Gay candidate’s ministry
examination set for Feb. 20
By Edward Terry, The Layman, February 4, 2010
The final examination of Scott Anderson, a gay candidate for ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA), is set for the Feb. 20 meeting of John Knox Presbytery at Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison, Wis. If approved, Anderson will return to ordained ministry after a 20-year hiatus brought on by the denomination’s ordination requirements.
Scott Anderson
Anderson, a member of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison, is requesting his current ministry as executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches be validated by the presbytery. The Princeton Theological Seminary graduate gave up his ordination in 1990 as a matter of conscience when two members of his congregation in Sacramento, Calif., publicly announced that he was gay.
In an interview with The Layman on Feb. 3, Anderson said he hopes to return to parish ministry one day.
Anderson, who was approved by John Knox as a candidate for ministry in November 2008, has declared an affirmation of conscience, or scruple, on G-6.0106b in the PCUSA Book of Order. The standard requires ordained officers be faithful in marriage between a man and a woman or chaste is singleness.
He has since been waiting for the John Knox Committee on Preparation for Ministry to conduct the final examination.
“It’s going to be a tough day, a tough examination,” Anderson said, adding that he has no prediction of the outcome. “We just have to trust God’s presence and care in this, and see what the final outcome will be. … I’ve learned to just take this one step at a time.”
In his scruple, Anderson said that the constitutional exclusion of homosexuals in covenanted, life-long partnerships is neither Biblical nor faithful. Anderson also refers to his long-term committed relationship to another man.
“I believe when the church categorically excludes people such as myself from consideration for ordination, the message it sends to gay and lesbian believers everywhere is that no matter how hard we might work and strive to conform our lives to the shape of the Gospel, we are disqualified on the basis of unchosen aspects of who we are from ever being able to respond to the call of God,” he said. “This comes dangerously close, I believe, to telling gay and lesbian believers that Jesus Christ has nothing to offer people like me.”
Additional arguments against G-6.0106b, as presented to presbytery in 2008, include:
- Humans were created for relationship: “The Protestant Reformers argued strenuously on the basis of Scripture that it was unrealistic and unfaithful to impose a universal requirement of celibacy on an entire class of people (the clergy). … I believe these arguments apply equally well to lesbian and gay believers, including those who are called to ordained ministry.”
- Marriage as an icon of the love that unites Christ with the church: “I believe life-long covenanted gay and lesbian partnerships can likewise arise from Christ’s redeeming, selfgiving love and serve as icons or images of that love to the world. … I do not believe, however, that a faithful reading of Scripture can responsibly treat covenanted, faithful lifelong gay and lesbian partnerships as being the same thing that the Biblical writers rightly condemn.”
- God’s call to gay and lesbian Christians: “I believe that in giving these spiritual gifts to gay and lesbian believers, God acts in a manner consistent with the work of the Holy Spirit recorded in Acts 10, 11 and 15. The Holy Spirit revealed to the early church God’s acceptance in Christ of an entire group of people – the Gentiles – who had been traditionally excluded from the community of faith. God’s acceptance of this people included a calling to positions of leadership within the church.
- The Confessions: “I fully support our church’s confessions as they give voice to this Biblical teaching. But I do not believe the behaviors referenced by these condemnations are the same thing as the faithful, covenanted, life-long same-gender partnerships that we see in today’s world among gay and lesbian Christians.
So far, Anderson said, there have been no official objections to his Feb. 20 final examination. And if there is, Anderson said he understands that it is part of the process.
“I think this kind of represents the strength of the Presbyterian system, that folks who are in the minority have a right to their day in court,” he said. “The down side, from my own personal view, it slows everything down obviously. That’s one of the outcomes of being a Presbyterian.”
In addition to his role as former executive director of More Light Presbyterians, one of the special interest groups opposing G-6.0106b and restrictions on same-sex marriage, Anderson also served as a member of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity Task Force. One of the task force’s recommendations that was approved by the 2006 General Assembly allows each presbytery to decide if a Book of Order requirement is essential. Anderson, in his inquiry for ordination, has scrupled G-6.0106b as a non-essential.
Based on John Knox Presbytery’s voting history on the fidelity-chastity standard, the body appears to agree with him. In all four referendums on the issue, dating back to 1996, John Knox has voted against including the requirement in the Book of Order.
The meeting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, and Anderson’s examination may be “closed,” John Knox Executive Presbytery the Rev. Ken Meunier said.