New network launched to respond pastorally to those affected by accreditation rules.

A group of Baptist ministers and church leaders has today launched The Open Baptist Network (OBN), a pastoral response to an urgent and continuing need: offering a means of ministerial endorsement for those who are, or may become, unable to hold accreditation with the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB).

 

It seeks to remain in good relationship with the BUGB while meeting a need that the current ministerial rules leave unaddressed. The launch follows the decision of Baptist Union Council in March 2024 to retain the Ministerial Recognition Rules which state that marriage is limited to “one man and one woman”, thus excluding those in same-sex relationships and marriages. The consultation behind that decision revealed a wide diversity of conviction across the Baptist family and acknowledged the deep pain the process caused. It is in this context that the founders of the Network have spent many months in prayerful discernment about how to respond pastorally and practically to those affected by the rules.

 

The Network exists not only for ministers who already face the loss of accreditation, but also for
those who sense a call to Baptist ministry yet feel inhibited from pursuing it under the current rules. While we lament the need for such a network, we believe The Open Baptist Network can become a safe and secure home for those whose call to ministry has been endorsed and affirmed.

 

A Covenant Fellowship

At the heart of the OBN is a covenant through which churches and individuals commit to walk together: open to God, open to one another, and open to God’s world. The covenant begins by affirming the Baptist Union’s Declaration of Principle and cherishing the Five Core Values for a Gospel People, signalling the Network’s continuity with the shared Baptist heritage. It commits members to a genuinely inclusive welcome and leadership, while honouring the freedom of conscience of every believer and the liberty of each local church.

 

Ministerial Endorsement

The Network is developing a framework for ministerial endorsement that is deliberately simple, relational and able to grow with experience. Endorsement affirms a minister’s call and is tied to an active ministry role, is renewable on a time-limited basis, and carries clear expectations around continuing development, safeguarding training and DBS checks. In its early stages the OBN will give priority to current BUGB ministers impacted by the rules, and to LGBTQ+ students leaving college who wish to continue their ministry within the Baptist family.

 

Part of the Wider Baptist Family

The OBN remains committed to its Baptist heritage and to the wider Baptist family in Britain. While it welcomes the support of local churches, it does not seek to undermine any church’s existing BUGB membership; covenanting with the Network is intended to be held alongside that membership, not instead of it. The Network continues to seek a way forward, walking together in prayer and in discernment under Christ and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, even where paths may at times diverge.

 

Those Behind the Network

The Open Baptist Network has grown out of a discernment group of Baptist leaders with long experience in British and international Baptist life: the Revd Luke Dowding, the Revd Dr Keith G. Jones, the Revd David Kerrigan, the Revd Dr Simon Oxley, the Revd Tony Peck, the Revd Dr Clara Rushbrook, the Revd Dawn Savidge.