StatementofInclusiveness - Presbyterian Church at Franklin Lakes

Presbyterian Church at Franklin Lakes
Statement of Noncompliance with G-6.0106b
    The church we love has been an inclusive, open and accepting denomination, with room for a great diversity of belief and opinion, grounded in a common loyalty to Jesus. We are deeply concerned that this spirit has been damaged by a law (G-6.0106b or “Amendment B”) that sought to decide, once and for all, the question of homosexual ordination.
    The Constitution guarantees to individual Presbyterian congregations the right to decide whom its leaders shall be. Since 1978, the General Assembly's "Definitive Guidance" (declaring homosexual acts sinful and prohibiting ordination of practicing homosexuals) has divided the heart and conscience of the Presbyterian Church. We are asked to welcome gays and lesbians into the church and then refuse to ratify God's choice, when some of them are gifted and called to ordained ministries as deacon, elder or minister. And since 1997, we have been encouraged by G-6.0106b to inquire into the private lives of potential leaders in a way that we have never done before. This law encourages hardness of heart, and substitutes legalism in place of sensitivity. It requires us to abandon our practice of evaluating leaders as a whole, and focus particularly on sexual behavior. That is not the way we learned Christ!
    As a session, we shared these concerns with the Moderator of the 208th General Assembly, and our conscientious practice in these four years has been consistent with our beliefs.
    We are convinced that when Jesus and the early church abolished the ancient purity codes of Scripture, they implicitly removed homosexuality from the category of sin. We believe that homosexual behavior should be evaluated by the same criteria as heterosexual behavior. We believe that the love of Jesus Christ includes all people regardless of race, sex, age, marital condition, national origin, economic class, or sexual orientation. Though Paul did not say it, the inclusive Spirit of God is teaching us that in Christ there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, straight and gay. We are all one in Christ Jesus. [Galatians 3:28]
    Our calling as ordained leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is to lead this congregation in becoming even more inclusive, not less. We cannot in conscience implement the requirements of G-6.0106b, and we cannot keep silent about this matter.
    We support the action of the 213th General Assembly to strike G-6.0106b, and we make this statement as a witness of that support and its rationale in Christ to the Presbytery.
                                                --Jack Lohr, Moderator; Gary Hauenstein, Clerk
                                                   June 21, 2001
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