As the first female bishop in the House of Lords, Bishop of Gloucester Rachel Treweek explains that there is no tension between Christianity and feminism.Having made history as the first woman bishop in the House of Lords, Rachel Treweek believes equality is rooted in the Bible. “In Genesis, it talks about God creating humans in God’s image,” she says. “If we’re all made in God’s image, then God is neither male nor female – so men, women, girls, boys – we’re all equally created.”She is happy to debate with those who do not share her view. On her first day as a bishop, she went to meet parishioners of a church most opposed to her appointment. “I always say: ‘Let’s talk about theology, but if it’s misogyny, I am going to call it out.’ A lot of what has been framed as theology is blatant misogyny,” she adds.Treweek has occasionally been called “bossy” – “That’s so gendered. If I were a man, I’d be called assertive,” – and faced patronising comments: “When I lead prayers, a man will say, ‘You did that so well’; I reply: ‘If I were a man, would you say that?’”The bishop, 59, grew up in Hertfordshire, in a Christian household. In her mid-20s, she was working as a paediatric speech therapist when she heard God’s call. She told her local vicar, who replied: “I have been waiting for you to say that.”One long night, after going to see a pantomime – “so I know God has a sense of humour!” – she had a “wrestling experience with God”. She cried, but a song kept playing in her head: You Laid Aside Your Majesty, Gave Up Everything for Me, which made her think about the sacrifices she believes God made for her, and how she wished to do the same. “It was a Road to Damascus moment – and what is extraordinary is that women couldn’t be ordained at that time.”When the vote to allow women priests went through the General Synod in 1992, Treweek was at theological college. She became a priest in 1995 and 20 years later, after being a bishop for only four weeks, entered the House of Lords. She had to send back her writ of summons to be tweaked as it referred to a “Right Reverend Father in God”.“I hadn’t realised how historic it was,” she admits. “The gallery was full – a lot of female MPs came in – and applause broke out... People often say I’ve been a pioneer, but I’ve never seen it as a career path; it’s always ‘what is God calling me to do?’ But I feel passionately about girls and women being equal.”Still today, only five of 26 bishops in the Lords are women and she worries progress is stalling. “A lot of dioceses have appointed suffragan – assistant bishops – who are women, and I wonder if there is an [attitude of]: ‘we don’t need another one.’”Feminism informs much of her work. She is bishop to HM Prisons and says far too many women are in prison who shouldn’t be. “A lot of them have been abused. They go in for petty crimes when we’re not dealing with the root issues.”She must also be the only bishop who talks about Love Island, as she goes into schools to discuss body image. “It was an issue for me as a teenager, but I didn’t have social media,” she recalls. “And in reality shows, they make it seem as though you have to look a certain way to get a relationship. The campaign says: ‘your value does not come from what you look like’.”It is a much-maligned woman – Mary Magdalene – who inspires her. “People often think she was a prostitute, but she wasn’t,” Treweek says. “She was the first person Christ appeared to after his resurrection, and he always spoke to her as an equal.”
The global Anglican Communion will have a greater voice on the body which nominates future Archbishops of Canterbury as a result of changes approved by the Church of England’s General Synod today.Until now the wider worldwide Anglican Communion, outside of England, has been represented by just one of the 16 members of the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC) for the See of Canterbury.But under changes to the Standing Orders of the General Synod formally approved today, there will now be five representatives of other churches of the Anglican Communion – one each from Africa; the Americas; Middle East and Asia; Oceania and Europe. The new rules will also ensure the inclusion of laity and clergy as well as bishops; a balance of men and women and that at least half of the five will be of Global Majority Heritage. All diocesan bishops of the Church of England, including the archbishops, are appointed by Her Majesty the Queen following a nomination by the Crown Nominations Commission for the see. Under the changes the Canterbury CNC will now have 17 voting members, with the number of representatives from the Diocese of Canterbury reducing from six to three. Meanwhile the appointment process for the Bishop of Dover, the suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Canterbury, will be carried out by a CNC rather than being appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, as in the past.The changes were agreed in principle through a series of motions passed at Synod and Saturday. New standing orders were then drafted and were approved in a further vote today. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: "From the richest to the poorest nations, the Anglican Communion spans a hugely diverse tapestry of societies, cultures and human experience. “Anglicans worldwide have a profound and historic relationship with the See of Canterbury, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has the great privilege of serving as a focus of unity for Anglican churches across the globe. “It is only right that this international family of churches is given a voice in the process of selecting the ‘first among equals’ of the bishops of our global communion. “That is why I am pleased that General Synod has voted to increase the representation of Anglicans from around the Communion in the process of choosing future Archbishops of Canterbury. “This small but important step will ensure that the Crown Nominations Commission for the See of Canterbury has balanced and diverse representation from the entire Anglican Communion. “I also want to thank the Diocese of Canterbury for giving up three seats on the Canterbury CNC to enable this change. “I pray that this significant step will bind us more closely together as disciples of Jesus Christ, called to share his good news with a world in need.”
The Church of England’s General Synod has called on the Government to introduce legislation requiring pornographic sites to use age verification systems preventing access by under 18s.A motion was passed encouraging quicker progress to be made in tightening up laws after previous attempts have stalled.A large number of children and young people say they have viewed pornography, with one survey before lockdown showing 78 per cent of sixth formers in a school said they had seen porn in the last week, the synod heard. Introducing the motion, the Revd Jo Winn-Smith (Guildford) said that age verification “ought to be a no-brainer.”“This is an issue about which parents and children themselves are highly concerned,” she continued.“Exposure to sexualised material is more likely to lead to young people engaging in more sexualised behaviour and to feel social pressure to have sex, and to think that they can and should have sex in these unhealthy ways and relationships.”“Friends, there is a time for reasonable patience, and then there is principled frustration. The need to safeguard children and young people is something to unite around.“Additionally, as parents, as communities, as churches and schools, we all have a part to play in seeking to support young people in their developing sexuality and as they start to experience romantic relationships.“By engaging with them and teaching them and modelling to them healthy adult relationships, backed up by social structures like age-appropriate safeguards including this essential measure of age verification, we can help young people to develop and grow and flourish as they mature.” Detrimental effects of pornography include the sexualising of young people, normalising sexual violence against girls and women, and creating a distorted view of what constitutes normal sexual relations.While it is hoped the Online Safety Bill currently going through parliament will improve matters, it was noted that legislation introduced in 2018 targeting commercial pornography sites never came into effect, and that new laws had been proposed by David Cameron still earlier in 2013.It was also noted that the industry has made progress in developing the necessary tools to verify age once required.The motion, from the Guildford Diocesan Synod, also urged more social and educational programmes to increase awareness of the harms, including self-generated sexually explicit images.A large number of synod members spoke to support the motion, including the Bishop of Guildford who paid tribute to a Deanery Synod member, Charlene Smith, of Leatherhead Deanery, who first raised the motion.The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, supporting the motion, said that The Lords Spiritual were “taking great interest” in the issue of internet safety in the House of Lords, and that conversations with tech firms suggested that age verification systems were a workable possibility.“The Internet is not a platform, it is a public space, where all the rights and norms you would expect in public should apply,” he said. “It’s about making the internet safe by design. This can be done, but we need regulation, a code of practice and a code of conduct to make it happen.“In the 1970s we quite famously put fluoride in the water supply because we knew it would be great for dental health. What we the Church need to be in the forefront of campaigning about is putting some fluoride in the internet!"In a counted vote of the whole synod, there were 263 voting in favour, 2 against, and with 3 abstentions.
This week our focus is on something I find incredibly difficult to do – rest. When we think of busyness and rest in a biblical context we often go to the story of Mary and Martha. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a ‘Martha’. While I think Martha gets a slightly bad wrap (she really was trying), it is clear that Mary had offered true hospitality in listening and discovered deep rest in sitting at the feet of Jesus. From the very beginning, God modelled rest and throughout the gospels Jesus models working from a place of rest and intimacy with his Father.Sometimes we can end up being so busy for the kingdom of God that we neglect to actually experience it ourselves. So, as we move through this summer holiday period, we would like to encourage our readers to slow down, rest and engage with titles such as Tony Horsfall’s Rhythms of Grace, The Art of Peace by David Cole (Brother Cassian) or Seven Sacred Spaces by George Lings. We recommend a number of fantastic titles this month so we encourage you to dive in and pursue true rest at the feet of Jesus. Tracey Jones of Living Faith
