Chapter 5: MR Consultation Listening Space at the Baptist Assembly 2023
Contents of this page:
For the
full Report on this part of the Consultation, please see the Appendices.
The Consultation Listening Space
How people participated
The Listening Space was opposite the main Assembly meeting room. It was hosted by members of the Consultant Assembly Team. The Listening Space offered a variety of ways for people to engage.
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There was an opportunity to be listened to by one of the facilitators.
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An invitation to write a prayer for the prayer wall.
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A selection of words taken from the various communications about the MR Rules decision making process, from which people were invited to choose three, stick them into a scrapbook and respond to those words in writing.
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A Virtual Word Cloud, into which people could contribute up to two words.
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An Art Space, with pastels, crayons, clay, words and paper for collage. People participating in the Art Space were invited to write a narrative or descriptor to accompany their artistic expression. The Art Space enabled a different sort of expression, through image, metaphor and creativity.
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A selection of cards on which people could write to the Council. It was an opportunity to say what they felt was important for the Council hear.
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Laptops were available to access the Church and Ministers’ Surveys or the Human Sexuality pages of the Baptist Union website.
Members of the Consultative Assembly Team were available throughout. People were also able to engage with the Listening Space on their own, which many did.
A space for conversation
A space to write a prayer for the prayer wall
The Art Space
Who participated?
In total 259 people visited the Consultation Space. By 9.30pm on Saturday over 200 people had visited the Space, with nearly 60 people visiting in the 1.5 hours on Sunday morning. The Consultation Assembly Team noticed that a number of people visited the Listening Space more than once. We wondered if some people needed to explore the Listening Space and reflect on it before returning later to participate in the Consultation. We were not able to accurately record the number of people who visited more than once.
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Between 80 and 100 people spoke to members of the team, sometimes quite briefly, mostly at considerable length.
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48 people wrote to the Council (these will be delivered to the Council).
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33 people contributed to the virtual Word Clouds.
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17 people wrote prayers for the prayer wall (these will also be delivered to the Council).
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16 people used the Art Space to create visual expressions of what they wanted to say.
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15 people created pages in the scrapbooks.
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What they said
Because so much of the participation involved listening deeply to whomever was speaking, we heard a lot of feelings. Here are some of the feelings that we heard expressed:
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Vulnerable, trust, uncertainty, tired, confusion, anger, threatened,tension, fear, sorrow, grief, agony, betrayed, disappointed, frustrated, conflicted, bewildered, anguish, anxiety, ignored, excluded, rejected, pain, embarrassment, shame, sadness, disheartened, heartbroken, disillusioned.
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We also heard some who expressed relief, love, optimism, gladness, thankfulness. There were some tears and people spoke about their tears.
Some people spoke of lament for the pain being caused and/or for the pain that will be caused by the decision.
Our reflection as a team is that the feelings we heard the most were anger and fear.
We reflected on all we had heard in the Listening Space. We identified things that recurred, things we heard again and again. These are outlined more fully in the Baptist Assembly Report in the Appendix. They are given in brief here. You may notice how some of these themes resonate with the themes that have come out of the survey element of the MR Rules Consultation.
Please note that we are unable to offer quotes from what people said to us. To be present and attentive in our listening we did not record verbatim quotes. However, we have included comments from the written engagement in the Listening Space.
The importance of Baptist identity
This was primarily about:
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The importance of the autonomy of the local church to discern what the Spirit is saying and in decision making, including the calling of ministers.
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The principle of holding together in difference, which is ‘baked into’ Baptist identity. This was about the importance of welcome and of ‘room at the table’.
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Concern that questions about the bracketed section were being made centrally rather than by the local church.
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Concern that the differences relating to matters of human sexuality were leading to separation and division.
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Some ministers talked about GMH congregations who had chosen to be associated with BUGB and received a welcome. They expressed concern that if the bracketed section was removed, they could feel unable to stay in relationship with BUGB.
“We should not polarise. We should have a process in order to listen.”
“I know this is a difficult thing, but I think we should be making a bigger table.”
“Four hundred years of finding ways to honour one another in difference gives me hope that God can do it again for us now.”
Approaches to the Bible
This was primarily about:
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Concern was expressed about the role of the Bible in this decision and whether the Council would take the authority of the Bible or be influenced by the culture.
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A notable number of people spoke about their views, with reference to passages or verses in the Bible.
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Some expressed concern about the potential decision to remove the bracketed section impacting on people’s understanding of the Gospel, which could affect people’s salvation.
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Some spoke about the importance of love, inclusion and acceptance.
“Please put the teaching we received from God through His Word the Bible at the very centre of our deliberation. I believe it is clear.”
“Please don’t let the cultural tide affect our decision on this. Let’s allow God’s word to dictate the culture.”
“I think the world is watching for what our definition of justice is and who it is for.”
Ministers’ experiences
A considerable number of people whom we listened to were ministers or spouses of ministers.
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Some ministers spoke of the tension of having a conservative view on matters of human sexuality and giving pastoral support to families in the church who included people who are LGBTIQA+.
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Some ministers spoke about holding a more conservative view than their congregation and others spoke of holding a less conservative view. In both situations this was a source of tension.
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Some expressed concern about engaging their church with these questions, fearful of the potential for division, misunderstanding and hurt.
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Some ministers with a GMH majority congregation did not want to raise these questions, because culturally they understood members of the congregation would not be comfortable talking about sexuality.
“The whole process has left me embarrassed and ashamed to be an ordained Baptist minister.”
“I feel betrayed that this is even a consultation.”
As you read this brief summary of the MR Consultation Listening Space, perhaps you are noticing some resonances with what you read in the chapters about the surveys?
One of the ways that people could engage with the Listening Space was to add words to a virtual Word Cloud. These are below.
Then there are some samples of the art that people created.
Samples of the art
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MR Consultation Youth Stream
The Consultation Assembly Team also engaged with some of the young people in the Youth Stream. Because less than 10 young people participated we have not shared their artwork or comments, to protect their privacy.
How they participated
The theme for the youth work was ‘using your voice’, which seemed to dovetail nicely with what we were aiming to do – hear the voices of young people in the discussion around human sexuality.
The Youth Space was one large room, it worked well having a designated area, which young people could be invited to access throughout the day.
A member of the Consultation Assembly Team was around all day, joining in the youth activities where appropriate and having informal 1-2-1 conversations. Members of the Consultation Assembly Team also facilitated a workshop for a more structured discussion.
There was the opportunity to write a spoken word piece on the theme and to create some art in order to express thoughts or feelings around human sexuality.
Who participated?
17 young people attended the youth programme 9 of whom were 14+ and eligible to participate in the Youth Consultation Space. Participation required parental permission.
What they said
We asked 3 questions:
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What are you observing among your peers – both inside and outside the church – about human sexuality?
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What impact are you observing on the church in relation to human sexuality?
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What are your hopes for the church in the future regarding human sexuality?
There were a number of themes that emerged as the young people discussed these questions:
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How to be heard, as a young person in church decisions.
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Matters of justice in the world, such as the climate crisis that were important for the church to engage with.
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Some of the differences between the church and society regarding human sexuality.
A spoken word piece was created from some of the comments during the structured conversation, as well as comments written and made during the song writing workshop.
The Consultation Assembly Team’s Youth Facilitator wrote:
“It was a privilege to be able to spend time with some of the young people and to be trusted by them as they participated in conversations and activities as part of the Consultation.”
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