During Assembly 2013 we launched a series of conversations that have since taken place throughout our union, in churches, associations and colleges on the issues around the registration of Baptist church buildings for the purpose of holding same sex marriage services.  There is a breadth of opinion in our union on these issues, as can be seen in this summary of responses received.
 
The issues have also been considered in Council (November 2013, March 2014 and March 2016) and at many meetings of Team Leaders and the Baptist Steering Group. 
 
At Assembly 2014 an update of our process was shared and the following was offered on behalf of the Baptist Steering Group to express where we were up to on the journey.  This served as a backdrop to the continuing conversations and the way we sought to behave as Baptists Together.
 

As a union of churches in covenant together we will respect the differences on this issue which both enrich us and potentially could divide as we seek to live in fellowship under the direction of our Declaration of Principle ‘That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His Laws.’   Upholding the liberty of a local church to determine its own mind on this matter, in accordance with our Declaration of Principle, we also recognise the freedom of a minister to respond to the wishes of their church, where their conscience permits, without breach of disciplinary guidelines.   We affirm the traditionally accepted Biblical understanding of Christian marriage, as a union between a man and a woman, as the continuing foundation of belief in our Baptist Churches.   A Baptist minister is required to live and work within the guidelines adopted by the Baptist Union of Great Britain regarding sexuality and the ministry that include ‘a sexual relationship outside of Christian marriage (as defined between a man and a woman) is deemed conduct unbecoming for a minister’.

The Faith and Society Team produced some notes which are offered as general guidance for churches and ministers concerned about the implications of the introduction of same sex marriages in 2014.  They were provided in response to the introduction of the Act and should not be read as an opinion.

homosexuality, gay marriage