Last month, the Bishop of Leicester, Rt Rev Martyn Snow, stepped down from the role, saying the decision had been made “with a very heavy heart” and that he no longer believed agreement could be reached under his leadership.
The role of Lead Bishop for LLF had been established by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to steer the implementation of proposed work on the subject which was initiated by General Synod meetings in 2023.
The bishops on the LLF Programme Board, which is chaired by the Archbishop of York, Most Rev Stepehen Cottrell, include the Bishop of Sheffield, Rt Rev Pete Wilcox, the interim Bishop of Liverpool, Rt Rev Ruth Worsley (Liverpool), Very Rev Mandy Ford, Dean of Bristol Cathedral and the Bishop of Oxford, Rt Rev Steven Croft.
They will now together lead the process of developing a proposal which will be taken to the House of Bishops in October.
The House of Bishops will then decide what will be put before the General Synod at its meeting in February 2026.
Their work centres around two proposals which were put forward at General Synod in July 2024.
The first would allow the House of Bishops and the General Synod to vote on a complete package comprising both proposals for ‘bespoke’ (standalone) Prayers of Love and Faith, and appropriate pastoral reassurance, with clarity on the theological underpinning of these proposals.
The second would allow the House of Bishops to agree on a timetable for consideration of the question of clergy entering same-sex civil marriages.
Ex Officio members of the LLF Programme Board include Canon Dr Jamie Harrison, Chair of the House of Laity, Canon Alison Coulter, Vice-chair of the House of Laity, and Ven Luke Miller and Rev Canon Kate Wharton, Prolocutors of the House of Clergy.
The Board is supported by staff from the National Church Institutions (NCIs).
The issue of sexuality and whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in a church remains one of the most contentious in the Church of England.