We know that finding places of worship can be difficult for LGBTQ+ people of faith, and so we would love to help with that in any way we can. We have varying amounts of information for different religions, but would love to expand the information here; please do get in touch if you have information about places of worship for people of your religion that could help people out! Email us at oufaith01@gmail.com or oufaith02@gmail.com .
Christians
For Christians, there are lots and lots of places to worship in Oxford, so there are a fair few which are LGBTQ+ affirming. Here we’re using ‘affirming’ to mean embracing LGBTQ+ people and affirming their relationships. Below is information about Christian places of worship which we have heard are affirming by word of mouth; it is sometimes hard to get concrete information on this and we can’t guarantee everyone’s experiences will be the same, but this should give pointers on where is best! This is very much a work in progress so please do get in touch if you have any comments, questions, or would like to suggest something to add or remove.
Somewhat affirming?
Other Places of Worship
There are fewer places of-worship in Oxford for religions which are not Christianity, and, because of this, what follows is more of a description of those spaces that exist rather than a guarantee of their being utterly affirming. However, these are places which have been attended by members of LGBTQ+Soc, and which are not generally LGBT-phobic. As above, this is compiled from word of mouth, and we can’t guarantee everyone’s experiences will be the same. Do get in touch if you have any comments or questions about any of the information here, or, especially, if you have a place of worship you think should be added to the list. Our emails are oufaith01@gmail.com and oufaith02@gmail.com .
Judaism
There are a variety of services, organised and attended by overlapping groups of people, primarily permanent of Oxford, but with a large student contingent.
Oxford Chabad is run by R. Eli and Freidy Brackman, who have a good record for being welcoming and inclusive towards LGBTQ+ people. All religious services at chabad are Orthodox and gender-segregated, with men and women sitting separately and no space explicitly for nonbinary people.
See http://www.oxfordchabad.org/ for more information
Islam
There are toilets in the prayer room for making Wudhu, but they aren’t gender neutral, although there is a gender neutral accessible toilet. There are prayer garments in boxes in the prayer room for those want to cover to pray but wear other clothes when they’re out and about.
Buddy System
We have a small ‘buddy scheme’ for visiting new places of worship. Whether you are new to Oxford or not, if you have a place of worship in mind, get in touch and we'll see if we can put you in touch with an LGBTQ+ person who worships there! The idea is that this ‘buddy’ could answer questions about their place of worship and might be able to accompany you to your first event there. We know LGBTQ+ people who worship at many different places, not just the ones listed above, so do get in touch to ask at either oufaith01@gmail.com of oufaith02@gmail.com .
Christians
For Christians, there are lots and lots of places to worship in Oxford, so there are a fair few which are LGBTQ+ affirming. Here we’re using ‘affirming’ to mean embracing LGBTQ+ people and affirming their relationships. Below is information about Christian places of worship which we have heard are affirming by word of mouth; it is sometimes hard to get concrete information on this and we can’t guarantee everyone’s experiences will be the same, but this should give pointers on where is best! This is very much a work in progress so please do get in touch if you have any comments, questions, or would like to suggest something to add or remove.
- St Columba’s United Reformed Church (Alfred Street) -
- very openly affirming :)
- Style of worship: readings, prayers, sermon and hymns, sometimes Holy Communion
- General service Sunday morning
- First Sunday, which is a meet up for LGBTQ+ Christians on the first Sunday of each month in the evening
- Has a students and young adult group
- St Mary Magdalen, "Mary Mags" (9 Magdalen St - next to Tesco) -
- Style of worship: “High Church” (meaning a fairly rigid structure with prayers, readings, Holy Communion and hymns, “smells and bells” type service very similar to a Roman Catholic mass, see here)
- High Mass on Sunday morning
- New Road Baptist Church, (near westgate)
- Congregation agreed overwhelmingly that the church should be affirming of the LGBT+ community and that homosexual relationships were to be celebrated
- As well as Sunday services, has teamed up with SCM to provide a fortnightly midweek group called Space, to give students a place to discuss their experiences and faith in a welcoming community
- The following four Churches are part of the “Inclusive Church” network -
- St Giles’ Church, 10 Woodstock Road-
- Style of worship: based on CofE ‘Common Worship’, Holy Communion with readings, prayers, sermon, hymns, see here
- Mass on Sunday mornings
- St Mary the Virgin (University Church), High Street;
- Style of worship: based on CofE ‘Common Worship’- Holy Communion with readings, prayers, sermon, hymns, see here
- Mass on Sunday mornings
- St Mary and St John, Cowley-
- Style of worship: quite High Church, in Anglican-Catholic tradition
- Mass on Sundays in morning (sung) and evening (said)
- St Alban’s Church, Charles St-
- Style of worship: quite High Mass, also more informal evening services
- Mass on Sunday morning, more informal meetings in evening
- St Giles’ Church, 10 Woodstock Road-
- College Chapels -
- Merton
- Hertford (hosts the Trans Day of Remembrance service every year)
- Exeter
- Harris Manchester College (only Oxford college chapel that can do same sex marriages)
Somewhat affirming?
- Oxford Quaker Meeting, (43 St Giles) -
- Style of worship: Meet for about an hour of mainly silence. Read about Quaker worship here or here
- Young Adult Friends meet every Monday evening and share a meal (have heard that about half of the people who attend this meeting are linked to the uni)
- General meetings on Sunday morning
- Quakerism grew out of Christianity, and many Quakers continue to identify with the label ‘Christian’, but the Oxford Quaker Meeting is home to people with diverse religious beliefs, not all of whom are Christians.
- A few years ago, the Meeting House rented a room to the organisation ‘A Woman’s Place UK’, which sent a non-affirming message to many LGBTQ+ people. To learn from this mistake, the Meeting House instated a strict discernment procedure on who they rent to and who they don’t rent to, to prevent something similar from happening in the future. Despite this incident, have heard from many LGBTQ+ people who worship there that they are affirming.
Other Places of Worship
There are fewer places of-worship in Oxford for religions which are not Christianity, and, because of this, what follows is more of a description of those spaces that exist rather than a guarantee of their being utterly affirming. However, these are places which have been attended by members of LGBTQ+Soc, and which are not generally LGBT-phobic. As above, this is compiled from word of mouth, and we can’t guarantee everyone’s experiences will be the same. Do get in touch if you have any comments or questions about any of the information here, or, especially, if you have a place of worship you think should be added to the list. Our emails are oufaith01@gmail.com and oufaith02@gmail.com .
Judaism
- The OJC and JSoc
There are a variety of services, organised and attended by overlapping groups of people, primarily permanent of Oxford, but with a large student contingent.
- Orthodox services meet every shabbat, both Friday night and shabbat morning, as well as Sunday morning, some weekday mornings and for every Jewish festival. They are gender-segregated, with men and women sitting separately and no space explicitly for nonbinary people. I haven’t witnessed any gender-policing about who sits in which gendered section.
- There are weekly, student-run Egalitarian friday night services, Masorti services and Progressive services which both meet one shabbat morning a month. All of these have mixed-gender seating.
- Women’s services meet one shabbat a month- the service is, as the name suggests, for women, but as above, I haven’t witnessed any gender-policing about who falls under that definition.
- Chabad
Oxford Chabad is run by R. Eli and Freidy Brackman, who have a good record for being welcoming and inclusive towards LGBTQ+ people. All religious services at chabad are Orthodox and gender-segregated, with men and women sitting separately and no space explicitly for nonbinary people.
See http://www.oxfordchabad.org/ for more information
Islam
- Isoc prayer room in the Robert Hook building.
There are toilets in the prayer room for making Wudhu, but they aren’t gender neutral, although there is a gender neutral accessible toilet. There are prayer garments in boxes in the prayer room for those want to cover to pray but wear other clothes when they’re out and about.
Buddy System
We have a small ‘buddy scheme’ for visiting new places of worship. Whether you are new to Oxford or not, if you have a place of worship in mind, get in touch and we'll see if we can put you in touch with an LGBTQ+ person who worships there! The idea is that this ‘buddy’ could answer questions about their place of worship and might be able to accompany you to your first event there. We know LGBTQ+ people who worship at many different places, not just the ones listed above, so do get in touch to ask at either oufaith01@gmail.com of oufaith02@gmail.com .