c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Representatives from nine area Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations gathered at a downtown church here Sunday night _ on the evening of Pentecost _ and vowed to defy a recently approved denominational rule that bars gays and lesbians from holding ordained offices in the church.”We raise our voices here in this place and time to say that we intend to stay in the Presbyterian Church but we cannot be guided by this”rule, said the Rev. Bryant George, a pastor at the prestigious New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, where Abraham Lincoln once worshiped.

George was referring to the so-called”fidelity and chastity”amendment to the denomination’s Book of Order, which, among other things, bars gays and lesbians from being ordained as pastors, elders or deacons in the 2.7 million-member church.”We dissent because we believe that Jesus Christ invited everyone to the table: sinners and people who claimed they were not sinners. If we claim his name to describe ourselves as `Christians,’ we can do no less,”George told some 250 gathered outside his church before a worship service to affirm the covenant of dissent to be entered into by the nine churches.

The demonstration of defiance put the churches in league with a still small but growing number of congregations dissenting from the adoption of the”fidelity and chastity”amendment, approved on a 95-72-1 vote by the churches presbyteries (local jurisdictional bodies) earlier this spring.

Flashpoints in the amendment say ordained church officers will be required to repent of any”self-acknowledged practices which the (church’s) confessions call sin”and a provision declaring the only acceptable sexual behavior as”fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” Since the amendment was officially approved by a majority of presbyteries, clusters of churches across the country _ including those in New York, Chicago and San Francisco _ have formed dissenting groups. In Washington, the group calls itself Stonecatchers, a reference to the biblical caution against being the first to cast stones at others.

An estimated 40 to 50 of the denominations more than 11,000 congregations have said they will dissent from the new rule.

In a ceremony inside the church, participants each placed a stone on a table in the sanctuary before solemnly joining in covenant to”elect, ordain and install as officers those members with suitable gifts who are called to ministry, who are persons of strong faith, dedicated discipleship, and love of Jesus Christ, and whose manner of life is a demonstration of the Christian gospel in the church and the world, without additional requirements or restrictions.” The new rule goes into effect after the denomination’s General Assembly, scheduled to begin in mid-June in Syracuse, N.Y. Church officials expect a flurry of test cases over the next year in which the constitutionality of the rule is challenged.

At issue in those cases would be whether the amendment is consistent with other parts of the Book of Order, which states that membership in the denomination is based on a profession of faith in Jesus and that all members in good standing are eligible for church office.”This amendment would destroy the radical equality in our church and create a secondary class of membership,”said the Rev. Madeline Jervis, pastor of Clarendon Presbyterian Church in Arlington, Va.

Although the”fidelity and chastity”amendment itself will not come up for formal debate at the General Assembly, the issue of the role of gays and lesbians in the church _ an issue with militant factions on both sides of the question _ is virtually certain to be addressed through a number of overtures, or resolutions, at the meeting.

MJP END ANDERSON