Displaying items by tag: Family

A new report by the House of Bishops has said that the Church of England should adopt a ‘fresh tone and culture of welcome and support’ for gay people, but that there was little support for changing the Church's teaching that marriage was between one man and one woman. The report said the Church needed to repent of homophobic attitudes. It also said all potential clergy - straight and gay - will be asked about their sexual conduct and lifestyle., The Bishop of Norwich, Graham Jones, felt that present arrangements for asking ordinands and clergy about their relationships and lifestyle are not really working very well. He said, ‘All clergy are asked at their ordination whether they will fashion their lives after the way of Christ. We believe we should revisit how this is explored beforehand, so the same questions are addressed to everyone without distinction.’ But Andrew Foreshaw-Cain, a parish priest in north London who is in a same-sex marriage, told the BBC that the report was ‘a failure of leadership’. He added: ‘The LGBT community is going to be extremely hurt by this. We were asked to trust our leaders. Many of us made ourselves vulnerable during the shared conversations, and none of that has been heard. The bishops have gone ahead and talked as if we didn't take part in it and as if we are not there.’

Being a pastor's son is never easy, especially as there is a lot of pressure to do good and maintain the right image. Hillsong United frontman Joel Houston knows this feeling very well: his father is Brian Houston, senior pastor at Hillsong Church. Instead of embracing the pastor's kid image, Joel says he tried to shake it off: ‘I grew up a pastor's kid looking for an excuse, honestly, to run away from the pressure of being a pastor's kid.’ But Joel says God knew better. Try as he might to escape his identity, he always ended back at his roots. He thought he knew what he was doing, but God took all of his plans and said, ‘Watch how I'm going to make this work.’ Joel said God definitely has a sense of humour, since he ended up serving in the ministry he swore he wanted nothing to do with. He says God believed in him even during moments when he doubted himself, and he assures other lost souls that they do not need to be perfect to serve God. ‘You don't have to be super-talented, or have it all together - God is all about using people who just make themselves available,’ he says.

The largest stained-glass window in the world, depicting scenes from Genesis to Revelation, is being built in Leawood, Kansas. The congregation at the Church of the Resurrection raised several million dollars to build the window, which will be the centrepiece of their new $70-million sanctuary. More than 160 panes of glass are being fused in California, and will then be shipped to Leawood to be put together like a puzzle. Pastor Adam Hamilton wants to make this new sanctuary a very holy place that attracts many families to visit the church. ‘We hope people say, we've got to go see what's inside there. They would've heard about the window at Resurrection and say let's go check it out because there's nothing else like it anywhere in the world.’ The new sanctuary, including the window, will be ready for the Easter weekend this year.