The Presbytery of Mississippi does hereby state its strong conviction that all constitutional requirements for ordination, including G-6.0106b, are binding on all the sessions and presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), and none are subject to being considered “inessential” by any governing body of the Church.

 

Rationale

 

            The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church places limits on sessions’ and presbyteries’ powers of ordination. There are many places in the Book of Order where certain requirements are placed on who “shall” or “shall not” be ordained.  G-6.0105 says, “Both men and women shall be eligible to hold church offices.”  G-14.0201 says, “Every congregation shall elect men and women from among its active members….”  These paragraphs limit the freedom of sessions to exclude either men or women from the office of ruling elder. 

Similarly, presbyteries are not allowed to ordain candidates for the office of Minister of the Word and Sacrament unless those men and women are properly qualified.  G-14.0310b says, “The candidate’s presbytery shall require a candidate to fulfill the following requirements to be certified as to be ready for examination for ordination, pending a call.”  The Book of Order goes on to limit the presbyteries in their ability to ordain candidates who do not possess college transcripts, seminary educations, or satisfactory grades on the Ordination Examinations.  These necessary qualifications can only be set aside with supermajority votes of presbytery (G-14.0313). 

And, of course, G-6.0106b says quite clearly that “persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed” as officers of the Church.  This language limits the power of sessions and presbyteries because they are the governing bodies of the Church that ordain officers.  Regardless of the ordinands’ beliefs about homosexual or adulterous relationships, G-6.0106b prohibits sessions and presbyteries from ordaining people who engage in those relationships.

The requirement that presbyteries observe constitutional limits on their powers of ordination was upheld by the GAPJC in Londonderry v. the Presbytery of Northern New England.  The PJC said, “there are no constitutional grounds for a governing body to fail to comply with an express provision of the Constitution. … Assertions of inconsistency, confusion, or ambiguity may justify the right to protest. They do not create a right to disregard any part of the Constitution.”

            And so, even as the members of this Presbytery affirm our freedom to disagree with parts of the Book of Order, we also affirm our ordination vows, to “be governed by our church’s polity” and to “abide by its discipline.” 

 

The Presbytery of Mississippi does hereby resolve that no exceptions to the requirement that all deacons, elders and ministers must “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or in chastity in singleness” will be allowed within the jurisdiction of this Presbytery.

 

Rationale

 

            The Presbytery makes this statement because of its belief that the Holy Scripture is the word of God and God’s guide to us for worship and life.  We affirm the words of the Westminster Confession, which says that the Holy Scripture “ought to be believed and obeyed.”  We believe that to adapt, mold or conform the church in accordance with contemporary mores and patterns of sinful life will separate us from God and from God’s will.

            This Presbytery therefore affirms that the requirement for Fidelity and/or Chastity as set forth in G-6.0106b plainly prohibits practicing homosexuals, adulterers, or anyone engaged in sexually immoral conduct from being ordained and/or installed to church office, whether as deacons, elders or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.