to ordained ministry. Our prayers are with him as training begins, and we are excited to see how this new phase of his life will further enrich the whole network.’
Kieran will continue as Director of OTN, working 21 hours a week from 1st October 2024.
For further information, please contact Kieran Bohan, Director, Open Table Network, via this contact form.
