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MILWAUKEE –  A man who left his Presbyterian ministry in California more than 20 years ago after telling his congregation that he is gay was welcomed back into the church leadership on Saturday as its first openly gay ordained minister. In a quavering voice ripe with emotion, 56-year-old Scott Anderson told the hundreds of friends and backers who packed Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison, Wisconsin for his ordination ceremony that he never thought the day would come. "To the thousands of Presbyterians who have worked and prayed for almost 40 years for this day, I give thanks," Anderson said. "And...

A man who left the ministry 21 years ago is looking forward to becoming the first openly gay person ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA. At the ceremony Sunday, Scott Anderson, 56, now executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, will take back the stole he wore as pastor of two Presbyterian congregations in California, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He had donated it to Shower of Stoles, a project meant to demonstrate what the Presbyterian Church had lost by barring homosexuals from the ministry. Anderson, who grew up in California, said he realized he was gay while he...

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) plans to ordain the first openly gay candidate for ordination since the denomination struck down barriers this year to clergy who have same-gender partners. Scott Anderson will be ordained as a teaching elder on Oct. 8 at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Madison. The new policy won approval from a majority of the denomination's 173 presbyteries, or regional church bodies, and took effect on July 10.The denomination eliminated language in the church constitution requiring that clergy live "in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." The new...

A Wisconsin man is expected to become the first openly gay candidate ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since the church opened ordination to gay candidates earlier this year. ...“It’s hard to believe it’s finally happening,” Anderson said in a released statement on Friday. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) officially began allowing the ordination of openly gay and lesbian candidates on July 10. n May, Twin Cities Presbyterians cast the historic vote to allow openly gay and lesbian members to be ordained ministers. Presbyterian leaders say the Twin Cities vote was the action needed to end the 2.1 million-member denomination’s national...

Jesus Christ is now calling Christians everywhere to experience spiritual birth, to store up heavenly riches, to live a divine spiritual life, to join the armies of heaven, to fight for church reform, and to prepare the church for His Second Coming More Information This is a message from Jesus Christ to the Presbyterian Church. “I am the Son of God whose eyes blaze like fire, whose feet shine like polished brass. I know what you do. I know your love, your faithfulness, your service, and your patience. But this is what I have against you: you tolerate those lesbians."...

The Rev. Becky Burton, new executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, was installed the same day the regional body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to call for repeal of the state's new immigration law. That has been one of her first orders of business as leader of mainline Presbyterians in central Alabama. "We passed an overture to send a letter calling on the governor to rescind HB56, and that has been sent," Burton said. ...Burton was installed on Aug. 18, the same day the presbytery voted to oppose the state's immigration law. ..Several churches, including First...

Top leader of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Moderator Cynthia Bolbach, addressed the first national gathering of More Light Presbyterians since the denomination began allowing the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. ...Meeting at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, September 2-4, Moderator Bolbach encouraged the listeners to be the church by working together. Using the biblical story of the friends who cut a hole in the roof of a house to get a friend to Jesus to be healed of paralysis, the Moderator urged lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies to be as...

The diminutive songstress who played a high school dropout on “Glee” and originated the role of Glinda in “Wicked” is just as comfortable talking about her Christian faith as she is her support for gay rights. In a recent interview with The Advocate, she explained how she can hold both dear to her heart. “I read my Bible and I pray and all of that. I really do,” she told the gay-interest publication. “But at the same time, I don’t think being gay is a sin. Period.”Chenoweth, 43, who grew up in Oklahoma’s Bible belt, cited her grandmother as inspiration.....Asked...

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...

A North Carolina state university has put out a list of approved "gay-friendly" churches for faculty and students raising concerns by at least one professor that taxpayers are inadvertently involved in "telling people where to go to church." An office with the University of North Carolina's Wilmington campus began circulating the list late last month. It was compiled as part of a broader guide to gay-friendly businesses, nonprofits, health centers and other services in the area. The "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and allied students, faculty, staff, and alumni" office described the document as a "local resource guide" for...

A Free Presbyterian Church minister who sparked protest at Belfast Pride on Saturday has defended his actions, calling the parade “a very unpleasant experience”. Rev David McIlveen, of Sandown Free Presbyterian Church, amassed a crowd of protesters at the corner of Waring Street and North Street on the parade route. He criticized the Pride event claiming: “I certainly do not see it as an asset to Belfast in any way. It is something that is grieving to a good number of people”. The Irish Times report that McIlveen, who organizes an annual anti-Pride protest, did not see his actions as...

A new policy that opens the door to ordination of openly gay deacons, elders, and ministers in the Presbyterian Church ( USA ) took effect July 10, with prayer vigils and liturgical celebrations to mark the historic occasion held across the nation from Pittsburgh to Nashville to Denver and beyond.Closer to home, the landmark change means that Andersonville resident Jeannine Oakes' dream of becoming an ordained minister of word and sacrament—in a church she dearly loves—may very well come true after all. "I am still in the early stages of the process, with a lot of requirements to go," Oakes...

A gay elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA) says the recent rule change that removes any doubt over the legitimacy of her position makes the church more accepting, though intolerance still exists in many areas. Beth Van Sickle was ordained in her Ohio congregation in the 1980s and faced challenges to her post. But yesterday , the church’s constitution was changed to allow unmarried, noncelibate clergy. Van Sickle says it makes the church appear more accepting to young people, who may be questioning the conflict between their religion and their sexuality. “People will come to the church because they recognize...

.. "On this new day the church continues to live into its call to be a house of prayer for all people, seeking reconciliation, calling forth the gifts of all who seek to serve Christ in the world," .. "While we celebrate this day, we also know that minds and hearts need time and clarity to understand issues that divide us. We pray for God's guidance, humbly seeking to be united in our common purpose -- to live and proclaim the good news of the gospel."...He grew up in a home and church where sexuality was never discussed, he said....

The Presbyterian Church USA will quietly usher in gay ordination when an amendment on Sunday formally enters the Book of Order of the church’s Constitution. The change comes after 33 years of contentious discussion within the Presbyterian Church and as the gay-rights movement gains momentum in other Protestant Churches. “This is a very historic day,” said Rev. Daniel L. Martian, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Livingston. The new policy makes it easier for the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. to ordain gays and lesbians as clergy if they chose by dropping a policy requiring unmarried clergy to remain celibate. “Now that...

It’s official. As of July 10, after a 15-year struggle, qualified gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people can be ordained as clergy and officers in the Presbyterian Church (USA). After 24 presbyteries flipped from previous “no” votes, a total of 97 approved amendment 10A; well over the 87 required for the change. This victory finally removed exclusionary language from the Book of Order, which required “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.” The old language also required prospective ministers and officers to repent of “any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call...

Presbyterians who support gay rights are prepping sanctuaries this Sunday (July 10) to celebrate the passage of a new church policy that allows gay pastors to serve openly for the first time in the denomination's history. As the new policy for the Presbyterian Church (USA) becomes official that day, several left-leaning churches "will mark the moment with prayer and rejoicing" in their Sunday services, according to a press release from More Light Presbyterians, which advocates for gay rights in the church. "The Presbyterian Church enters a new era of equality on Sunday," said Michael Adee, the group's executive director. "It...

When Jeannine Oakes answered God's call to become a pastor, it was a moment of both clarity and confusion. Though her heart belonged to the Presbyterian Church, she also hoped one day to give her heart to a woman with whom she would share her life. The Presbyterian Church's ban on openly gay clergy did not allow for both. Eventually, she asked the leadership at Fourth Presbyterian Church to endorse her mission and enrolled at McCormick Theological Seminary to complete the necessary coursework."I need to be fully who I am, and the church needs to accept that," said Oakes, 32....

Stornoway High Church will remain part of the Church of Scotland for the time being.At a congregational meeting on Tuesday night, members were balloted on the question of whether or not to split from the denomination. This action was in response to the decisions taken by the 2011 General Assembly to allow openly gay ministers ordained before 2009 to remain in their posts and to establish a theological commision, due to report in 2013, to consider the implications of allowing gay ministers to train.74 per cent of the High Church members balloted (162) voted in principle to withdraw from the...

Brett Webb-Mitchell, a Presbyterian minister who is also gay, took to Salon today to share his experience preaching in Hnederson, North Carolina. It has not been easy:The bigotry, disgust and underlying fear of those of us who are different than the rest -- whoever "the rest" may be -- was breathtaking in its viciousness. And the place where so much of this prejudice found light was in the pages of "Home in Henderson." People from the town and county had free rein to insult and mock me. "Homo of Henderson" they dubbed me, but often they weren't nearly as eloquent:...