A painfully ironic moment is happening for many gay or same-sex attracted Christians in churches and denominations in the west today: their local or national church is proclaiming itself to be ‘inclusive’ in a way that excludes them.

They are people like me who have lived in the light of our denomination’s clear teaching that sex is just for the marriages of one man and one woman but now find ourselves part of an organisation that is, at best, embracing deliberate ambiguity, or, at worse, clearly rejecting apostolic sexual ethics.

How do we respond if we want to be part of a church that truly values and wholeheartedly supports our lifestyles as celibate Christians who experience same-sex attraction? For me (and many others like me), should I stay in the Church of England, or should I go, now that it seems to be saying that sexual relationships outside marriage can be blessed or celebrated? For others facing the same question in different denominations, should they stay or should they go?

My tentative, personal response to this agonising question is not simple, and so it was great to be able to sit down with my friend Stuart Parker (Director of the True Freedom Trust) and chew it over for a while on TFT’s Ascend podcast. You can listen in to our conversation here:

You can find more episodes of Ascend here.