The United Reformed Church (URC) Finance Committee is to provide a grant of £50,000 to the Open Table Network (OTN).
The network is a growing partnership of communities across England and Wales which welcomes and affirms people who are LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA).
Overseen by the committee, the funding is provided by the Legacy Fund, will be provided over three years and is supported by the Mission Committee.
Explaining how the support came about, the Revd Philip Brooks, Deputy General Secretary (Mission) said: “Members of Mission Committee were very impressed with the application from Open Table Network.
“We look forward to working with our LGBT+ Christian friends, developing our partnership, and are grateful for the generous financial support afforded by the Legacy Fund grant.”
OTN is an exciting, growing network of Christian churches where LGBTQIA+ people can worship and grow in faith and discipleship.
It began as a small community of LGBT+ people, the ‘+’ here stands for ‘allies’ or other members who don’t consider themselves to be LGBT, meeting in an Anglican church in Liverpool in 2008.
After several years, Open Table became a network of communities, where 33 groups currently meet regularly across England and Wales.
Thanks to the grant, the organisation hopes to grow more communities in underserved areas and seeks to create safe and sacred spaces where everyone can encounter God’s infinite, unconditional, intimate love.
Gail Yorke, an OTN community leader based at St John’s URC in Warrington which has been meeting since July 2015, said: “Hosting Open Table has enabled us to connect with people who are not part of a church community. This has offered people a sacred space to be included in communion, meeting like-minded Christians.”
An Open Table community began in Wylde Green URC in Birmingham in January 2022. The Revd Chris Dowd, Minister of the church, commented on the enormous benefit to the established congregation.
“Many of our families have an LGBTQ member,” Chris said. “Open Table has given our families the message that their loved ones are completely accepted and celebrated rather than just tolerated or intentionally overlooked. This has been incredibly healing for the grandparents, parents, siblings and children of our LGBTQ folk.”
On the benefit of creating a space associated with the Open Table Network, Chris added: “Open Table already has a trusted reputation that would take a church many years to build on its own. This means you are starting years ahead of what you could do yourself.”
The URC Mission Committee is seeking to develop more spaces where people can build authentic communities and explore and develop their faith.
Its goal is to establish at least one Open Table community in every Synod, intending that LGBTQIA people will have access to communities that enable them to thrive.
Find your nearest Open Table community using this map.
A national Open Table Network gathering will take place on 10 June at Downing Place URC in Cambridge. More information about this can be found here.
Within the URC, a wide range of views are held with integrity about issues of sexuality and same-sex marriage. For more on this, please see the ‘marriage and human sexuality’ tab here and ‘Same-sex marriage and the URC’ from the Group for Evangelism and Renewal within the URC (GEAR) here.