Group Profile

Contact Details

Convenor: Howard Grace
Location: Newbury
Phone: 01635 47196

About Us

We are a small group of about 12 people. We meet once a month on a weekday morning. Some of us are PCN members but not all. If you would like to join us for a session, please contact Howard Grace.

Venue & Meeting Times

We meet monthly at the Quaker Meeting House in central Newbury for about 1½ - 2 hours.

Since March 2020 we have not met in our usual venue due to Covid restrictions.
We now meet by Zoom on the last Friday morning of the month. Please be in touch with Howard Grace if you would like to join us on Zoom.

Group History

Our group was founded in the summer of 2003 as a direct result of the decision that the Rev. Jeffrey John should not be Bishop of Reading because he is gay.

Two of us Anglicans in West Berkshire were so dismayed by this decision that we agreed to meet with two others to discuss this development and also to read more widely ‘liberal and inclusive’ Christian theology. We first read Bishop Spong’s autobiography 'Here I Stand' which was a revelation. After some time we searched on the web and found PCN.

We are now 13 of us, but over the years various people have been part of the group and moved on but found it a valuable part of their journey. We have discussed Progressive Christian writing by Spong, Borg and others as well as topics suggested by members of the group. The present group come from various churches and none. Any people who want to join us in our search for open and inclusive spirituality are welcome. We completed the 21 sessions of the course ‘Living the Questions – 2’, and after that a variety of topics were covered. Please have a look at our programme of past meetings. You can find by clicking on 'programme archive' at the bottom of the 'Programme' page.

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