The decision
of the Episcopal Church, USA to ordain as bishop a practicing homosexual
severs its ties with Scripture, 2,000 years of Christian moral teaching,
the counsel of the 77-million-member Anglican communion, and the
overwhelming world-church consensus.
Faithful Christians in the Episcopal Church, USA who grieve over the
action of their General Convention do not suffer alone, for Christian
brothers and sisters in other parts of Christ's body share the trauma of
this wound. The Presbyterian Lay Committee expresses its consolation to
faithful members of the Episcopal Church, USA whose leaders have so
deeply damaged its witness.
Presbyterian Church (USA) standards, repeatedly reaffirmed by decisive
majorities, reflect Scripture's teaching on sexual morality. But the
Biblical ethic is no safer among Presbyterians than among Episcopalians,
for it is under siege from Presbyterian officials who refuse to enforce
the standard, officially sanctioned programs that defy it, and activist
groups that undermine it. Presbyterians who have engaged in these
activities are being energized by their Episcopalian counterparts to
pursue their cause more vigorously than before. The peace, unity and
purity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been placed in greater peril
as a result of what the Episcopal Church, USA has done.
Speaking to the 215th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
in June 2003, renowned missiologist Harold Kurtz issued a stern warning
to U.S. Christians on behalf of burgeoning Christian communities in the
Two-Thirds World. He spoke of the millions of Africans, Asians and Latin
Americans who received the gospel from our missionaries and responded to
the call of Christ.
These Christians, whose numbers now dwarf the membership of our
declining denomination, look upon our accommodations to culture with
horror, wondering what has happened to the faith that our forebears once
proclaimed. We stand unequivocally with that worldwide witness to the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee assures its faithful brothers and sisters
in the Episcopal Church, USA that we will not compromise with those
within our denomination who seek to silence Jesus' call to holy living
and ignore the transforming gift of the Holy Spirit. We pledge ourselves
anew to proclaim and defend the faith within that part of Christ's body
to which we belong.