Honest Church Statement

March 2025

Honest Church is a campaign which encourages churches to be open and up front about their theology and practice when it comes to the inclusion of women and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals within the life of the church. The campaign puts it like this:

A lot of churches don’t let on whether they are affirming and welcoming of LGBTQ+ people. And, although all churches welcome women, some don’t let on about the ways in which they limit the roles of women in church.  Some churches say everyone is welcome, but then turn out to have hostile theology that comes as a surprise. 

Here at TBC we very much see the importance of transparency so the following is our position.

Women in TBC

We are a church which believes, teaches and practices that women can be called to and exercise any ministry within church life. We currently have a female Minister and our previous Senior Minister was a woman. We have women who preach regularly and women on the Leadership Team of the church.

LGBTQ+ people in TBC

Our theology of sexuality and inclusion has been a matter of lively debate in recent years. As a church we have members with differing theologies but we are all agreed that TBC is a place of welcome to everyone, irrespective of gender or sexuality. We have a number of LGBTQ+ people who are well-established and well-loved members of our church family.

In terms of inclusion, our starting position is that the same Biblical sexual ethics apply to LGBTQ+ people as to straight, cis people. Our practice is based on the belief that the Bible teaches that sexual relationships are only for within marriage and so, gay or straight, we expect anyone in a position of leadership within the church to either be faithfully married or to be celibate. On that basis, with one exception any and every leadership role in the church including Leadership Team membership and preaching is open to LGBTQ+ people.  The exception is ordained ministry.

At the current time we are not open to performing same sex marriage services.  Clearly there is something of a tension between this position and the one laid out in the previous paragraph. We recognise the internal inconsistency of our position, but reconsidering our theology and practice and, to an extent at least, becoming affirming has been quite a journey for us as a church.  This is where we find ourselves on that journey at the current time.

Chat with us

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this further we would be delighted to chat. Please get in touch with one of the ministers.