Many moons ago I was part of the Religious and Theological Studies Fellowship (RTSF). It started life as the Theological Students Fellowship (TSF) and was part of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF). Through my involvement with the UCCF movement, I was – and still perhaps am – involved in the Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research (TF) which is also part of the UCCF family. I was its erstwhile Secretary for around three years. I say this because I remember that one of the tenets of the UCCF was “Commitment to Truth”. For UCCF, there was, and still is, a notion of objective truth. I actually still believe truth can be objective as well as subjective, and am comfortable with the notion that Christ Jesus is the only way there is to salvation; but content with the fact that such a proposition is for more flexible in divine hands rather than my human ones.

I remember whilst a member of the RTSF Executive Committee – how we thought it was grand in those heady student days to be on a committee of national significance – attending a conference in Malvern (I believe it was celebrating the work of Archbishop William Temple), encountering members of the Student Christian Movement (SCM). I went along to their meetings to find that (to me) they defined themselves over against the UCCF. This is not surprising given that the roots of the SCM and UCCF sprang from the same place. They are in fact siblings, and thus allowed to quarrel. Even 20+ years ago, the issue for the folks within SCM was the perceived injustices of UCCF Christians to those involved in same-sex relationships. I endured what I remember to have been three rather antagonistic conversations where I was ‘tried’ for the perceived crimes of evangelicalism. This is how I remember it rather than perhaps the reality of what happened. When I reported this to my UCCF and RTSF colleagues, the views of those from SCM were dismissed as ‘liberal’ and thus had nothing to offer. I was a rare bird even then, going to both groups happily enough.  I find that I go to neither grouping now, or derivatives of them, whether Affirming Catholicism or a DBF. I associate with Fulcrum (www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk) because it seems to me to be a safe place for all, and a space for evangelicals, like me, to be themselves and express themselves.

A little earlier, I lamented that people from the different tribes of the Church no longer had a place or space or even inclination to meet. Why ever this is, it is a sad loss.

There is a NT model for remaining in unity despite diversity. Actually, it would be fairer to say that there are NT models for doing so. We do not realise this because we have forgotten how read, hear and engage with the NT, gently dispensing with bits of it we do not like. Perhaps sadly I might add, we do not make time to read it.

I do not for example suppose that the Apostles Paul and Peter had much in common. Nor do I believe that the theologies of Paul and James, the brother of Jesus overlapped entirely. I do think though within the NT there are examples of differences being embraced. There are models to do it; we just need to be brave enough to see them.