Tricia Dykers Koening and Michelle Ready, observers at the PC(USA)’s 2010 General Assembly, smile as the church votes to relax a ban on the ordination of homosexuals.
The majority of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 173 presbyteries have backed a change to the church’s constitution that will allow willing presbyteries and governing bodies to ordain openly gay men and lesbian women as elders, deacons and ministers. It takes effect July 10, one year after the adjournment of the PC(USA)’s 2010 General Assembly.
The change, dubbed “Amendment 10 – A,” removes “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” as an ordination requirement, and replaces a portion of the church’s Book of Order with new language.
Realizing the controversial move could create divisions in the denomination, 24 former moderators of the General Assembly wrote a letter to churches in the wake of the amendment’s ratification on May 11.
“The decision to adopt Amendment 10 – A does not bind the conscience of any Presbyterian, nor does it create a mandate for ordaining particular individuals,” they wrote. “Instead it directs each congregation and presbytery to prayerfully discern the gifts and call of each candidate for ordination, guided by scripture and the confessions.”
Power over ordinations will remain with presbyteries and governing bodies, which will decide whom to ordain within their bounds.
Although not all presbyteries had voted by press time, the unofficial tally stood at 87 – 62 on May 11.
This was the fourth time presbyteries voted on amendments to the fidelity or chastity requirement, which was added following the 1996 assembly. In previous years, presbyteries upheld the requirement with an increasingly slim margin.
The new language of Amendment 10 – A says standards for ordination “reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life,” and stresses the responsibility of the ordaining body to determine “a candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all the requirements … for ordination and installation.”
The Presbyterian Church in Canada endorses candidates for ordination who are celibate unless in a marriage between a man and a woman. As reiterated in the report of a General Assembly special committee on sexual orientation in 2003, “a celibate homosexual minister or member of the Order of Diaconal Ministries may still be ordained/designated under the present laws and practice of the Presbyterian Church in Canada,” but “on the basis of a precedent derived from an understanding of scriptural authority, a person described as a ‘self avowed and practicing homosexual’ may be refused ordination.”
I rejoice with our American brothers and sisters in this decision. It is with a hopeful – yet disappointed – heart that I pray that the Presbyterian Church in Canada will demonstrate similar wisdom, clarity and grace soon. I am disappointed that the recent overture to the PCC General Assembly was not entertained and that we are so far behind our brethren and sistren to the south.
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The irony is that for an ordinand to “to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life” that person would necessarily be limited to either a heterosexual marriage or celibacy. There is no more divisive course in the church today than what we see happening in other denominations on this issue. May God spare the Presbyterian Church in Canada from this mistake, and may all Christians who love God, homosexual people, biblical truth and sacrificial discipleship, pray that the PCUSA presbyteries will truly submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life.
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Colin McPherson Reply:
May 1st, 2012 at 1:50 am
I am a Christian man with a young family a son 11y, two daughters 8 and 6. My wife and I had been church hunting and regularly attending a local Presbyterian church in our town. As we both came from a Christian Reformed background it seemed a natural fit although we both have attended churches from other denominations.
It makes me luke warm about the future of the denomination. (Though I love the local congregation.)
When I saw this article in the record it caused me some consternation. These two observers I assume from the Presbyterian Church or the Record both smile as at this decision. So I take from that, that the Presbyterian Church of Canada thinks that is a good decision. I do not!
I know of Christian ministries like Living Waters that minister to persons who struggle with homosexuality and help them find freedom. I know people who have been freed by God s grace.
That presbyterian church we were attending. It started, I believe, as a break away from the United Church when they made that decision about ordaining homosexuals. I will be curious to see what happens there when things go in the Presbyterian Church of Canada the way the Record would like to see it.
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