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Home > General News
Good News!! 4 Yes Votes on Tuesday with 18th & 19th Presbyteries flipping for Amendment 08-B |
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Wednesday, March 11 2009 @ 11:33 AM by Michael Adee
 Tuesday, March 10. Good news for the pro-LGBT Movement in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Four presbyteries voted in favor of the 218th General Assembly's Ordination Amendment 08-B yesterday. Lake Michigan Presbytery voted 94 YES, 42 NO, with 2 abstentions. New Brunswick voted 95 YES, 44 NO, with 1 abstention. New Brunswick Presbytery includes Princeton Theological Seminary.
Among these four, two were presbyteries that "flipped" for 08-B. Transylvania and Eastminster Presbyteries became the 18th and 19th presbyteries to have flipped their vote of "NO" in 2001-2 to "YES" in 2009.
Presbytery of Transylvania voted 83 YES, 61 NO. This is a pro-LGBT shift from an opposition vote of 50 YES, 83 NO in 2001-2. The Presbytery of Transylvania includes 92 churches located in Eastern Kentucky with its ministry center in Lexington. In the last two months the presbytery hosted 7 discussion meetings on the Amendments from the 218th General Assembly all across its presbytery in local churches. This gives evidence for what we have know all along, that the opportunity for conversation, dialogue and discussion of important life and church matters makes all the difference.
The mission of the Presbytery of Transylvania reveals why a vote to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families is possible within this presbytery. Mission: "Calling people to faith and service in the name of Jesus Christ." Source of presbytery information: http://www.transypby.org/
Eastminster Presbytery voted 60 YES, 39 NO, with 2 abstentions. Their vote in opposition in 2001-2 was 54 YES, 65 NO.
Eastminster Presbytery
Easterminster Presbytery is in northeast Ohio with 55 churches and congregations. Its ministry center is in Mineral Ridge, Ohio, The mission of Eastminster Presbytery reveals why a vote to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families is possible within this presbytery. Their mission of Vision of Faith: "Eastminster Presbytery maintains a firm identity based on the Reformed faith. Centered in belief in Jesus Christ and the Scriptures, shaped by our Confessions, and demonstrated throughout our community, we stand as an enthusiastic and credible interpreter of ministry and mission to all levels of the church." Source of presbytery information:
Special thanks to all those working to end discrimination against LGBT Presbyterians and their families now in the Presbyteries of Transylvania, Eastminster, Lake Michigan and New Brunswick. We are particularly grateful for Robin Cuneo, Beth Van Sickle, Robert Dykstra, David Wall, Stacy Johnson, Sonnie Swentson and Rev. Debra Peevey for offering resources and information on 08-B in these presbyteries. You are an inspiration.
The 19 Presbyteries that have flipped from "NO" in 2001-2 to "YES" in 2009 so far include: Western North Carolina, Lake Huron, East Tennessee, Cimarron, Southeastern Illinois, Charlotte, Maumee Valley, Great Rivers, Scioto Valley, Sheppards & Lapsley, Tres Rios, New Hope, Greater Atlanta, Ohio Valley, Arkansas, Yellowstone, Whitewater Valley, Transylvania and Eastminster.
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.
Thanks be to God for all of these stands for justice and calls to the end to discrimination in our Church. 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
Answering God's Call to Serve! YES on 08-B Campaign
For resources, stories, presbytery vote tally, and news from More Light Presbyterians
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