We are a group of LGBT+ people and friends who have found that there are no outsiders to God’s love and that God welcomes us IN to share God’s life just as we are.
We meet at 7.00pm on the first Saturday of the month offering an unconditional welcome to LGBT+ people, their families, friends and all who seek an inclusive church.
You are welcome to join us at outsideIN activities and events whether or not you have a faith and wherever you are on your faith journey.
If you’d like to find out more, do get in touch with Dave & Tina either through our Facebook page @outsideinyork or by e-mail outsideIN@stlukesyork.org
- Go to outsideIN Programme
- Go to York Pride page
- Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/outsideinyork
Some recent highlights…
Day Out in Hornsea – August 2024
We don’t normally have a service in August, but we try to organise a social activity instead. This year we had a day out in Hornsea, hosted by Rosie and Hattie, members of outsideIN, who currently live in Hornsea where Rosie is serving her first curacy at St Nicholas’s Church.
We met up at Rosie & Hattie’s new home for coffee, and then walked the mile and a half to the beach along the old railway line and settled ourselves on the sand in front of the Floral Hall. A few of us braved the North Sea before our picnic lunch, but most sat, chatted and enjoyed the sunshine and atmosphere. After lunch we held own very own ‘mini-Olympics’ featuring potatoes, Duplo building blocks, coloured hats and hard-boiled eggs. Some grown-up people’s competitive nature was clear to see!
We then had a sand castle building competition. This was also a great activity for children and adults alike. Three stunning sand castles were built showing off a wide variety of creative talent. Everone proved to be a winner!
Before the walk back to Rosie and Hattie’s house, an ice cream (courtesy of Mr Moo of course!) nicely rounded off our day.
It was lovely to enjoy a day together and to meet up with old and new friends. The journey home was characterised by lively conversation in one car and a snoring serenade from the back seats in another!
Tom’s Baptism
Our October 2023 outsideIN communion service included a first for us – a baptism. Tom’s baptism.
You may have seen or met Tom, who became part of St Luke’s congregation in June this year. His ‘God moment’ happened at the pre-Pride service of Compline at York Minster when a vocal quartet sang ‘This Heart’, a specially composed choral piece by Christopher Churcher based on the poem by Jay Hulme ‘Jesus at the Gay Bar’ (see inset).
At his baptism, Tom talked about his three encounters with the church. As a young boy the local church was used by his parents as a child-minding service for Tom. As a student, he went to a church, was warmly welcomed, and then in the talk … homosexuals were condemned. The warmth of the welcome turned very cold!
He was encouraged to come to the pre-Pride event at the Minster by a neighbour, and was blown away by the welcome and acceptance he received there. The candle-lit service of Compline which included the specially composed choral piece based on the final words of Jay Hulme’s poem: ‘my beautiful child, there is nothing in this heart of yours that ever needs to be healed’. This struck Tom deeply, resulting in his desire to be baptised. We read the poem and listened to the music during the baptism service. We were so grateful that Christopher, the composer, gave us permission to do this.
By special request, Greg led the service which was both beautiful and moving. Stewart gave the reflection reminding us that whatever we feel about ourselves, God loves us just as we are and invites us to experience life in all its fullness in the communities in which we live and work.
It was lovely to be joined by some of Tom’s friends and neighbours and some from the St Luke’s family. Tom’s partner, Alex, a former Junior Bake-off contestant no less, was Tom’s sponsor, and treated us to his baking skills after the service with a truly amazing lemon drizzle cake!
Summer Walk and Picnic
We had a walk and a picnic after church in August 2023. We walked from church into the City and then down by the River Ouse to the Milennium Bridge and back on the other side of the river via Rowntree Park where we had our picnic lunch. We managed to dodge the only shower of the day, sheltering under the balcony of the Rowntree Park café! Of course we couldn’t resist the temptation to pop into the café for a hot drink.
