A minister in the Church in Wales has spoken of a culture of fear surrounding issues of family, homosexuality and marriage.
Speaking to the Coalition for Marriage, Rev Jeremy Bevan said the Church was being “disastrously misled” by its current leadership. Last year the position of Archbishop of Wales went to Cherry Vann, who is the first ever Anglican primate to be living in a lesbian civil partnership.
Evangelical leader Bevan said that many people had left the Church in Wales due to its position on the issue.
The Church in Wales currently permits clergy to bless same-sex couples, however Bevan argues this is merely a precursor for proposals that it go the full distance and conduct same-sex weddings.
Asked whether he represents a fringe view within the Church, Bevan responded, “People I know, like and respect have left the Church in Wales [due to the Church’s position] … it is a hindrance now to discipleship and evangelism to be part of the Church in Wales because of the confusion and the misapprehensions about these things … We have to deal with the fallout from these things.”
Bevan said that many who have remained in the Church privately oppose the direction it is heading in, but fear to say so.
“People are cowed, they are afraid to speak,” he said.
He added that those who seek to faithfully follow Scripture should not be the ones to leave the Church.
“The heretics are wrong and they should leave, not me,” he said.
Archbishop Vann has said that all are welcome in the Church in Wales, while acknowledging that her appointment as Archbishop of Wales has caused some Anglicans to leave the Church in Wales.
The Church in Wales Governing Body voted in April to make same-sex blessings permanent after a five-year trial period that allowed them on a temporary basis. Plans are afoot to bring forward legislation in April 2027 that will allow clergy to conduct same-sex weddings.
The Coalition for Marriage said it stood with Christians like Bevan and touched on some of the other implications of permitting same-sex marriage, particularly around children and surrogacy.
Bevan said practices like surrogacy are an “injury” to children because it treats them as an “accessory”. The Coalition for Marriage added that children born in such circumstances can be deprived of the most basic right of having a mother and a father, the “gold standard” of family relationships.
