The Presbytery of Santa Barbara, for example, has approved an overture to the 219th General Assembly asking for such a synod. “We are concerned about the continuing tensions within our denomination over issues of sexuality and ordination,” which have led to the departure of congregations from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), states a news release from a task force that proposed the overture. “We desire to create an opportunity to preserve the unity of the PC(USA) without violating the conscience of its members.”
Discussion of a non-geographic synod is not new. It’s among the ideas being promoted, for example, by the evangelical group Presbyterians for Renewal (pfrenewal.org). And the language in the Santa Barbara overture mirrors language from a sample overture suggested by Presbyterians for Renewal – for example, both refer to a statement involving “essential tenets” that the proposed new synod would use in examining candidates for ordination.
The proposed overture states that the non-geographic synod would only ordain those who promise to follow the standard of practicing fidelity if they are in a heterosexual marriage or chastity if they are single.
And ministers in that synod “will celebrate marriages only between a man and a woman,” the overture states. “They will not celebrate marriages between members of the same sex in those states whose laws allow such marriages, nor will they celebrate marriage-like unions between members of the same sex.”
The 219th General Assembly will meet in Minneapolis July 3-10.
