Meet our Trustees - Jayne Taylor
Channel: Open Table Network
Date: 2024-04-06

We've updated the 'Meet our team' page on the Open Table Network website with videos of new trustees appointed in March 2024. Here is the text of Jayne's introduction: 

Hello, my name is Jayne Taylor and I am a minister in the United Reformed Church. Before that I was a biologist, a research scientist working in Cambridge for several years and was involved with dialogue around science and faith.

I spent my first years in ministry in the Cotswolds.  It was there that I transitioned. Few people were surprised, and most people were supportive, but a few were not. It was a difficult time for me, and one thing that didn’t help was trying to find a community there where I could freely be myself. I soon realised that when churches declared ‘All are welcome’, they often didn’t mean it.

So, when I was called to serve the Exeter United Reformed Churches, I was determined to set up a safer community. There was already a willingness here to explore the idea of Open Table, so in 2023 Open Table Exeter was born. We’ve drawn together a leadership team which comprises people from many  different churches , including a university chaplain, and it’s truly a joyful place to be.

So, I feel truly humbled to be accepted as a trustee of the Open Table Network. I firmly believe that if we are serious about following Jesus, then that surely means being truly, intentionally inclusive to all people, as he was.