wfn.org | Role of Gays and Lesbians Sure to Dominate 211th General Assembly

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

3-May-1999 
99172 
 
    Role of Gays and Lesbians in the Presbyterian Church 
    Sure to Dominate 211th General Assembly 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-The role of gays and lesbians in church life - an 
increasingly incendiary issue in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - is 
certain to command center stage when the 560 commissioners (ministers and 
elders elected by their presbyteries) to the 211th annual General Assembly 
gather in Fort Worth, Texas on June 19. 
 
    The highest legislative body of the 2.6 million-member denomination 
will meet until June 26, establishing policies, priorities and budgets to 
guide the church in coming years.  During the eight days of the Assembly, 
more than 800 individual items of business will be decided. 
 
    All else is likely to be eclipsed by the continuing debate over 
standards of sexual conduct for ordained officers in the church and the 
larger issue of how tolerant the PC(USA) will be in making room for its gay 
and lesbian members. 
 
    First adopted as a policy of the General Assembly in 1978, a 
prohibition on the ordination of sexually active gay and lesbian and 
unmarried heterosexual Presbyterians was enacted into church law in 1997. 
An attempt last year to soften that constitutional provision, G-6.0106b of 
the church's "Book of Order," was overwhelmingly defeated by the 
presbyteries. 
 
    The 1998 General Assembly heeded an informal appeal by church leaders 
not to revisit the constitutional standards for ordination, but since last 
June a number of disciplinary cases in the church courts have brought the 
issue to a boil once again.  Four overtures (resolutions from presbyteries) 
have been submitted to this year's Assembly on the issue - ranging from 
deletion of G-6.0106b (Milwaukee Presbytery) to amended wording that would 
allow more leeway to congregations (who ordain elders and deacons) and 
presbyteries (who ordain ministers). 
 
    And in April, a succession of church committees first awarded, then 
rescinded, then reinstated a "Woman of Faith" award to the Rev. Jane Spahr, 
an avowed lesbian who is the church's most prominent advocate for the 
ordination of gay and lesbian Presbyterians.  Spahr was ordained prior to 
the enactment of the 1978 prohibition.  She is slated to receive the award 
during the Assembly and some backlash is expected. 
 
    The continuing discord around sexuality issues and ordination standards 
will probably result in numerous bedrock issues of keener interest to far 
more Presbyterians being given shorter shrift.  Among them: 
 
      * Church growth strategy: Membership in the PC(USA) has steadily 
declined over the last three decades and many attempts have been made to 
devise strategies to reverse the decline.  After spending nearly two years 
gathering information on successful outreach models around the country, the 
latest group to devise such a strategy will report this year.  Their brief 
report insists that renewal and growth can only happen in congregations and 
charges the denomination's 11,400 congregations to be "mission outposts," 
in their own communities.  And at least three overtures call for more money 
to be committed to new church development and the redevelopment of existing 
churches. 
      * the National Network of Presbyterian College Women: In a surprising 
series of moves that caught most everyone off-guard, last year's Assembly 
first eliminated, then reinstated for one year the network which ties 
together Presbyterian college women on some 80 campuses around the country. 
Critics charged that the network espouses positions - on premarital sex and 
ordination standards, for example - that "are contrary to the Biblical and 
constitutional standards of our church."  A committee appointed by last 
year's Assembly to review the group and its resources is recommending that 
sponsorship of the network be continued and that its funding be increased. 
The report is sure to be hotly debated. 
      * Peace and human rights: General Assemblies have a long tradition of 
addressing trouble spots around the world and with the war raging in 
Kosovo, that region will surely be the focus of considerable attention by 
this Assembly.  Other areas of the world that are apt to be addressed 
include the Middle East, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. And commissioners will 
hear an update from its Worldwide Ministries Division on the creation of a 
team to monitor human rights and religious freedom issues around the world. 
      * "Facing Racism: A Vision of the Beloved Community: This detailed 
report with dozens of recommendations once again attempts to address one of 
the most persistent problems facing the church and American society.  It 
calls on the church to become "an anti-racism community" by offering 
widespread anti-racism training (including at this Assembly) and by 
developing anti-racism curricula and programs throughout the church. 
      * Church finances: For two consecutive years, the mission program of 
the General Assembly has finished the year with a surplus, apparently 
reversing a decade-long trend of declining revenue.  The Assembly must 
still deal with a steady movement toward increased restricted giving 
together with a corresponding decrease in undesignated giving.  Still, 
surpluses are easier to address than deficits and the denomination's 
General Assembly Council - an 87-member elected body that oversees the work 
of the church between Assemblies - will present an ambitious plan to use 
some of the surplus to expand the church's missionary force and stimulate 
the establishment of racial ethnic congregations.  A 2000 General Assembly 
budget of $128.2 million will be voted on. 
      * Leadership: A defining moment for each General Assembly is the 
election of its moderator, who becomes the titular head of the church for 
the ensuing year.  Four announced candidates are in the running: the Rev. 
Frank Diaz, recently retired interim executive director of the General 
Assembly Council; Elder Freda Gardner, a retired professor of Christian 
education at Princeton Theological Seminary; Elder Charles Kim, a retired 
college professor from Long Island, New York; and the Rev. Walter Ungerer, 
pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Kokomo, Indiana.  The Assembly will 
also be asked to confirm the elections of a new president for the church's 
Board of Pensions and a new director of its Congregational Ministries 
Division. 
      * "Building Community Among Strangers": Earlier drafts of this paper 
on how to rebuild urban community life in the United States were criticized 
for promoting "universalism" rather than salvation solely through Jesus 
Christ.  The drafting committee has expanded the theological section of the 
paper and removed a controversial section defining sexual orientation as a 
"community-dividing" issue.  The paper addresses racism, classism, 
religious intolerance and economic dislocations as threats to community 
life and proposes more than 50 corrective actions. 

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