** This title will be released in August 2026 but is available for pre-order now **

Joy Comes in the Morning recounts the transformational ten-year journey of St James and Emmanuel Church in Didsbury to become a fully inclusive worshipping community following the tragic death of a member of their congregation, fourteen-year-old Lizzie Lowe, who took her own life in 2014.

Lizzie died at a time that she was growing into awareness that she was gay but felt unable to reconcile this realisation with her Christian faith, nor to confide in any adults within the church. The grief and shock felt by the community of St James and Emmanuel set them on a path of deep change to full inclusion for people whatever their sexuality, gender, economic power, mental health, mental ability, physical ability or ethnicity.

This important and deeply moving book by Chick Yuill, a member of the church, has been written with the full involvement of Lizzie’s parents Kevin and Hilary Lowe, Bishop Nick Bundock who was rector of St James and Emmanuel through these times of tragedy and transformation, and other members of the congregation. It tells Lizzie’s story and that of her family, before describing the processes of change experienced by the church – the theological and pastoral considerations, the times of discussion, prayer, listening, healing and debate, and how the church family dealt with internal disagreement through this process.

The journey of St James and Emmanuel Church is an invaluable story for all members of Christian faith communities to read and reflect upon.

With a Foreword by John Bell, and an Afterword by Kevin and Hilary Lowe.