We are an inclusive church, welcoming everyone.
We believe that God's love is for everyone and should be shown to all people.
Our worship holds the Eucharist and our choral tradition at its core.
We honour the tradition of our beautiful building and our place in the community of Leominster as the civic Church.
We believe that as well as caring for each other we need to care for God's creation.
Being an Inclusive Church means ...
“We believe in inclusive church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate.
We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality.
We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.”
You can find out more about Inclusive Church nationally here.
The PCC produced this statement early 2020 in response to some more topical news stories, but it's a good summary of what we think all the time:
The PCC of Leominster Priory Church
Welcomes you and your family, in whatever shape or size it comes:
Whether you're single, in a relationship, married, civilly partnered, divorced, widowed, or anything else;
Whether you have 100 kids or none; whether they are biological, adopted, fostered, or anything else (though kidnapped would be a problem...).
Whoever you are and whoever you love, we want to remind you that God loves you.
The Bible tells us that all are made in the image of God and that our God is Love, and our God loves all of us equally and unconditionally.
We know that relationships are often difficult, and that there are many ways in which they can fall short of God's will for us (if they are abusive or unloving, for example). We know that we often fall short of our own ideals in a relationship, let alone God's loving purposes for us.
But we do not believe that marital status or the gender of who you are in a relationship with, are what determine whether a relationship is good or bad - there are many other factors (e.g. love, commitment, consent) which are much more important.
In short, we are here to love God and love our neighbour, and to follow Christ, and we believe that Christ calls us to share His love with all people and to tackle injustice and inequality wherever we find it, inside or outside our church.