Meet our team
We thought you’d like to know about all the different people who are helping to build and steer the Open Table Network as it grows. So we’ve put together videos to introduce you to everyone.
Our Director
Kieran Bohan (he / him)
Kieran is one of the founders of the first Open Table community in Liverpool. He’s the one who you’ll talk to initially if you get in touch with a query about OTN, or to find out how to join.
To get in touch, contact us.
WATCH: Kieran’s intro video [2.5 mins]
Our Treasurer
Jeff Prescott (he/him)
Jeff has been a Senior Accountant at the Charity Commission for England & Wales since 2008. This role includes support for the Faith Charities Outreach Team. He lives in Liverpool and attends St Bride’s Church, where the first Open Table community began in 2008.
WATCH: Jeff’s intro video [<2 mins]
Our Board of Trustees
Our Trustees are responsible for thinking through and putting into practice plans which will develop the Open Table Network. They come from various different work and church backgrounds. If you’re interested in finding out about becoming a Trustee, you more than welcome to get in touch.
Revd Andrew Howorth
Co-Chair of Trustees (he/him)
Andrew is the Chaplain at the University of Bradford. He worked in mental health for 27 years before becoming a Church of England priest. Andrew works alongside his civil partner to develop safe spaces for those who identify as Christian in the LGBTQIA+ community. Together, they are part of the team that is developing an Open Table community in Bradford, the first to meet in a place that is not a church.
Sarah Hobbs
Co-Chair of Trustees (she/her)
Sarah leads a consultancy firm and is an experienced trainer who empowers and enables people to realise their potential. As well as being a passionate advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community and for the growth and development of the Open Table Network, she is studying as an ordinand in the Church of England. She also co-chairs a Yorkshire-based charity tackling food insecurity. She is a bi-romantic transgender woman who transitioned in 2017.
WATCH: Sarah’s intro video [2 mins]
Neil Rees
Secretary to the Trustees (he/him)
After 27 years serving in international mission, Neil was the minister of a church in Ormskirk near Liverpool until November 2021. He maintains a strong interest in the global Christian community and international development and serves today in Bible teaching, training and leadership development. He has an MA in international development and one published book, Not Everything in Our Bibles Is Inspired. He is actively working to see the Christian community become more inclusive to all, which led to him becoming an LGBTQIA+ ally.
WATCH: Neil’s intro video [2 mins]
Revd Calum Crombie
Trustee (he/him)
Calum is a Church of England priest and an experienced prison chaplain ensuring high quality faith and pastoral care for prisoners and staff of all faiths and none. He is also Bishop’s Advisor for Prison Chaplaincy in Blackburn Diocese, and a founding member and leader of the Open Table community in Leyland, Lancashire.
WATCH: Calum’s intro video [2 mins]
Dr Carol Joyner
Trustee (she/her)
Carol is a freelance tutor, lecturer and public speaker. She is the author of several books on the subject of bisexual Christian intersectional identities and LGBT Christian inclusion. She is part of the worship team at Augustine United Church in Edinburgh and on the leadership team of Our Tribe LGBT Ministry there. She lives with her wife just outside of Edinburgh and hopes to extend the Open Table Network in Scotland.
WATCH: Carol’s intro video [2 mins]
Revd Jayne Taylor
Trustee (she/her)
Jayne is a minister in the United Reformed Church (URC) in Exeter, where she co-founded and supports an Open Table community. She is a member of the URC Equalities Committee and helped to bring a resolution to the URC General Assembly asserting the dignity and safety of trans and gender non-conforming people, which was overwhelmingly passed in July 2023.
WATCH: Jayne’s intro video [< 2mins]
Dr Peter Jones
Trustee (he/him)
Peter is a PhD researcher at the University of Leicester, researching the experiences of LGBTQIA+ Christians; their identities and sacred spaces, and how they are shaped through creativity and creative methods. He interviewed members of Open Table communities as part of a case study. Peter is a trans man who was out and openly queer before becoming a Christian in 2012. He is now a member of St Nicholas’ Church in Leicester which a diverse and inclusive community.
Roo Stewart
Trustee (he/him)
Roo works for the United Reformed Church, equipping congregations to pursue justice through advocacy and campaigning for systemic change, and with the Baptist Union and the Methodist Church, sharing expertise and resources as part of the Joint Public Issues Team. Roo’s specialism is in communication; he aims to help the Open Table Network communicate who we are to a wider audience.
Revd Rosemary Hill
Trustee (she/her)
Rosemary is a priest in the Church in Wales, vicar for Children, Family and Community in the East Cardiff Ministry Area in the Diocese of Monmouth and a school priest in St Teilo's Church in Wales High School. She is studying part-time for a PhD focussing on trauma and loss of faith in LGBTQIA+ Christians. She is a lesbian and has been openly out in the church for 2015. She is part of the team that is developing an Open Table community in East Cardiff. Having experienced the sheer joy of worship and fellowship in Open Table she welcomes the opportunity to help make that available for others.
Revd Yin-An Chen
Trustee (he/him)
Yin-An is a Church of England priest and curate at St Oswald's Church in Oswestry, Shropshire, in the Diocese of Lichfield. Alongside parish ministry, he lectures in the Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan, his home diocese. His research interests include the interrelation between spirituality, political theology, and queer theory. He also has a strong passion for the theology of inclusion, the unrestricted grace of God, and radical hospitality.
WATCH: Yin An’s intro video [< 3mins]