Woohoo!!! More business

Good news for those of us who practice the developing area of "church disaffiliation" law, the PCUSA has taken steps to eliminate the idea of "marital fidelity" and "chastity" from its ordination standards.

According to this PCUSA report on the actions of the 218th General Assembly (and let's not forget the 217th GA's yeoman efforts to change the baptismal formula to "Mother, Daughter and Holy Womb"):

Assembly proposes amendment to delete G-6.0106b and replace it with a new version

Paragraph covers “fidelity and chastity” ordination standards
by Jerry L. Van Marter

Commissioners and advisory delegates lined up behind Katherine Boswell, a youth advisory delegate from Western New York Presbytery, to speak during discussion of the Committee on Church Orders and Ministry report on Thursday morning. voted today (June 27) 380-325 to send a proposed amendment to the denomination’s 173 presbyteries that would delete the current paragraph G-6.0106b in the Book of Order — which requires church officers to live in “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” — and replace it with a new G-6.0106b.

The proposed new G-6.0106b ties ordination decisions more closely to assent to the ordination vows currently in the church’s Book of Order without singling out a sexual conduct standard.

In the same action, the Assembly issued a new authoritative interpretation of the Book of Order declaring that interpretive statements related to sexual standards for ordination that predate the adoption of G-6.0106b in 1996 “have no further force or effect.”

The Advisory Committee on the Constitution has repeatedly said that clearing the way for ordination of sexually active gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Presbyterians requires the deletion of G-6.0106b and the removal of the authoritative interpretations that undergirded Assembly policy statements of 1978 and 1979 prohibiting the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

The proposed new G-6.0106b reads:

“Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards.”

The debate now moves to the denomination’s presbyteries, which in 1997 and 2000 rejected proposals to delete G-6.0106b. At a press conference following the vote, the Rev. Dan Holloway of Providence Presbytery, who moderated the Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministries that brought the recommendation to the Assembly, said, “It is important to say that at this point our Constitution has not been changed. As we move forward it is essential that we have conversations that are gracious and loving and welcoming, since we are not all of one mind.”

The Assembly’s debate on the issue was briefer than in previous years.

Minister commissioner the Rev. William Stepp of Tropical Florida Presbytery opposed the deletion, saying the PC(USA) “needs a continuing strong witness to biblical standards for sexuality” and warned that the proposal will “destabilize the denomination, obliterate trust and reduce funding for the church. Don’t send a shock wave through the church.”

Notice that the "conservative" opponent of the movement knows exactly where this is going - more hemorraging of members.

Progessive theology - it's a gift that keeps on giving.