Where did the opposition to LLF go?

Anglican Futures
1 hour ago
7 min read

Now that the voting records from this month's General Synod have been published, it is possible to see just how successful the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process has been at changing the Church of England and reducing effective oppositon.

In February 2023, a motion was brought to General Synod by the then Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, on behalf of the House of Bishops. It called on the Synod to "recognise" all that had already been learned through "deep listening to God and to each other" and the desire to "journey together while acknowledging the different deeply held convictions within the Church." It lamented and repented of the failure of the Church to welcome LGBTQI+ people and the continued "harm" they experienced within it. Alongside a commitment to the "shared witness to God's love for and acceptance of every person" and "continued learning together", the Synod was asked to "welcome the decision of the House of Bishops to replace Issues in Human Sexuality with new pastoral guidance". In turn the House of Bishops were asked to further refine, commend and issue the "Prayers of Love and Fath described in GS2289."

Of the twenty-six amendments that were tabled - all but one were rejected by the House of Bishops. In what became known as the 'Cornes amendment', the final motion also endorsed, "the decision of the College and House of Bishops not to propose any change to the doctrine of marriage, and their intention that the final version of the Prayers of Love and Faith should not be contrary to or indicative of a departure from the doctrine of the Church of England."

Over the past three years, this amendment has been the focus of many of the doctrinal and legal challenges that have prevented the bishops from introducing standalone services of blessing for same-sex couples. Unfortunately, no one suggested an amendment to question the bishops' commitment to "journey together" and "learning together", which have, in the end, weakened the ability of those for whom the blessing of same-sex couples is a first order issue from being heard.

In 2023, the vote on the amended motion revealed the serious divisions which existed within every part of the Church. Four bishops voted against their own motion: the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, the Rt Revd Paul Williams, the Rt Revd Ric Thorpe and the Rt Revd Jill Duff. Two others abstained: the Rt Revd Christopher Cocksworth and the Rt Revd Philip North. Dissent was greater in the House of Clergy, where 43% voted against the motion and greater still in the House of Laity, where 47% could not accept the bishops' plans.

	For	Against	Abstain
Bishops	36	4	2
Clergy	111	85	3
Laity	103	92	5

The passing of the motion sent shock waves around the world, as reports of Archbishop Justin Welby's acknowledgement that as a result of the Church of England passing this motion, "People will die, women will be raped, children will be tortured...", yet still he encouraged the Synod to go ahead and vote in favour of it. The Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA) spoke of impaired communion and, "the loss of confidence", in the Church of England's leadership, Gafcon doubled down on this, saying that Welby was, "shredding the last remaining fragile fabric of the Anglican Communion."

Despite the international opprobrium, the Church of England's leadership has shown itself determined to implement the plan outlined in the February 2023 motion. The Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) were commended by the House of Bishops for use in regular services two years ago. Last summer, 'Issues of Human Sexuality' was binned, and replaced, not with the promised pastoral guidance, but the soon-to-be-updated 'Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of Clergy'. Somewhere along the line the desire to see clergy able to enter into civil same-sex marriages was also added to the wish list.

Meanwhile, in the intervening years, conservatives in the Church of England have worked hard. The Alliance has brought together different orthodox groups and the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) have introduced the Ephesians Fund and Alternative Spiritual Overseers, who mentor clergy and encourage congregations. Hundreds of questions have been asked at Synod, and any number of speeches have been made.

Yet despite all the theological and legal argument, in England, at least, the visceral dissent seems to have waned.

Earlier this month, the Archbishop of York, the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, brought a new motion to General Synod on behalf of the House of Bishops. It was a carefully crafted procedural motion. The "distress and pain" suffered especially by LGBTQI+ people (of not going far enough fast enough) was acknowledged and plans for future work were outlined. In short, the LLF Programme "and all work initiated by the February 2023 LLF motion and subsequent LLF motions" will conclude by July 2026, to be replaced by two more permanent "Working Groups". Their role will be to advise the House of Bishops on what would be necessary for further change, specifically the introduction of standalone, or bespoke, services of blessing for same-sex couples and allowing clergy to enter into civil same-sex marriages.

Extraordinarily, despite this motion appearing to put to one side the doctrinal boundaries put in place by the 2023 'Cornes amendment', there was far greater acceptance of the project than before. Only eight amendments were put forward, and none achieved a majority in all three Houses. The debate felt like people were just going through the motions and the final vote showed a significant reduction in the number of people voting against the bishops' plans.

	For	Against	Abstain
Bishops	34	0	2
Clergy	109	62	10
Laity	109	70	9

This time no bishops voted against the motion and only two formally abstained. In the other two Houses, the numbers voting against the motion were much lower than before - with only 36% of clergy and 39% of laity feeling the need to challenge the bishops' plans for further change. In effect 7% more clergy and and 9% more laity voted in favour of the main motion in 2026, than in 2023.

It is necessary to look a little closer at the figures in order to uncover some of the reasons why the opposition appears to be fading away.

Of the six bishops who voted against the main motion in 2023, or abstained, only three were able to vote this time. Christopher Cocksworth left the House of Bishops to become the Dean of Windsor in the summer of 2023, Ric Thorpe left England to become the Archbishop of Melbourne, last Summer, and very sadly Andrew Watson has been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. Two others chose to vote in favour of the motion, leaving the Rt Revd Paul Williams, to continue the opposition alone, though he was joined in abstaining by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gibbs and is actually possible that four more bishops avoided casting a vote one way or the other, despite being present for the rest of the debate.

There has also been some change in the membership of the Houses of Clergy and Laity. While the majority of new members vote in a similar way to the member they replace, a comparison of the 2023 and 2026 voting patterns shows that where there is a difference, it was slightly more common for the new member to vote more positively than the person they replaced. This appears to go against the commonly held belief that this Synod had become more conservative over time.

The vast majority of the change is due to individuals changing their mind. This has happened in both directions - but of those who changed their mind - five times as many individuals became more positive (in other words they chose to abstain or vote in favour of the motion) than became more negative.

This change of mind may be due to some voting tactically - the wording of the motion was merely procedural and some would argue that as nothing can actually change whilst there is a blocking minority in both the House of Clergy and the House of Laity voting in favour of it does not commit anyone to a particular outcome. Some will have decided to keep their powder dry. It is possible that some decided that, having faced considerable backlash for voting against 'progress' in the past, they would abstain, or vote in favour, this time. Some, will have changed their mind about the relative importance of this decision.

Whatever the reasons, the fact that voting patterns have changed so dramatically is testimony to what this blog describes as the Travelator - the ever moving LLF process which carries its passengers to a predetermined destination. Legal and theological challenges may have slowed it down for a while - but the emotional and relational capital that has been spent has also worn down further resistance. What was shocking in 2023 has become the new normal and people's expectations have changed accordingly.

The Church of England has changed over the past three years. Prayers of blessing are here to stay and discipline around clergy relationships is almost non-existent - clergy only receive an 'informal rebuke' for marrying their same-sex partner. Anecdotally orthodox clergy who refuse to use the PLF are finding it difficult to find new churches and those taking more senior roles are expected to agree that blessing same-sex relationships is something that Christians can agree to disagree about.

The new Working Groups have been set up with the purpose of facilitating further change. How quickly this happens in England will depend to some extent on the result of the General Synod elections taking place this Autumn and the ability of the House of Bishops to persuade a few more individuals to soften their stance.

In the wider Anglican Communion, however, change may take place much sooner.

In February 2023, Archbishop Most Revd Dr Fawzy Shehata, the Archbishop of the Province of Alexandria, pleaded with the General Synod not to vote in favour of the LLF motion:

"The Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus' teaching - I cannot imagine we can understand Jesus' teaching better than the Apostles of the Early Church... This shift in practice will lead eventually to impaired and broken communion. We inherited the traditional orthodox faith of the Church of England. Please do not surrender your unique position as the ‘Mother Church’ of the Anglican Communion. It is your choice.”

Next week, Gafcon have invited all orthodox bishops to a gathering in Abuja, Nigeria. The agenda is simple - to discuss the reformation of the Anglican Communion in line with their Martyr's Day Statement. They claim it will be "a truly conciliar, confessional, and collaborative council" and it is quite possible that while there they will elect a representative 'leader', to take on the primus inter pares role that the Archbishop of Canterbury has traditionally played. Such a move would be deeply symbolic of how commending the PLF has led to the complete rejection of the 'Mother Church' by the majority of the world's Anglicans.

Where did the opposition to LLF go?

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