Luke Dowding's Christmas Message

You can watch Luke's Christmas message here.
Hello and Merry Christmas! My name is Luke and I’m the CEO of OneBodyOneFaith. It’s been quite the year for us, and I’d like to take this opportunity to share our annual wrap-up vlog and talk about some of the exciting things we’ve been doing.
First, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for your ongoing support of OneBodyOneFaith and for your commitment to ensuring LGBT+ people can not only survive in the church but also thrive. Whether you’re an ally or are LGBT+ yourself, thank you.
I’d also like to say thank you to our Board of Trustees, Adélard, Mark, Jarel, David, George, Hannah, Jo, Lisa-Jayne and Pam, and our Patrons, Brandan, Daniel, Dawn, Peter, Lauren, Jide. Your hard work this year is really appreciated. There’ll be some news of a few changes to the Board of Trustees coming in early 2025, so stay tuned for more on that!
As well as saying a huge, huge thank you to Katie, Andrea and Lee – our staff team who have worked tirelessly all year.
You, as members and supporters, by your generous giving enable much of our core work to be completed. But we remain heavily dependent on grants and legacies to develop our projects and programmes that are now having an impact not only in the UK, but around the world. If you’re still struggling to find a present for someone this Christmas, perhaps you might consider gifting them a membership to OneBodyOneFaith?
Throughout 2024 we have developed how we live out our strategy, which we are now halfway through delivering. Our guiding principles of “Safety” and “Joy” frame all of what we do, and there are so many examples of how we are bringing about meaningful change in the church and in the lives of LGBT+ Christians.
We have nurtured space for moments of joy, whether it’s the Rhythm community that meets weekly for prayer and whom many attended our first overnight retreat in Othona in October, or our involvement in the first same sex wedding celebration and blessing for an Albanian couple in Tirana in May. Occasions like Big Queer Carols that we celebrated at St Anne’s Soho just this last weekend bringing together friends and partners from different organisations and coordinating Christians at Pride efforts across the UK throughout the summer, including the Interfaith Chaplaincy partnership at UK Black Pride, also provided meaningful connections and witness to the church and beyond. It would also be remiss to not mention both my ordination and the ordination of our Director of Safeguarding and Strategy, Andrea King, in Canada in the Autumn. Whilst I think we both probably would like less personal attention, this act of prophetic ministry was a bold act by both the Canadian Association of Baptist Freedoms, First Baptist Church Halifax, and Northern Baptist College in Manchester, for which we are both grateful for and humbled by.
As an organisation we continue to value and prioritise partnerships, as we are certain that we are stronger together than we are apart. We have found joy in closer ties with charities such as Just Like Us, who we have again partnered with on the delivery of schools materials – due to be released in 2025, as well as our old friends for whom we very grateful for. In our growth and desire to work more collaboratively with partners in the UK and beyond, we continue to support the European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian Groups with my role on the Board and attended the annual conference in May, to contribute to the spiritual rhythm of the gathering and present a workshop on safety for LGBT+ people in the church.
Working with global and regional bodies like ILGA World and ILGA Europe have also opened opportunities for us to explore further in 2025. I was able to attend both the conference in Cape Town and a pan-European discussion on conversion practices in Brussels this year, which was delivered in partnership with the European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian groups.
Whilst in Cape Town we also delivered our second leadership symposium, this time with leaders, activists and allies from across Africa in partnership with Inclusive and Affirming Ministries. It was a profound three days, and we are hopeful for and intentional about what further work we can do in supporting LGBT+ Christians around the world through meaningful relationships with organisations and individuals on the ground.
OneBodyOneFaith has also continued to champion a safer church for all, creating spaces such as our second national memorial service in Cardiff in April this year, and through the provision of resources and programmes for churches and individuals who are on the journey to inclusion and affirmation of LGBT+ people. In addition, we have begun work, powered by a grant fund from Sir Halley Stewart, on an engaging and innovative leadership programme – piloting with a well-known national body. We’re excited to share more about this in 2025! This is in tandem with our increased dialogue and connection with political bodies and parties, speaking for LGBT+ people of faith and offering insight to decision and policy makers.
Alongside all of this, as you might expect, there has been a huge amount of work in building our effective (and fun to be with!) staff and trustee team, developing and writing resources for church calendar occasions such as Lent and Advent, increasing our presence on social media, and working to build relationships with grant funders.
2025 looks set to present us with even more opportunities as we develop all of this and more. We will be working with new partners, like Symphony, continuing our support of our global network of progressive faith leaders, more opportunities to bring you offline retreats and online community, making the most of the results from both our membership and unmet needs of leaders’ surveys, and looking ahead to what the next phase of our strategic growth will look like from 2026 onwards.
Without you, through prayer and generous giving, none of this would be possible. Thank you once again for your ongoing support of OneBodyOneFaith.
All that is left to be said now is that we wish a peaceful and holy Christmastime, remembering and delighting in the God made flesh. We look forward to sharing 2025 with you all and pray for a year of safety and joy for all.
God bless you all.