Steve Chalke

Support for monogamous same-sex relationships

In early 2013, Chalke sent what The Independent said would be "shockwaves through Britain’s evangelical community", of which he is a leader, by stating, both on the Oasis Trust website and in an article in Christianity magazine, that he supports monogamous same-sex relationships and marriage.

Chalke had been reflecting on the matter for a long time and his January 2013 declaration represented what some regarded as a completely opposite position to the one he had earlier expressed when, in 2001, he wrote an article for Christianity (then known as Christianity and Renewal) entitled "What might Jesus say to Roy Clements about the Church and the Homosexual debate?" Clements had been a leader among Britain's evangelicals for many years when he suddenly revealed that he was gay, left his wife and began a relationship with a man.

After performing his first same-sex couple blessing ceremony in his church in September 2012, and now offering both a same-sex couple blessing liturgy as well as an order of service and vows for a same-sex marriage service on the Oasis website, Chalke explained that he was torn about the January 2013 declaration, writing that he was "[c]ompelled because, in my understanding, the principles of justice, reconciliation and inclusion sit at the heart of Jesus’s message. Afraid because I recognise the Bible is understood by many to teach that the practice of homosexuality, in any circumstance, is a sin or ‘less than God’s best’."

Because evangelical communities tend to place enormous importance on Biblical literalism, inerrancy and infallibility, the approximately 5,000-word extended version of Chalke's declaration provided theological and scriptural justifications for his new acceptance of committed homosexual relationships. Acknowledging that many of his fellow evangelicals would be upset by it, Chalke wrote that some would think that he strayed from scripture and was no longer an evangelical. "I have formed my view, however, not out of any disregard for the Bible's authority, but by way of grappling with it and, through prayerful reflection, seeking to take it seriously." Chalke insisted that it is only by scriptural misinterpretation that those who claim the Bible condemns all forms of homosexuality have arrived at such a position; and that this position will eventually become the minority view in the same way that those who cited Biblical justifications for slavery and a secondary role for women have also become minority views.

Chalke criticised traditional Christianity's rejection of "faithful gay relationships", saying that it has left far too many people feeling "vulnerable and isolated". He also wrote that it has done physical harm. "People’s lives are at stake", he wrote. "Numerous studies show that suicide rates among gay people, especially young people, are comparatively high. Church leaders sometimes use this data to argue that homosexuality is unhealthy when tragically it's anti-gay stigma, propped up by Church attitudes, which, all too often, drives these statistics."

"When we refuse to make room for gay people to live in loving, stable relationships", he wrote, "we consign them to lives of loneness, secrecy and fear. It's one thing to be critical of a promiscuous lifestyle, but shouldn't the Church consider nurturing positive models for permanent and monogamous homosexual relationships?"

Chalke is a member of Accepting Evangelicals which describes itself as an "open network of Evangelical Christians who believe the time has come to move towards the acceptance of faithful, loving same-sex partnerships at every level of church life, and the development of a positive Christian ethic for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

In a 2017 interview with HuffPost Chalke explained that he believes the writings of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament are warning the early Christian Church against engaging in human relationships that are based on exploitation, abuse, and corruption. On the other hand, he claims, the New Testament has nothing to say about genuine, compassionate love between people of the same gender, as it is understood in today's world.

"Every Christian believes God to be a God of love. It is no wonder that these abusive practices are condemned by inspired scripture. But it is a disingenuous misreading of the text to conclude that what Paul describes in Romans 1 can be used to prevent people forming loving, faithful, and nurturing relationships with people of the same-sex."

He continued; "Our poor understanding of the New Testament has brought misery, persecution, oppression and rejection to countless hundreds of thousands and millions of LGBT people. It’s time to apologize for the mistakes we’ve made and move on."

Chalke enjoys going to the gym and running. He married Cornelia Reeves in 1980 and they have four adult children.

The meaning of the cross

In 2003 Chalke co-authored The Lost Message of Jesus with Alan Mann (Zondervan). This book provoked considerable controversy in evangelical Christian circles. The debate arose mostly because of Chalke's rejection of a theological understanding of the atonement known as penal substitution. Chalke's views drew much criticism as well as support, with numerous articles, blogs and books being written on both sides of the debate.

The continuing controversy led to the Evangelical Alliance organising a symposium in July 2005 to discuss the issue. A record of this symposium includes a chapter by Chalke, and his views are also contained in "the atonement debate". A group of three conservative evangelical theologians responded to Chalke with their book, Pierced for Our Transgressions (Crossway Publishing, 2007), which strongly criticised Chalke's position as inconsistent with some evangelical confessions of faith. However, the prominent Anglican Open Evangelical theologian and former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, endorsed Chalke as a leading evangelical and spoke out against the latter book, commenting, for instance, that 'despite the ringing endorsements of famous men, it [Pierced For Our Transgressions] is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly sub-biblical'.

Support for social activism

Chalke is a prominent social activist and leading advocate of the role of Christian faith in public life and the delivery of public services including education, health care, youth services, etc. He has drawn strong criticism from leading atheists and secularists such as Polly Toynbee and Keith Porteous Wood, with whom he has publicly debated, as well as Terry Sanderson and others for his stance. "Most dangerous are the Christian global corporations such as Oasis headed up by Steve Chalke who have snatched growing numbers of academy contracts, also have ambitions to run hospitals too."

However, Chalke maintains that though Christian faith is personal, it is never private, and has written extensively about public theology (see Intelligent Church).

"There is a widespread, popular myth that unless faith is restricted to the private sphere, it will inevitably lead to intolerance and extremeism [sic]. But the reality could not be more different. Beneath the headlines of religious fanaticism and intolerance are the untold stories of countless individuals who, motivated by their personal faith, choose to work for the betterment of our society. For them, faith may be personal, but it is never private. Like the thousands of churches and other faith groups up and down the country that commit to improving the lives of society's most vulnerable – running homeless hostels, alcohol recovery programmes and youth mentoring schemes in response to the needs they see around them."

Chalke claims that; "Intolerance and extremeism [sic] are more to do with fundamentalism, than faith. Indeed, the memory of the 20th century is forever scarred by the fundamentalism and intolerance of communism, whose regimes not only left millions dead, but impoverished and excluded many more." He maintains that, "Without public faith, there would not have been a civil rights movement in the US or a Jubilee debt cancellation campaign [sic] in the UK. Both these movements were inspired and led by people of faith who decided that what they believed about God and humanity should impact on the world around them."

Chalke contends that there are two elements to healthy democracy; representative and participatory. He has suggested: "Democracy used to be focused around participation as much as representation, two ideas which together created a balance." Whilst Chalke believes that the hallmark of any healthy democracy is that it gives expression to these two types of democracy, he suggests that, "In our modern society, the democratic process has become far more passive and is now dominated by the idea of representation, where elected representatives (eg MP's) are held responsible for delivering the needs of those who voted, or who did not vote, for them. Westminster is the seat of representative democracy. Our society needs to invent new forms and practices that combine representative with participative democracy. The two can and indeed must meet. And the crucial point regarding the relationship between the two – between representative and participative democracy – is that the activity of the second guarentees [sic] the quality of the first. Representative democracy needs to be held accountable by participative democracy. /about-us]."

Chalke developed the Charities Parliament, now known as the People's Parliament, in order to establish a stronger voice for third-sector organisations in public life. It is intended to enable debate and dialogue between churches, charities, faith groups and government and aims to increase participation by these groups in public life.

The People's Parliament has received support from many parliamentarians and church leaders, including the now former Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Revd James Jones, who endorsed it, saying: "This new initiative is based on the well established principles of Christ-centred vision, rigorous thinking, a depth of community engagement and a clear articulation of a biblical worldview, which are the foundations on which Oasis' work has been built."

Support for transgender people

Chalke has officiated at a number of services celebrating and welcoming transgender people into Oasis Church Waterloo. He and others have developed a liturgy which affirms trans people.

In March 2018 Chalke published 'The Gender Agenda', a short study exploring the theology of gender identity, reassignment and confirmation.

Rejection of biblical inerrancy/infallibility

In February 2014 Chalke published a paper on the Oasis UK website entitled "Restoring Confidence in the Bible: Can we use the Bible as a reliable moral and spiritual guide in our twenty-first century globalised world?" in which he states his rejection of the evangelical teaching that the bible is inerrant or infallible.

In his paper Chalke argues, 'Throughout my life, the Bible has been a constant reference point and source of personal inspiration. Because of this, I feel deep sorrow that, on one hand, vast numbers of people around the world consider our sacred text to be, at best, confusing and, at worst, intolerant and violent. On the other, I am frustrated that our responses, as the Church, to their questions are so often ill thought through, poorly articulated and laden with in-house, inhospitable and inaccessible language...Developing a consistent and honest methodology for interpreting the Bible is a pivotal issue for the Church around the world. Only as we adopt an open, humble, discursive and transparent approach to this task will we be in a strong position to respond with integrity to the moral, social and political issues which face us as individuals, as local and national communities and as a global society as a whole.'