Good News! Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois approves Amendment 08-B

Thursday, February 12 2009 @ 06:16 PM by Michael Adee

Today, February 12, at First Presbyterian Church, Effingham, Illinois, the Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois affirmed the 218th General Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B by a vote of 68 YES, 56 NO, with 3 abstentions.

The Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois vote of opposition to the Ordination Amendment in 2001 was 69 Yes to 77 No. The Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois has its ministry center in Decatur, Illinois.

Within the last two weeks, this is the fifth presbytery to "flip" from opposition in 2001 to approval in 2009 with Western North Carolina as the first presbytery to flip.

The Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois is made up of 97 churches in the southeastern portion of the state of Illinois. It is a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Synod of Lincoln Trails.

The Mission Statement of the Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois reveals why a vote to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families is possible within this presbytery:

"The Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois, seeking to be faithful to our calling as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, hoping to grow in grace and wisdom as a church reformed and ever reforming, affirms and adopts the following goals:

to encourage and provide resources for each of our congregations and their servant leaders as the live out God's calling in their particular setting;
to support and encourage the ministers and other church professionals as they lead our congregations and presbytery in faithful ministry;
to become a community of faith which gives tangible witness to the grace and justice of Jesus Christ in our world; and
to participate responsibly in the life and work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Church universal as together we anticipate the coming of the true reign of God."

Source of presbytery information: http://www.psei.net/

Special thanks to all those working to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families now in the Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois. You are an inspiration.

We want to offer particular gratitude to Rev. Heidi Weatherford, and Rev. Keith Harris of McKinley Presbyterian Church and Foundation, Champaign, a More Light Church, along with Debra Peevey, Toby Rogers and Tricia Dykers-Koenig for providing outreach and serving as resource persons with this presbytery.

We want to alert all of you working in local presbyteries to pass 08-B to prepared for any of the "No Action" efforts in your presbytery and be ready to address them.

For educational resources and our new Resource Packet from our Answering God's Call to Serve! Yes on 08-B Campaign -- go to http://www.mlp.org/answeringgodscall

Thanks be to God for this victory in the Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois! Together We are building a Church for all God's people.

with hope and grace,

Michael

PS -- Special thanks to Bruce Hahne, recent National MLP Board Member and Elder, First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, CA, a More Light Church for number-crunching and analysis of trends so far for Amendment 08-B -- go to http://yeson08b.blogspot.com/

Michael J. Adee, M.Div., Ph.D., Executive Director & Field Organizer

More Light Presbyterians, 369 Montezuma Avenue # 447, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 USA (505) 820-7082, michaeladee@aol.com, www.mlp.org

Answering God's Call to Serve!

For resources, stories, presbytery vote tally, and news from More Light Presbyterians

YES on 08-B Campaign go to http://www.mlp.org/answeringgodscall

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