Open Table Network
Open Table Network is an ecumenical Christian community for LGBTQ+ people.
According to Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, Open Table in 2019 is "one of the fastest growing Church planting movements in England".[1]
Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Team Rector at St Luke in the City Team Ministry, Liverpool, advocates offering control of church organisations to marginalised groups, such as LGBTQIA+ Christians; she describes Open Table as an "electrifying" example of this idea working successfully in practice.[2]
In 2019, Open Table successfully campaigned for the Home Office to grant Yew Fook Sam, a gay Malaysian, asylum for five years.[3][4] The campaign started by Open Table and promoted by the Liverpool Echo gathered more than 5000 signatures to an online petition.[5]
In 2008, Open Table was founded at St Bride's Church, Liverpool; by 2019, the network consists of 17 communities in England and Wales.[4][1]
Kieran Bohan, chaplain to the YMCA in Liverpool, is coordinator of the Open Table Network.[3]
In Anglicanism, "open table" refers to the custom of offering communion to all regardless of denomination.[6]
An article in the book Journeys in Grace and Truth, edited by Jayne Ozanne, describes the founding and history of Open Table.[7]
External Links
- ^ a b Davies, Madeleine (1 February 2019). "A bigger table: an interview with the Bishop of Liverpool". Church Times. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ Threlfall-Holmes, Miranda (11 January 2019). "Evangelism isn't just for the Evangelicals". Church Times. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ a b Pidd, Helen (23 December 2019). "Home Office gives man asylum after accepting people can be gay and single". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ a b Shennan, Paddy (20 February 2019). "The man who's 'not gay enough' to stay in the UK - according to the government". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ Parsons, Vic (21 December 2019). "The Home Office told this man he wasn't 'gay enough' to stay in the UK. Now, he's been given asylum in time for Christmas". PinkNews. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ Wilson, Alan (27 September 2010). "The Book of Common Prayer, part 6: Fencing the table". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
- ^ Ozanne, Jayne, ed. (2016). Journeys in Grace and Truth: Revisiting Scripture and Sexuality. Ekklesia. ISBN 978-0993294242.