In July 2022 the weekly email explained to the church:

 

"Every Sunday the pull-up banners display our six core values as a church, which are also prominent on our website. One of them states that we are An Inclusive Community - We will offer welcome and love to everyone in our community; accepting and valuing every individual and enabling each person to experience God’s grace regardless of gender, language, race, class, age, sexual orientation and culture.

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The leadership team have been considering what this means for OBC in practice and how best to engage with the church in formulating a clear understanding of it, particularly in relation to people who are gay or within the LGBTQ+ community who come to OBC or are already connected with the church. 
 
This is a key mission challenge to the church in the UK, and we feel that this is the right moment to engage in a process that will lead to OBC formulating and adopting a statement that will offer clarity to those who begin to explore engagement with us as a church – attending services, taking communion, becoming members – and want to know where we stand. We are not under any illusion that everyone will find this process easy, or that at the end of it everyone will agree on every detail. Neither has the leadership team already decided what the outcome should be! The Baptist way of decision-making is that we explore and discuss together and discern what God is saying to us through that process. 

So we have offered everyone a series of short video talks to watch in their own time that explore these issues, looking at what the Bible has to say and how that can and might be applied in 2022. These will be the basis for 'Kind and Gentle Spaces' discussions in small groups in the New Year, leading to church members’ meeting discussions to agree the church’s stance – which could begin ‘there are a variety of views within this church'… We will be thinking about how we agree – and handle disagreement – as part of this process.

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The email finished by saying:

 

"If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask! And pray that this will be a positive and helpful process that will help us all, individually and as a church, to grow and develop in a godly way."