Presbyterians See Positive Amid Gay Fray

By Audrey Barrick, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, October 18, 2006

While the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) had left members dissatisfied when it granted more leeway for homosexual ordination, a recent survey revealed ordination standards as one of the lower priorities in the church.

A survey released Monday by the Presbyterian News Service found that commissioners and advisory delegates who comprised the 217th General Assembly ranked ordination standards as fifth most important. Despite debates over homosexuality, overall, 78 percent of them expressed satisfaction with the Assembly and said their sense of Presbyterian "family" was deepened by it.

Ranked first was worship and preaching with 38 percent of the people saying it is most important – a rating that Gradye Parsons, director of operations of the office of the General Assembly, said is consistent with previous assemblies.

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Commissioners and advisory delegates rated assembly committee work as second. That was followed by fellowship with Presbyterians from around the country and then the assembly plenary sessions, which were all rated as more important above Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (PUP)/ordination standards.

The 217th General Assembly had adopted an "authoritative interpretation" of the church's Constitution this year, granting local congregations and regional church bodies more leeway on the ordination of individual candidates – a move that some say opens the door to the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals.

The controversial report of the Theological Task Force on PUP calls for unity and finding ways for the church to stay together amid disagreements.

Other survey results showed most of the Presbyterians surveyed supported the use of "Les" - the electronic business system that puts all of the assembly documents and the tracking of them online. Of the respondents, 86 percent of Youth Advisory Delegates were more satisfied with "Les" than commissioners and other advisory delegates and observers.

The surveys were conducted through calls involving 44 leaders from around the church early October and were done to lift up the positive aspects of the PC(USA), which just celebrated the 300th anniversary of the first presbytery meeting in America. More will be conducted until the end of the year.

"You've created a great opportunity to dialogue with people in the trenches," said James Babcock, member of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, according to the Presbyterian News Service.

"We hope the end result is that we have as much volume on positive things as we have on the negative," added Sharon Youngs, communications coordinator of the Office of the General Assembly.