On 15 October 2025, the Church of England published an update on the Love and Faith process, which explores questions of relationships, sexuality and marriage, extracts of which are reproduced below.

Update on Living in Love and Faith, October 2025

15/10/2025

The House of Bishops has made a series of key decisions on the future direction of the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith process, which explores questions of relationships, sexuality and marriage. Final decisions will be taken in December… .[The] House reviewed detailed theological and legal advice on outstanding questions following the landmark 2023 Synod vote which led to the introduction of the Prayers of Love and Faith (or PLF)…

The bishops reviewed advice both from the Church of England’s Legal Office and the Faith and Order Commission (all of which will be published in due course). While final decisions will be made by the House in December, the bishops agreed in principle that both bespoke service and clergy same-sex marriage would need formal synodical and legislative processes to be completed before they could be permitted.

As a result, they also concluded there is currently no need for a new code of practice setting out special arrangements such as Delegated Episcopal Ministry.

[…]

Key decisions:

The Bishops took part in a series of votes on elements of a statement from the House which would summarise the LLF process and outcomes. They indicated, on the basis of the advice received, that in December they will:

• Confirm that the Prayers of Love and Faith, for use in regularly scheduled services, remain commended by the House of Bishops for use under Canon B5;

• Agree bespoke services require maximum communal authorisation through the Canon B2 process of approval;

• Reflect further on the legal and theological advice and explore what formal legislative process – such as an amending canon and measure – would be required before clergy could be permitted to be in a same sex civil marriage. Until then the current guidelines would remain in place.

They also agreed they would provide pastoral reassurance through:

• A restatement that no-one is obliged to use the PLF against their conscience;

• Updating Pastoral Guidance for the Prayers of Love and Faith as currently commended;

• A commitment that diocesan decisions around allocating resources, placement of ordinands and curates, or appointments, should not be affected by views held on LLF matters; and

• Re-establishing a Pastoral Consultative Group to advise and support decision-making on such matters.

Given the decisions indicated above, the Bishops concluded that there was sufficient pastoral reassurance in the elements listed and did not propose to bring forward a code of practice at this time.