This month the campaign to allow women bishops in the Church of England could progress significantly in terms of legislative possibility.
Supporters are surprised and encouraged by the backing it has been getting in the Church’s diocesan synods.
“We were expecting positive votes but the overwhelming majorities have been more encouraging than we expected,” says Helena Jenkins, a parishioner of St Luke’s church in Sevenoaks, Kent.
“I like to think it’s the Holy Spirit moving, because I just feel so strongly that this is the right way for the Church to go,” says Ms Jenkins, a member of the campaign group Women and the Church.
“And I think even some people who have difficulty with the idea of women in ministry have been listening perhaps more than they were.”
The measure needs the approval of half the synods of the Church’s 44 dioceses before it returns to the General Synod, which could take a final vote on the measure next July.