PC(USA)

One of the Christian leaders arrested in a peaceful protest for the poor on Capitol Hill is calling fellow religious leaders to be a moral and nonviolent influence in the "Occupy Wall Street" protests occurring around the nation.

The Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness, was one of 11 ministry leaders arrested July 28 after ignoring calls to leave the Capitol Rotunda and charged with a misdemeanor. The court dropped the misdemeanor charge against 10 of the 11 ministers Tuesday. One of ministers pled guilty and paid a $50 fine.

Despite his brush with the law, Nelson is urging religious leaders to get involved in other protests, namely the "Occupy Wall Street" protests. more >>

Scott Anderson, an official with the Wisconsin Council of Churches, is set to be the first openly homosexual man to be ordained a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Saturday.

"The decision to remove sexual conduct from PC(USA) ordination vows is symptomatic of a deeper, ongoing struggle within the church over the authority of holy scripture," said Presbyterian Action Committee Chairman Gary Green. "This action stands in contradiction to the PCUSA confessions of faith, which continue to teach that faithful Christians have the choice either to be faithful in marriage or chaste in singleness."

The ordination comes after a majority of presbyteries in the PC(USA) voted to remove the "fidelity/chastity" standard from the church constitution earlier this year. In July, the standard was changed from one that required either a single man to remain chaste or a married man to remain faithful to his wife, but the new requirement does not address guidance for sexual behavior, nor does it include a biblical reason for why non-marital sexual relationships are now acceptable for ordained ministers. more >>

Nearly 2,000 conservative members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) began discussing on Thursday how to move forward after a decision in May to allow ordination rights to openly gay and lesbian clergy has some leaders looking to start another denomination.

PC(USA) officials at the two-day conference in Minneapolis ending Friday are leading table discussions about the options churches opposed to the decision might have. The ratifying amendment to the church’s rules on homosexuality and chastity went into effect in July.

"The PC(USA) decision to abandon Christian sexual ethics predictably is fueling accelerated membership decline and schism," said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), in a statement Wednesday. "Some traditionalists are struggling to stay within the PC(USA) while creating new forms of accountability to compensate for the denomination's failure." more >>

Three months after allowing the ordination of openly gay clergy, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seems headed for a split as nearly 2,000 conservative Presbyterians are gathering in Minneapolis on Thursday and Friday with creation of a “new Reformed body” as an agenda.

Making preparations for the conference is the Rev. Paul Detterman, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal, an independent organization based in Louisville, Ky., where the denomination’s headquarters are.

Detterman, administrative consultant for the new Fellowship of Presbyterians, the organizer, recently wrote in a communication to fellow conservatives that initially only a few hundred people were interested in new ways of “being church,” but the change in the ordination standards increased the number of registrations to over 1,900. more >>

The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has officially cleared the way for openly gay men and women in same-sex relationships to be ordained as clergy.

The new policy goes into effect today after the church's assembly and 97 of the denomination's 173 presbyteries approved the change within the church’s constitution. The move represents a major change in the history of the 2.8 million-member Presbyterian denomination.

“The new policy for the Presbyterian Church becomes official on Sunday and a number of churches will mark the moment with prayer and rejoicing in their Sunday services,” according to a press release from the members of the More Light Presbyterians. more >>

A group of conservative Presbyterians has put out advertisements in major news publications asking congregations to reconsider their relationship with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The ad by the Presbyterian Lay Committee directs readers to a petition where they can declare their stance against the PC(USA)'s liberal direction.

"I grieve over the apparent departure of the Presbyterian Church (USA) from these Scriptural truths, and I am estranged from its policies and programs that do not affirm Christ alone, Scripture alone and the holy institution of marriage alone as the divinely ordained context for human sexual activity," part of the petition reads. more >>