Session in New Mexico asks presbytery to affirm PCUSA ordination standard
The Layman Online, September 19, 2006
The session of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Las Cruces, N.M., has asked the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca to approve a declaration to abide by the constitutional requirement that prohibits the ordination of men and women who refuse to submit to the “fidelity/chastity” standard in the Book of Order.
The proposal is in response to the 2006 General Assembly’s approval of an authoritative interpretation that allows sessions and presbyteries to consider whether a candidate’s same-gender sexual behavior disqualifies the candidate from being installed as a deacon, elder or minister. The interpretation permits candidate to declare a “scruple” against G-6.0106b – the fidelity/chastity requirement in the Book of Order – and also allows the ordaining body to declare that the requirement is not an essential.
Sierra Blanca has voted in three national referendums in favor of the ordination requirement.
The Rev. Timothy B. Smith, Northminster’s pastor, said copies of the session’s “Declaration and Policy on Scrupling” have been sent to every church session and J. Shannon Webster, the presbytery’s stated clerk and executive presbyter.
“It appears that those opposing [the overture] will claim the action is not necessary or that a presbytery is not allowed to set standards for ordination,” Smith said. “The executive is going to create a task force to study the issue and to report back to the presbytery’s January member.” Smith added, “Northminster and First Presbyterian Church Clovis, both members of the Confessing Church Movement, will press for immediate approval.”
The text of the Northminster declaration states:
- We the undersigned, in light of the actions of the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), respectfully request the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca to make the following declaration and policy, and to communicate them by all means possible and in a timely manner to the following: the Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA); the Moderator of the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA); all of the Presbyteries and Synods of the PC(USA); the member churches of Sierra Blanca Presbytery; all current members of Sierra Blanca Presbytery; all those who are considering ordination, installation, or membership in Sierra Blanca Presbytery both now and in the future; and all those who come under the care or are currently under the care of the Committee of Preparation of Sierra Blanca Presbytery.
- 1. The church has not always been a place of welcome for people struggling with their sexual identity. We have too often sent the message that the church is not open to all who seek God’s love and grace. We believe this is not what God desires for His church.
- 2. We have often treated sexual sin worse than all others. We confess with the Apostle Paul that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and that all who come to Jesus Christ come on their knees, needing forgiveness. None can stand before God without God’s grace.
- 3. Nevertheless, the Biblical witness on matters of sexuality is unmistakable and unambiguous. It is confirmed in both the Old and the New Testaments. From Genesis to the words of Jesus, we are told God made humankind with a plan: that a man and a woman shall join together in a covenant of marriage to love and cherish each other and to be the foundation of our human society.
- 4. This has been the historic stand of the Christian church for almost two thousand years and remains one of the most accepted elements of the Christian faith in all the various places the church gathers throughout the whole world.
- 5. We proclaim the power of God’s love in Jesus Christ to all people who seek God’s grace and also affirm God’s call to obedience to God’s gracious plan for intimate human relationships.
- 6. We believe that all who are called to an office in the church are called to a higher standard of accountability to God and the church community.
- 7. As such, the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca affirms the standard of the historic Christian faith, still found in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA):
- “Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic co1ifessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.” (G-6.0106b)
- 8. We hereby declare that in our discernment of the movement of the Holy Spirit, that any violation of a mandate of the Book of Order is a failure to adhere to the essentials of reformed polity and thus presents a bar to ordination, installation, or membership in this presbytery.
- 9. Further, the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca will not allow the practice of “scrupling” as defined by the Authoritative Interpretation adopted by the 217th General Assembly with regard to the ordination of women, the requirements of G-6.0106b of the Form of Government, or the Ordination/Installation Questions as set forth in G-14.0207 of the Book of Order (or its successor).
- 10. Sierra Blanca Presbytery will not certify candidates as “ready to receive a call” or welcome under its care candidates who are unable or unwilling to affirm the Constitutional standards specified above of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Nor will it welcome as members at large, ministers of the Word and Sacrament who are unable or unwilling to affirm these same Constitutional standards.