San Francisco Presbytery: equality and un-tenet-able proposals both up for consideration

To these ends, we invite the Presbytery to affirm God’s love and presence in all of God’s children. We invite the Presbytery to consider the cost to the Body of Christ when whole groups of people in the church are pressured to be dishonest about themselves or those whom they love. We invite the Presbytery to consider how its policies exclude sexual minorities from serving Christ through the ordained ministries of the Church. We invite the Presbytery to recognize that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Christians can live lives of covenant faithfulness with their life partners or in singleness, and therefore, that such Christians may be found eligible to serve God and the Church through the offices of Deacon, Elder and Minister of Word and Sacrament. Thus, it shall be the policy of the Presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry and its Committee on Ministry, in keeping with the Authoritative Interpretation of G-6.0108 passed by the 217th General Assembly, not to discriminate against any candidate based solely on their marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity, but to discern God’s calling in every candidate's life based on their preparation and qualifications to serve God and the Church as Minister of Word and Sacrament.”