Stroud now works for That All May Freely Serve, an advocacy group working for full inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons in the life of the Presbyterian Church. And he said in a recent interview that his position of noncompliance — which has infuriated those in the church who contend that a minister can’t just pick and choose what parts of the denomination’s Constitution to follow — is “a matter of integrity for me, and also being faithful to what I feel is discipleship to Christ.”
Stroud said he knows “I’m supposed to be silent. But what I believe is that from that point on, I essentially don’t have a ministry anymore . . . It goes against the integrity of my call.”
He also disagrees with what he calls the “theological underpinnings” of the PC(USA)’s position, contending that the denomination’s constitutional standards, which limit ordination to those who practice fidelity in marriage or chastity if they are single, are unjust and immoral and go against “the radical inclusiveness of Christ’s message . . . To me, it is very important not to be compliant in that.”
Stroud, 53, went to seminary straight out of college and was ordained in 1975. And while he knew from a young age that he was “different,” he also felt cloaked in God’s grace, and “I felt absolutely that there was no question of it ever being taken away from me . . . I’m a product of the church. Does the church suddenly stop saying the grace of Christ is operative in my life because I’m gay?”
Stroud said he is involved in a relationship. Many who support the “fidelity and chastity” standard believe that “homosexuality is a sin or homosexual practice is a sin,” he said. “I can’t agree with that.”
