On 15 July 2025, General Synod considered the Private Members Motion from the Revd Mae Christie (Southwark) Vocations process and issues in human sexuality, GS 2413A and GS 2413B; Synod overwhelmingly approved a call for candidates for ordination no longer to be required to agree to this 34-year-old document on sexuality. Extracts from the Press Release are reproduced below.

Synod approves changes to Vocations Process with removal of ‘Issues in Human Sexuality’

15/07/2025

Originally intended as a teaching document, Issues in Human Sexuality (1991) had assumed a more definitive role to set out expected conduct within the church’s discernment and vocations process. However although, in its time, it aimed to be sensitive, a paper introducing the item to Synod members noted that the tone, language, and some of the assumptions in ‘Issues’ are now contextually inappropriate, and appear prejudicial and offensive to many people. Diocesan Directors of Ordinands are presently asked to confirm that candidates have agreed to “live within the guidelines in Issues in Human Sexuality”.

The Private Member’s Motion, tabled by Revd Mae Christie and presented by Mr Paul Waddell (both from the Diocese of Southwark), was passed by a near-unanimous show of hands. This followed an amendment from the Revd Jenny Bridgman (Chester), ensuring that during the period of transition, candidates will instead be asked to live consistently with the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy, which were formally adopted in 2005.

The Church is already commitment to completing a new set of Pastoral Guidelines, a Code of Practice, and a Bishops’ Statement – work that was agreed by Synod in July 2024 and is which is currently underway.

This decision is independent of the Church’s ongoing Living in Love and Faith process, but allows for the outdated guidance to be removed while that process concludes. The motion does not alter the Church’s doctrine or canonical requirements, which remain in place. Rather, it reflects a desire to ensure that the discernment process for ordained ministry ensures that the discernment process for ordained ministry is both theologically robust and pastorally sensitive

The interim use of the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy ensures that expectations for clergy conduct remain clear and grounded in the Church’s wider understanding of ministry as a public and representative calling.

[…]

The full replacement package of guidance is expected to come before Synod in 2026.

The motion as passed was:

• ‘That this Synod request that the House of Bishops remove any requirements relating to Issues in Human Sexuality from the Vocations (Shared Discernment) Process and replace it with an interim requirement of living consistently with the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy (GPCC) during the period of discernment and training, and complete work on the package of the Pastoral Guidelines, Code of Practice, and Bishops’ Statement, as agreed at General Synod in July 2024.’