Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church
Brooklyn, NY
September 1979


We who are called to be members of the Body of Christ must daily take up the superhuman challenge to follow Jesus in love and in trust. Just as his body was broken for our redemption, so must our narrow stereotypes and legalisms be broken for the reconciliation of all men and women in Christ. We are called to recognize and affirm that God works through all persons and events. We who are members of the United Presbyterian Church are charged by our General Assembly to reject in our own lives, and challenge in others, the sin of homophobia, which drives homosexual persons away from Christ and his church. We are charged to work for passage of laws that do not discriminate against persons because of their sexual orientation or preference.

We who have chosen the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church as our community of faith reaffirm our 122-year-old commitment to respect the worth and dignity of every person as a child of God, something that human judgment cannot set aside. We reaffirm our commitment to serve our neighbor, regardless of his or her beliefs.

Therefore, the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church affirms that it welcomes into its fellowship all persons, regardless of race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation or preference, economic, cultural or religious background. This congregation will not select any of these elements from a person's total humanity as a basis for denying full participation and service in the body of Christ, including membership and ordination. We will work for healing in both Church and Society whenever persons are caused to suffer by reason of one or more of the above-mentioned elements.

The Committee on Social Concerns of this congregation shall continue to seek ways of relating the Church to the needs of all men and women in our community, and shall offer counseling and information to all who seek more light on the Christian approach to human sexuality and wholeness.

--Adopted by the Session, September 1979.