THIS OCTOBER, St Bride’s Church in Liverpool is celebrating the contribution of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) communities past and present. Celebrations kick off with a special communion service on Sunday 16th October at 6.30pm led by the Revd Dr Ash Barker.

TODAY marks the second anniversary of the Coordinator of the Open Table Network taking on the role full-time, thanks to the success of our first major funding bid. Here we review highlights of our last 12 months, thanks to your support.

EACH YEAR International Day Of Peace is observed on 21st September. The UN has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire. But achieving true peace also requires building communities where all members feel they can flourish, creating a world where all people are treated equally. This is what we aspire to do in our Open Table communities.

AUGUSTINE TANNER-IHM will share a short video to introduce the theme of this year’s conference on embracing diversity hosted by Gathering Voices, a collaboration of Christian organisations that encourage churches to be fully inclusive and affirming of all people without regard of gender and sexuality.

THE STUDENT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT (SCM) has launched a new campaign calling on all churches to be transparent about the welcome that LGBTQ+ people receive in their church, asking church leaders to reflect on what they teach, imply and model with regard to LGBTQ+ people.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN to be fully seen and accepted? In a new temporary audio-visual exhibition, OTN trustee Augustine Tanner Ihm recounts the moment when his searching for a space to be ‘all of who he is’ comes to an end.

JOIN AN IT SUPPORT TEAM on a musical quest to stop the Apocalypse. 12+ Adult themes around mental health, domestic abuse and conversion therapy. Skitzoid Productions, which aims to create challenging, entertaining and creative theatre that pushes at the boundaries of what can be done on stage, are excited to bring their third original musical to Waterloo East Theatre this October.

IN THE LATEST episode of a podcast ‘for migrants by migrants’, two people with experience of seeking asylum share their stories, one who won leave to remain in the UK with support from an Open Table community, and another who is afraid to get support from an LGBT-affirming Christian community because she fears that the Black African church she attends will no longer support her.

OTN PATRON Cherry Vann, Bishop of Monmouth, is among 90 bishops who signed a statement saying ‘we believe that LGBT+ people are a precious part of God’s creation’ in response to a Call on Human Dignity at the Lambeth Conference of global Anglican leaders yesterday.

FOR THE FIRST TIME in the Open Table Network, our community in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, hosted an informal and relaxed service of thanksgiving for the civil partnership of regular members CJ and Jake this month.

THE FINAL of Theology Slam 2022 - a competition to find engaging young voices who think theologically about the contemporary world - will feature a talk on the body by Revd Alex Clare-Young.

THIS MONTH has seen Pride events all over the country. It’s 50 years this year since the first Pride March in London in 1972. To mark this milestone, our Coordinator Kieran Bohan was one of a number of faith leaders interviews on BBC local radio on Sunday 26th June.

LOOKING for something to make your community’s Pride celebrations sparkle? This new digital download is just what you need! OTN Co-Chair Alex Clare-Young and their wife Jo have contributed to, and edited this collection by the Iona Community’s LGBTQ+ Common Concern Network as a reflection of all they seek to celebrate and affirm.

CELEBRATIONS for the 14th birthday of the first Open Table community in Liverpool, and seven years since we became a network, reached their peak last weekend, at our national gathering on the theme ‘More Than Welcome’.

SINCE JUNE 2008 when we began, we have bloomed and grown! Starting with a group of just six, we've turned Open Table into a network of welcoming, affirming LGBTQIA+ worship communities. We're multiplying and blossoming. In March 2021, the Open Table Network became a charity. Read a summary of our first annual report.

JUNE 1st-7th is Volunteers’ Week, and this year’s theme is ‘A Time To Say Thanks’. The Open Table Network wouldn’t - and couldn’t - exist without the volunteers who give energy, time and talents, across England and Wales. All of our Trustees and Patrons do the same. So we want to thank them all for making OTN what it is today.

OUR ONLINE celebration of Pride Month features a reflection by our Co-Chair Alex Clare-Young, on the relationship between Pride and Pentecost, the 50th day after Easter, on which Christians remember the gift of the Holy Spirit to the frightened first followers of Jesus following his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to heaven.

AN INCLUSIVE event at Liverpool Parish Church this Saturday 14th May will celebrate the Liverpool City Region’s LGBT+ community and mark International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia led by Open Table Network and our community partners.

TEN YEARS ago, two of the founders of the first Open Table community in Liverpool arranged a church blessing of their civil partnership. While they were planning it, the UK Government changed the law so they could register their civil partnership in a church - and be the first couple in the UK to do so!

LAST MONTH, amid widespread condemnation, the UK Government decided not to include trans people in its conversion therapy ban. In an interview with the Evening Standard this week, OTN Co-Chair Alex Clare-Young shares experiences of conversion therapy, and concern that being trans is not something to be cured, but to be accepted and joyfully celebrated.