In listening to our own faith and to  the community we serve,  three themes for a renewed vision for our Church have emerged strongly:


A CREATIVE Church. 

A place where people, the visual arts, music and faith mix together. 




A PROGRESSIVE Church.

A place where the Christian story is lived and explored in a way that respects questions as much as answers with an openness to the insights of science and the ways of other faiths.




An INCLUSIVE Church.

A place where everyone can feel respected and at home, regardless of sexuality, gender, race, disability, class or creed.




Being an Inclusive Church Means Taking a  Stand for Gay Rights
While we recognize that real steps forward have happened in many places and that the pastoral support given to gay individuals and couples  by "the system" in the Church of England can often be both creative and supportive, nonetheless, the official position of the Church as a whole is oppressive of the Gay Community. Such prejudice contributes directly to the real suffering of many inside and outside the Church. It is much easier to pass by on the other side of the road, but sometimes, a commitment to justice demands an active response.

St Brides is working together with others who seek the following aims: (i) The acceptance of the priestly ministry of lesbian women and gay men, who are in committed relationships. (ii) The provision of  an official service of blessing for gay and lesbian couples who have been joined in a Civil Partnership.

St Brides is proud to be a Church which offers a warm welcome to everyone, regardless of their sexuality. We are registered as a 'Welcoming Congregation' with 'Changing Attitude'. We are also proud to offer a service of prayer to same-sex couples following a Civil Partnership.



Being a Progressive Church means we are Christians who...

Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.

Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.

Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus' name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples


Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):

    believers and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning sceptics, women and men, those of all
    sexual orientations and gender identities,
those of all races and cultures, those of all classes and
    abilities, those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope.

Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe.

Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes.

Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers

Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.

 


Some links which resonate with our vision at St Brides

Creative Worship and Spirituality Links

World Community for Christian Meditation
http://www.wccm.org/home.asp?pagestyle=home

Sacred Space - Daily Reflection Time Online and Podcast

http://www.sacredspace.ie/

The Iona Community
http://www.iona.org.uk/

The Taize Community
http://www.taize.fr/


Progressive Churches
St James Piccadilly
http://www.st-james-piccadilly.org/

St Agnes, North Reddish, Manchester
http://www.northreddish.org.uk/

St Mark's, Broomhill, Sheffield
http://www.stmarkssheffield.co.uk/

All Hallows Leeds
http://www.allhallowsleeds.org.uk/


Progressive Christianity Links
Progressive Christianity Network
http://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/

Modern Church People's Union

http://www.modchurchunion.org/

Radical Faith Resource Pages
http://homepages.which.net/~radical.faith/index.htm

Bishop John Spong

http://www.johnshelbyspong.com/

The Student Christian Movement (SCM)
 http://www.movement.org.uk/

The Sea of Faith Network

http://www.sofn.org.uk/

Matthew Fox
http://www.matthewfox.org/sys-tmpl/door/

The Real (&Radical) Jesus According to Marcus Borg

http://www.united.edu/portrait/


Inclusive Church Links
Inclusive Church
http://www.inclusivechurch2.net/

Changing Attitude

http://www.changingattitude.org.uk/home/home.asp

Group for Recinding the Act of Synod
http://www.gras.org.uk/

Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement

http://www.lgcm.org.uk/

Accepting Evangelicals
http://www.acceptingevangelicals.org/

Courage
http://www.courage.org.uk/


Fun Links

http://www.shipoffools.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i32312ExBZA


Peace and Justice Links

Stop the Traffik
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx

Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/

Iraq Body Count
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Liverpool World Centre
http://www.liverpoolworldcentre.org/site/

Liverpool Friends of the Earth
http://www.liverpoolfoe.org.uk/

Christian Aid
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/



(G) Church Development Resources
Appreciative Enquiry as a tool for congregational development
http://www.clergyleadership.com/clergy/ai.html


Our Links to the Wider Church

The Church of England in Liverpool City Centre

Our Lady & St Nicholas, Pier Head. Liverpool Parish Church.
http://www.livpc.co.uk/

Liverpool Cathedral
http://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/

11:57
http://www.elevenfiftyseven.org.uk/

Dream
http://www.dream.uk.net/

Pioneer Ministry
http://www.liverpoolpioneerministry.org.uk/

St Michael in the City
http://www.stmichaelinthecity.com/

Liverpool University Chaplaincy
http://www.angchap-liverpooluni.org.uk/

Liverpool John Moores University Chaplaincy
http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/chaplaincy/

Liverpool Hope University Chaplaincy
http://www.hope.ac.uk/students/compass/Chaplaincy/


Liverpool Music and Arts Links

http://musicblog.merseyblogs.co.uk/

http://shoutandtwist.blogspot.com/

http://www.showmercy.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.catalystmedia.org.uk/


Radical Liverpool

http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/index.php