The Church of England's governing body was debating homosexuality and same-sex marriages for the first time since a bitter row over the nomination of an openly gay man to become a bishop.
The church's General Synod was scheduled to discuss a report Wednesday called "Some Issues in Human Sexuality", which urges more education over the issue of gay men and lesbians.
Later, it was to debate a motion calling for the church to investigate legal recognition for co-habiting people who are not married, including homosexual couples.
Starkly opposing views on homosexuality among traditionalist and liberal factions within the Church of England has threatened recently to split it down the middle.
In July, the openly gay Canon Jeffrey John was nominated to become bishop of Reading, but he later withdrew his candidacy in the face of vehement opposition from church conservatives.
Then in November the US Episcopal church's decision to go ahead with the consecration of a gay bishop threatened to divide the wider Anglican church's more than 70 million worldwide followers.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who is head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of all Anglicans, warned that the selection of Gene Robinson by the diocese in the US state of New Hampshire could have "very serious consequences" for unity.
The practice of homosexuality is regarded as being against the teachings of the Bible by traditionalists, many of whom are from developing countries.
In October, an emergency summit of Anglican leaders from around the world to discuss homosexuality showed up significant geographically-based splits on the issue.
Ahead of the debates on Wednesday afternoon, the Church of England stressed that the report on sexuality was just a "discussion document" without any recommendations.
"It recognises that the whole thing is a live issue," spokesman Lou Henderson told AFP, while adding that debate could nonetheless be fierce.
"There may well be those who say that the whole thing is so contrary to the revealed world of God that why are we wasting time discussing it," he said.
The later motion was concerned with all couples who live in the same home, including mixed-sex couples, relatives and people living with a carer, as well as homosexual people, Henderson noted.
The motion call on the church to recognise that such relationships "exist and will continue to exist whether approved by the church and the state or not", and that to not have them legally recognised is a "potential cause of injustice and misery", he said.
Earlier, reformist campaigners urged the Synod to move forward in accepting homosexuality.
"We have been urging for nearly 30 years for the church to get real and accept that God has created all of the human race, black and white, men and women, heterosexual and homosexual, equal," said Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.
He condemned the report on human sexuality as "very deficient".
"No self-respecting gay or lesbian person has put their name to it," Kirker said.