IN AN INTERVIEW with the Manchester Evening News this week, OTN trustee Augustine Tanner-Ihm, recently appointed as a curate at St James and Emmanuel Didsbury, shared his journey through poverty, racism, homophobia and conversion therapy.

SAME-SEX COUPLES will be able to have their civil partnership or marriage blessed in Church in Wales churches for the first time after new legislation was passed this week.

FOLLOWING the success of our recent Q&As with our Patrons (still available on our YouTube channel), in August the Open Table Network's Co-Chairs Alex Clare-Young and Sarah Hobbs had a dialogue around key issues that matter to them and the Open Table Network.

IN AN INTERVIEW with BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme on 15th August, Open Table Network trustee Augustine Tanner-Ihm explained why he sought conversion therapy at church in north-west England a few years ago.

A MEMBER of the Coordinating Group of Living In Love And Faith (LLF), the Church of England’s suite of resources on identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage, has published an academic article drawing on professional expertise and lived experience to critique the LLF process.

FOLLOWING the success of our recent Q&As with our Patrons (still available on our YouTube channel), July is the sixth anniversary of Open Table becoming a Network, so we heard more of the Open Table story from Kieran our Coordinator.

TWO of the founders of the first Open Table community in Liverpool were re-commissioned as lay leaders in the Diocese of Liverpool last Saturday.

YOU CAN HELP to make online church more inclusive and accessible. Open Table Network, Inclusive Church and OneBodyOneFaith, have come together to produce a consultation on inclusive online church.

ON INTERNATIONAL Non-Binary People’s Day, The Times released a sensitive and beautifully-shot mini-documentary about Alex, a transmasculine non-binary minister in the United Reformed Church.

LAST WEEK Methodist Conference, the governing body of the Methodist Church in Britain, passed significant resolutions with far-reaching consequences for its members, and the wider Christian community.

THIS MORNING BBC Radio Merseyside spoke to Bishop of Liverpool Paul Bayes about his speech last week advocating a change to the laws of the Church of England to permit same-sex marriage. In the same week, Bishop Paul announced his retirement. He plans to step down in February 2021.

THIS WEEK's Church Times has a summary of our research into the impact on the well-being of Open Table communities on the well-being of LGBTQIA+ Christians.

OTN TRUSTEE Augustine Tanner-Ihm, who has trained for ministry in the Church of England but faced challenges in finding his first ordained ministry role, has been granted a UK visa just in time for his ordination this weekend.

A COMPLAINT against the leader of the Open Table London community has been dropped, according to the Church Times.

THE BISHOP of Liverpool, Right Revd Paul Bayes, a Patron of the Open Table Network, has said the Church of England should recognise marriage between people of the same sex and allow such ceremonies in church.

THIS SUNDAY 27th June, OTN Coordinator Kieran Bohan will speak to BBC local radio stations about our work with LGBTQIA+ Christians, how it makes a difference, and the significance of this year’s Methodist Conference for same-sex couples.

IN A SPECIAL Q&A webinar for Pride Month, It’s A Sin actor and HIV activist Nathaniel Hall was in conversation with Steven Hilton from Manchester Cathedral who wrote his MTh thesis on the lived experiences of gay men living with HIV.

CHURCHES, which should be loving communities, are often responsible for pain, trauma and dangerously low self-esteem for LGBTQIA+ people. But new research shows that LGBTQIA+ people reported hugely improved well-being after joining an Open Table community.

THIS WEEK it was the 13th birthday of the first Open Table community in Liverpool, and the sixth anniversary of Open Table becoming a network. Our whole team met in person for the first time at St Werburgh's, Spondon, the church which hosts Open Table Derby.

OTN CO-CHAIR Alex Clare-Young has created a resource to help churches and Christian organisations to consider trans and non-binary identities in their safeguarding policy and practice.