Preamble to Amendment B (to enact G-6.0106b in the Constitution) from the Assembly Committee on Ordination and Human Sexuality, approved by the 208th General Assembly (1996):

[1] We, The Assembly Committee on Ordination and Human Sexuality, are thankful for the opportunity to hear from the whole church in all its diversity, as we work to maintain a spirit of compassion and unity on difficult issues that have occasioned much discussion and pain in the church. The committee had before it numerous overtures and addresses, and listened long and hard to the voices speaking on so many different aspects of ordination and human sexuality. In listening, the committee also heard many related questions involving polity, the confessions, and the constitutional status of authoritative interpretation in the church.

[2] We struggled with a way to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We have concluded that now is the time to allow the church at the grass roots through its presbyteries to study and decide whether it is God’s will to ordain self-affirming, practicing, homosexual persons to the office of deacon, elder, or minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.). While it may be important for presbyteries and future General Assemblies to discuss matters of polity and interpretation, we are recommending that presbyteries should be asked at this time to discuss and vote on the issue of ordination and sexuality.

[3] We hear the church’s desire to send a clear word that speaks to the moral confusion in our culture. In order to speak well, the committee is recommending, first, that the assembly pray. Second, that we send to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative vote, the following amendment to the Book of Order, G-6.0106, to renumber the present paragraph as “a” and by adding a new section “b” to read as follows:

[4] “b. Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage of one man and one woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.”

[5] The committee believes that this language best expresses our understanding of Scripture as guided by the confessions and the historic practice of this church, in unity with the Church universal and ecumenical. We believe we have spoken to the concerns of almost all of the overtures in making this recommendation.

[6] In sending this resolution, we as a church are acting like Jesus, who loves all persons, who did not come to condemn anyone, but calls all to repentance, turning from sin. The Church must not be an exclusive, condemning community; it must be a community of welcome and love.

[7] The issue before this church is not a question of membership, but of office. Active membership is inclusive of all who have faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Through listening to the pain of its members, the church has learned to distinguish between homosexual orientation and practice. Homosexual orientation is not a sin; neither is it a barrier to ordination. However, the refusal to repent of any self-acknowledged practice that Scripture, interpreted through the confessions, calls sin, bars one from office.

[8] Ordination is not a “right.” It is a call to a particular function within the church. It requires prayerful discernment, by congregations and presbyteries, of those whose “manner of life” is a “demonstration of the Christian gospel” (G-6.0106). Where there is sin, repentance leads to grace which demonstrates that gospel. Where sin remains unacknowledged and unrepentant, there can be no ordination. The standards are high.

[9] Is homosexual practice sin? We listened to many who are struggling with that question. Faithful people differ in their understandings of Scripture. Homosexual behavior is listed in the Bible with sins that include adultery, fornication, pride, greed, lust, jealousy, and malice. Although it is not a greater sin than any other, we believe that Scripture, as guided by the confessions, defines such practice as sin.

[10] The foundational issue is biblical authority. All of us believe the Bible to be authoritative and attempt to be faithful to God’s revealed will in the Scriptures as guided by the confessions. Our Constitution declares that it is “necessary to the integrity and health of the church” that officers “adhere to the essentials of the Reformed faith and polity as express in The Book of Confessions and the Form of Government” (G-6.0108a). While “God alone is Lord of the conscience” (G-1.0301), ordained officers choose to exercise this freedom “within certain bounds.” Their “conscience is captive to the Word of God as interpreted in the standards of the church . . .” (G-6.0108b). Officers vow to be led by the confessions “as authentic and reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to believe and do” (G-14.0207c). We are a confessional church, under the authority of the Word of God, the guidance of The Book of Confessions, and under the church’s discipline. It is not the intention of this committee, through this recommendation to the presbyteries, to change anything in the church’s present standards and polity in relation to divorce and remarriage.

[11] The committee heard from many in the church who believed that the best road to unity would be to allow the decisions on ordination to be decided solely by congregations, sessions, and presbyteries. We agree with the Advisory Committee on the Constitution that this would be a fundamental, substantive, and far-reaching change in the foundation principles of a connectional church, as expressed especially in the Form of Government, “the historic principles of church government” (G-1.0400). Ordination is for the whole church. Any form of “local option” would abandon our historic and distinctive foundation as a confessional and connectional church. We must hold both of these together in order to maintain the peace, unity, and purity of the church.

[12] We conclude by calling on the church to be that listening, learning, and healing community that Christ commands us to be, and we call the church to encourage ministries of compassion and healing for all persons.

[Numbers for paragraphs added to facilitate referencing.]