Dear Christopher,

This is a complicated question to answer, because the words themselves slip and slide. Progressive Christianity in the UK is not so much fixed as it is restless, heavy with political undertones. To call oneself progressive here is likely to mean a willingness to embrace new understandings of sexuality or gender, yet at the same time it can allow one to cling to a theology that remains stubbornly conservative. We have those good folk who, for example, find a way to call themselves progressive evangelicals – an apparent oxymoron that somehow makes sense in our fractured landscape.

The more classically liberal strand of progressive Christianity – that dangerous, complex word liberal – finds itself in a curious place. Social values are shifting, especially among the young, who carry their progressive politics into the pews. Nevertheless, the churches that swell with Gen Z’ers are generally not the theologically liberal ones, but those that preach a more conservative gospel. Theologically progressive voices remain in the minority, a fragile candle in a draughty hall.

The argument that I set out in my article is that theology is born in and into times of stress. It is, if you like, the child of upheaval.

Waves of social change pull us and press against us, and we try to ride them by innovating – reshaping our language, our rituals, and our g/God(s). Right now, the tide seems to be carrying many of us toward a strange hybrid – a Christianity which is simultaneously socially and politically progressive, but theologically conservative. A half‑victory, perhaps, for the progressive cause – or a half-loss. And meanwhile, the oncoming ship of the global church, with its louder, more trenchantly conservative voices, looms large as it pushes towards the shore, and the tension is palpable – particularly when these sailors on the sea of change find themselves reinforced by divisive Christian nationalists. Together we wait to see what will happen when the waves die down, if ever they will.

It is not surprising to find ourselves in this situation. In places where change comes too fast, theology often retreats, digging down into the sand, trying to steady itself, fortify itself, against the buffeting breakers of unwanted social change. Even movements that appear culturally innovative will therefore mount a strong defence of old norms around issues of gender, sexuality, and the body, never mind taking up cudgels against theological orthodoxy. We might say that this is the paradox of religion: it both bends and resists, it both shelters and excludes.

So the state of progressive Christianity in the UK is not a triumph, nor is it yet a defeat; rather, it remains something more ambiguous – an ongoing, complex negotiation between the old and the new.

~ Revd. Dr. Simon Cross