Tavistock United Reformed Church has announced that it is now officially registered to perform same sex marriages.

The General Record Office recently approved the application for the church to be registered for the marriage of same-sex couples, as well as for marriages of heterosexual couples.

It is understood that the URC is now one of only a handful of churches authorised across Devon to perform same sex marriages.

The Rev Robert Weston, the appointed minister, said: ‘We aim to be an inclusive church and we hope that those who have felt excluded and marginalised will feel welcome at our church.’

Conducting weddings will be Mr Weston, the Rev Roger Cornish and Mike Dennis.

The United Reformed Church has often been at the forefront of radical discipleship and recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first ordained woman in a mainstream British church, the Rev Constance Coltmann.

Mr Cornish said: ‘In 1907 there was incredulity at women having the vote in elections, or doing work that had been the exclusive domain of men, things have changed, though there is more progress to be made. In the same way, attitudes to gender and sexuality have changed in the past 40 years and some within the Christian church recognise that certain interpretations of the Bible have been driven by prejudice rather than theological integrity.’

Mr Dennis, an elder and preacher, said: ‘As Christians, our problem is not how to reconcile homosexuality with scriptural passages of another time and culture but how to reconcile the rejection of homosexuals with what we know of the life of Jesus and with our understanding of the love of God. To that end, the Tavistock United Reformed Church seeks to include all who would wish to follow the way that Jesus lived.’