PC(USA)

A Texas congregation is considering a vote to break away from Presbyterian Church (USA) due to the denomination's growing acceptance of homosexuality.

The congregation of First Presbyterian Church of Longview will hold a vote on Sunday as to whether or not they will remain part of the PC(USA).

Pastor Jonathan Jehorek of First Presbyterian told local media that the vote was unprecedented and that he himself intended to relinquish his ordination in the PC(USA) effective next Monday. more >>

As the Presbyterian Church (USA) continues struggling with internal theological issues pertaining to the ordaining of gay priests and same-sex marriage, one Presbyterian Calif. church is leaving the denomination because it is not liberal enough.

The West Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles will formally join the more liberal United Church of Christ on Saturday, and is claiming that the larger, 2-million member (PCUSA) has not done enough to accept homosexuals though it lifted its ban on the ordination of openly gay clergy last year.

The West Hollywood Presbyterian Church has had a progressive congregation with about 57 members since the 1980s, and is ready to be "set free," according to gay pastor the Rev. Dan Smith. more >>

Two Mississippi Presbyterian churches have voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) over increasing theological differences.

The congregations at First Presbyterian Church of Ocean Springs and First Presbyterian Church of Pascagoula voted Sunday to leave the 2 million-member PC(USA) and join the smaller and more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Matt Mitchell, pastor of FPC Pascagoula, told The Christian Post that his congregation of 337 members voted to leave because of a sense that the denomination has left its "biblical center." more >>

A local church in Edmond, Ok., recently became only the second church in the state to be recognized as an "open and affirming" congregation by The Gay and Lesbian Affirming Disciples (GLAD), seemingly as a reward for voting to accept homosexual clergy.

The vote, held on March 25 at a congregational meeting by the Edmond Trinity Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), resulted in an overwhelming 22-0 victory for homosexual-clergy supporters. Still, the vast majority of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations in the United States and Canada have not accepted gay clergy. By the Edmond Trinity Christian Church's own account, only 100 of the 3,700 Disciples congregations are "open and affirming."

The following covenant was adopted after the decision: more >>

A candidate for the moderator position of the 220th General Assembly of Presbyterian Church (USA) says that although she is part of an LGBT organization she will be able to facilitate dialogue between both sides.

The Rev. Janet Edwards, a board member of the group More Light Presbyterians, told The Christian Post that as moderator she would be tolerant of different opinions.

"I believe a PC(USA) General Assembly moderator should be knowledgeable and have principled opinions on a wide range of issues," said Edwards. "There are countless examples of communities that have learned to be together despite their different interpretations of Scripture and we need to learn from them." more >>

A Presbyterian Church (USA) minister who was censured by her denomination in 2010 for performing same-sex marriages in Calif. while it was legal to do so is appealing the decision.

Reverend Dr. Jane Adams Spahr will be bringing her appeal on Friday, Feb. 16 to The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court in PC(USA).

According to the PC(USA) Constitution, W-4.9001, "Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship." more >>