The Church Orders Committee approved an overture to remove the wording of G-6.0106b which reads:
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 between a man and a woman, 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.
Instead, they are recommending the replacement of this clear language with the following:
Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards.
The floor of the assembly must approve this action by the committee if it is to be sent to the presbyteries for vote. There is a minority report (a substitute motion which will ask that we keep the original language) coming. Should the general assembly go with the substitute motion, everything goes back to normal.
Should the general assembly approve this, there will be major battling at the presbyteries regarding the ordination of homosexuals.
Please keep the general assembly in your prayers. This could be one of the darkest general assemblies we've had in a long time. But God can still do anything. We need your prayers.
This is not what the church needs. This is not what we need to spending our energy and time on.
You can read the full story at http://www.pcusa.org/ga218/news/ga08069.htm
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