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Out of a desire to get some more experience of different denominations and styles of worship, this Sunday I went to St Luke's Kentish Town, a church plant of Holy Trinity Brompton, which was the birthplace of the Alpha course. I was pleasantly surprised both by how much I enjoyed the service and by how welcome I was made to feel. I was conscious that they have had some fairly high-profile conflict with a former member of the congregation over her queerness, but also had the impression that the vicar had acknowledged that he'd fucked up and was trying to do better.
It was in some ways quite convenient that no fewer than three people there asked me if I was in the process of discerning a priestly vocation*, thus giving me the opportunity to come out in a way that seemed natural and unforced. I couldn't detect any negative reactions, and the person I spent the longest talking to, himself an ordinand at St Mellitus, seemed gratifyingly put out on my behalf that my marriage was an impediment to any vocation to ordained ministry that I may or may not have.
I think that if I can manage the St John's rota around it, I'm going to try and go there once a month or so for a few months, both to build a richer experience of what evangelical worship is like than can come from a single visit, and to start building relationships with people who have the same reliance on stereotypes over experience when it comes to queers, as I do when it comes to evangelicals.
*this is less ridiculous than it sounds, as people in a formal discernment process are quite often told to go and experience less familiar styles of worship, but it is definitely bringing up Feelings(tm)
It was in some ways quite convenient that no fewer than three people there asked me if I was in the process of discerning a priestly vocation*, thus giving me the opportunity to come out in a way that seemed natural and unforced. I couldn't detect any negative reactions, and the person I spent the longest talking to, himself an ordinand at St Mellitus, seemed gratifyingly put out on my behalf that my marriage was an impediment to any vocation to ordained ministry that I may or may not have.
I think that if I can manage the St John's rota around it, I'm going to try and go there once a month or so for a few months, both to build a richer experience of what evangelical worship is like than can come from a single visit, and to start building relationships with people who have the same reliance on stereotypes over experience when it comes to queers, as I do when it comes to evangelicals.
*this is less ridiculous than it sounds, as people in a formal discernment process are quite often told to go and experience less familiar styles of worship, but it is definitely bringing up Feelings(tm)
