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The church’s constitution used to have a requirement to “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” for church officers. The amendment change removes that stipulation and requires church leaders to “submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life.”... The changes also state that the governing body responsible for ordaining ministers or installing lay leaders should examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation and suitability for the responsibilities of office. “Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual...

Washington D.C., May 12, 2011 / 12:39 am (CNA).- The Presbyterian Church USA has voted to remove clergy requirements of marital fidelity or single chastity, thus allowing the ordination of ministers and lay leaders who are openly homosexual or living in unmarried relationships.“This is a lonely day for Presbyterians who believe what the Bible and the Church have consistently taught: that God’s will is that we be faithful in marriage or chaste in singleness. Now we belong to a denomination that is no longer sure it believes that teaching,” said Allan Wisdom, a director of Presbyterian Action at the...

After decades of debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Tuesday struck down a barrier to ordaining gays, ratifying a proposal that removes the celibacy requirement for unmarried clergy, in the latest mainline Protestant move toward accepting gay relationships... Differences over the Bible and homosexuality have split Protestant groups nationally and worldwide for years. Within the Presbyterian Church, about 100 of the 11,000 congregations had already broken away ahead of the vote, but a group of large theologically conservative congregations, which calls itself Fellowship, has decided to remain in the denomination for now. Top Presbyterian executives issued a statement to the...

As the Presbyterian Church (USA) looks poised to remove a prohibition on ordaining gay people, local Presbyterians are reflecting on what the change could mean for them....The proposed change replaces fidelity and chastity requirements with more general guidelines instructing governing bodies to “examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation and suitability for the responsibilities of office.”...“What it means is that we can no longer categorically eliminate a group of people from ordination,” Schempp said. The Rev. Davis Price of Covenant Presbyterian sees the culture-Bible dichotomy as being nuanced. .. Price welcomes the potential for greater inclusion of gays in leadership, and...

His mothers are teaching him to treat everyone the same. Just like Jesus did. His church should too. Determined to give voice to the millions of Christians who believe in equal rights for all, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community, Believe Out Loud, a project of Intersections International, is today launching a campaign to get one million Christians to break the silence and join the burgeoning chorus for full LGBT equality in the church. Progressive Christians across numerous denominations believe that Jesus' message of justice, compassion and love compels them to be fully welcoming of all people,...

Feeling grateful to their local church move to hand out free copies of Qur’an, a group of Muslim women arranged a luncheon in Salt Lake city, hoping to extend new bridges between the two faiths in the community, The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Friday, May 6. “You extended the first hand,” Angela Young, a convert to Islam, told attendants at the luncheon. Preparing falafel, biryani rice, hummus and baklava, a group of eight women from the Muslim community decided to share it with their local church. On Thursday, they headed to Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Presbyterian Church sharing their...

The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi LIVE - Mondays 8 PM ET Encore – Tuesday 1 AM ET & 9 AM ET, Thursday 2 PM ET, Saturday 11 PM ET This exciting call-in program examines why so many people, including fallen away Catholics and individuals from other denominations, are being drawn home to the Catholic Church. Conversion Story Receiving Christ: A Brief Account of my Life-Long Journey into the Fullness of Christ’s Body Introduced to Jesus Tenderly, yet with all the seriousness of eternity in view, my mother asked: “Josh, do you want to ask Jesus to come into...

SALT LAKE CITY-- A Utah church is giving away free copies of the Koran in an Easter season ecumenical riposte to the recent burning of the Islamic holy book by a controversial Florida pastor. The Wasatch Presbyterian Church has ordered 50 copies of the Koran to be distributed at a local bookstore starting on Monday. "We're not promoting Islam, we're not saying the Koran is the Bible," said Scott Dalgarno, the church's pastor. "We're just saying that if people are curious, if they want their consciences informed on this issue ... then let them pick up a copy on us...

In announcing a Lenten fast “for a moral budget,” many Religious Left officials are arguing against federal budget cuts but are silent about ongoing federal support for organizations like abortion provider Planned Parenthood. According to Democratic and Republican sources quoted by the Washington Post, both the Planned Parenthood funding, as well as Medicaid funds for abortions in the District of Columbia, figured prominently in budget negotiations. Religious groups participating in the “budget fast” include the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Hunger Program, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran World Relief, Sojourners and World...

The Presbyterian Church-USA, one of the nation’s oldest and largest mainline Christian denominations, is in the middle of a crucial vote among its leadership to determine whether or not open homosexuals will be allowed to fill the church’s pulpits. At the denomination’s General Assembly in July 2010, delegates approved by a 373 to 323 vote a measure that would allow open homosexuals to pastor and minister in the flagship Presbyterian denomination’s 11,000 congregations and serve its estimated 2.3 million members. A vote on the amendment is now making its way through the church’s 173 regional presbyteries, a process that must...

MINNEAPOLIS -- An ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church USA was acquitted Monday by a church panel of charges that he violated the church constitution when he legally married his gay partner in California in 2008. The case of the Rev. Erwin Barron, who was associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis in the 1990s, is likely to be appealed. It is the first time the divided church, which sidestepped the issue of gay marriage at its national convention last summer in Minneapolis, has dealt with the possible discipline of a gay pastor who legally married a same-sex partner....

A panel of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has acquitted a minister who was accused of violating the denomination's constitution by legally marrying his male partner. The church judicial commission split 3-3 Monday on the charge against the Rev. Erwin Barron, who is under the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, but now works as a college professor in San Francisco.

A Riverside pastor, accused of sexually assaulting members of his congregation is facing more charges. Dennis Bowling is now facing 91 sex-related charges. The new charges against the 46-year-old man include rape of a child under 13, three counts of gross sexual imposition and three counts of sexual battery. Prosecutors said the new counts deal with eight victims, all of whom are minors. Bowling served as pastor of Kingdom Harvest Church in Riverside for 19 years.

The next leader of the Presbyterian Church has said he has “no problem” with worshipping alongside Catholics. Reverend Ivan Patterson from Newcastle — who won yesterday's election by a convincing margin — will take over from the Right Rev Dr Norman Hamilton on June 6

Amid jubilant preaching and singing, the Rev. Dr. Flora Wilson Bridges was installed Sunday evening as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, affectionately called First Church. Dr. Bridges is the 15th senior minister in the congregation’s 189-year history, and the first woman to be called as senior pastor at this church after a nationwide search lasting over three years. Elder Effie Bynum, Moderator-Elect of the Presbytery of New York City, presided at Sunday’s animated service. The Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, who ordained Bridges to the ministry more than 30 years ago, preached an impassioned sermon about the...

Are we witnessing the death of America's Christian denominations? Studies conducted by secular and Christian organizations indicate that we are. Fewer and fewer American Christians, especially Protestants, strongly identify with a particular religious communion—Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, etc. According to the Baylor Survey on Religion, nondenominational churches now represent the second largest group of Protestant churches in America, and they are also the fastest growing...

Pastor James Brown Jr. of the Covenant Baptist Church in Barnesville, Ga., wants his state legislature to pass a bill that permits churchgoers to carry firearms to worship at his church. Joining him in the effort is Pastor Joe Morecraft of Chalcedon Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Ga. And the campaign is just getting started. The bill, HB 54, was introduced in late January by Republican state Rep. Bobby Franklin, who serves the state's 43rd district. If passed, it will repeal a section of a law prohibiting individuals from carrying guns in a church setting. Currently, the state's "Common Sense Lawful...

After the Black Rascal and Bear Creek homeless encampments were closed in October, some of the homeless were offered a place to live at the Sierra Presbyterian Church. But since then, neighbors living near the church on M Street have complained about the encampments being so close to their homes. Some have repeatedly asked the Merced City Council for help. Now they may get their wish. The homeless who have been living at the Presbyterian Church in North Merced have been asked to find new living arrangements. The church has given them until Sunday to leave. The eight or nine...

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit alleging it failed to prevent the sexual abuse of a teenager by an older teen at an African mission boarding house in 1988. The Louisville-based denomination says the suit should be barred under the statute of limitations because it happened so long ago — a stance the plaintiff's lawyer calls "hypocritical," following a church commission's recommendation that the church lobby against such statutes. Meanwhile, federal authorities in Florida have filed child-pornography charges against the alleged perpetrator in the lawsuit. Samuel Shamba Warlick, 39, of Oviedo, Fla., was charged Jan....

The First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford has partnered with the Interfaith Dialog Center (IDC) of New Jersey to present a unique educational opportunity for the community to read the Qur'an in an environment designed to promote respect and mutual understanding of all faiths and cultures. Participants will read the Qur'an from cover to cover over a period of 10 weeks and are invited and encouraged to attend weekly one-hour discussions led by IDC experts on the assigned surahs (or chapters). The sessions are designed to review the week's readings, explore similarities and differences with the Bible and foster meaningful discussion....