Maintaining that the Church of England's internal investigation led by senior ecclesiastical lawyer Timothy Briden had cleared Bishop Bell only of the second set of allegations, the recent Briden report "made no statement about the original allegations," Warner said.

In December, the church announced vicars would now be able to hold a special service so transgender people could celebrate their new identities.

But there has been a steadily growing backlash to the proposals, culminating in the open letter which attacks them as "deeply concerning" and "lacking in serious theological analysis".

However, supporters of Bell argued the evidence against him was too slender. A subsequent investigation of the Church's handling of the issue by QC Alex Carlile found it had 'rushed to judgment' and had 'failed to engage in a process which would also give proper consideration to the rights of the bishop'.

He said: 'In my own prayer life and as part of my daily discipline I pray in tongues every day -- not as an occasional thing, but as part of daily prayer.'

He said he had been encouraged by words of knowledge and prophecy: 'I expect to hear from God through other people with words of knowledge or prophecies -- some of which I am unsure about, others I can sense there being something of the Spirit of God.'