 | |
| Predecessor | Presbyterian Gay Caucus |
|---|---|
| Established | 1999 |
| Merger of | More Light Churches Network Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns |
| 95-4403197 | |
| Legal status | Non-Profit |
| Location |
|
| Origins | 1974 |
| Website | https://www.mlp.org |
More Light Presbyterians is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing and ensuring the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the Presbyterian Church (USA). As of 2024, the organization's membership includes over 330 congregations and thousands of individuals. [1]
The origins of the More Light movement date to 1974, when at a meeting of the annual Presbyterian General Assembly, Rev. David Bailey Sindt held up a sign reading "Is anybody else out there gay?" [2] Sindt was an openly gay man who had been called by the Session (i.e., governing body) of Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church in Chicago to serve as an assistant pastor, yet had been blocked from taking up this call. [3]
During the 1974 gathering, Sindt also invited sympathetic individuals within the church to join what he first called the "Presbyterian Gay Caucus" and later changed to "Presbyterians for Gay Concerns" and then "Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns (PLGC)" to better reflect the caucus' membership. [4] The aim of the caucus would be to serve as a forum for both political and advocacy activities by Presbyterians who care about full inclusion of all in the life of the church, from local mission activities to full membership to ordination. [5]
William P. Thompson, Stated Clerk of the assembly, subsequently invited PLGC to submit a report at the General Assembly's next annual meeting (something that all national Presbyterian organizations were then required to do as part of receiving recognition as an official caucus). [6] However, at the 1975 General Assembly meetings--and after two hours of debate--commissioners refused to accept the group's report and, thus, to grant it official status. [7] Nonetheless, the advocacy and engagement work of the caucus continued on an unofficial basis. Subsequent reports from the group would also be written for, submitted to, and rejected by the General Assembly up until 1979. [6]
During this period, multiple congregations--notably Munn Avenue Presbyterian Church and West Hollywood Presbyterian Church--began to organize their own formal efforts to actively welcome lesbian and gay individuals into the life of the church, while Sindt continued his work with both his home church and PLGC. At the national level, the Presbyterian General Assembly also commissioned a task force to explore questions related to potentially greater inclusion of homosexual individuals in the church at-large. [8]
Nonetheless, at the 1978 General Assembly meetings, commissioners moved to approve a statement that said that "homosexuality is not God's wish for humanity" and "unrepentant homosexual practice does not accord with the requirements for ordination." [9]
In response, several Presbyterian congregations began identifying as "More Light Churches" as a means of signaling their own formal adoption of policies welcoming lesbian and gay members within the church, including their affirmation of these individuals' right to ordination as deacon and elder if elected by the congregation and found qualified by the session. [9] [10] The first congregation to make a formal statement from the pulpit declaring itself a More Light Church was West Park Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. [11] [12] [13] At that time, Rev. Robert Davidson, pastor of West Park made the following statement:
In harmony with the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church, West-Park Church affirms the civil rights of all persons. Further, in keeping with our General Assembly’s guidelines, this community of faith welcomes as members homosexual persons who both seek and have found Christ’s love.
This local congregation will not select one particular element from a person’s total humanity as a basis for denying full participation and service in the body of Christ. Nor will this community of faith condemn or judge our brothers and sisters who declare their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and promise discipleship to Him. We affirm that in meeting each other in Christian love. God’s spirit frees us all to live and grow, liberated from the oppression invoked upon us by ourselves and others.
Within this context, West-Park Presbyterian Church reaches out to Christian and non-Christian homosexual persons with a ministry of support, caring and openness—a ministry in which the creative, liberating power of the Holy Spirit rules and guides. [14]
In the interim decades, More Light Churches continued to promote the full participation of lesbian and gay individuals in the life of the church, including via organized advocacy and protests, as well as by ordaining relevant individuals (a practice that, at times, led to court cases being brought against these churches or, in the case of minsters, formal rejection of their selection by regional- and national- governing bodies). [4] Alongside this, the More Light Churches Network (MLCN) was formalized in 1992 to further promote coordination and engagement among More Light Churches.
In January 1999, the MLCN officially combined with the Presbyterians for Lesbian/Gay Concerns to make a single organization, More Light Presbyterians. [15]
In 2011, after over 30 years of debate, the Presbyterian Church (USA) finally voted to amend its constitution to allow openly gay people in same-sex relationships to serve as ministers, elders, and deacons. At the time, More Light's then-spokesperson Rev. Heidi Vardeman was quoted by theNew York Times as saying,
Finally, the denomination has seen the error of its ways and it will repent, which means, literally, to turn around. I’ve had young people who have been exemplary, obviously good candidates for the ministry... but then you have to have this weird conversation in which you say that, umm, because they might be gay or lesbian, it’s not going to work. But now we’re free! We can endorse and propose and assist and elect those whom God has called. [16]
Three years later, the Presbyterian Church (USA) would take another major step to advance LGBTQIA+ participation by voting at the 2014 General Assembly to allow clergy to perform marriages involving same-sex couples; a move More Light's then-executive director Alex McNeill would call "an answer to many prayers." [17]
In 2015, More Light Presbyterians underwent a discernment process to review its call following the removal of the above barriers to LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Subsequently, its work has focused on both continuing to expand the faith-based movement to oppose discriminatory legislation and helping member churches toward full inclusion and improved ministry services for LGBTQIA+ individuals. [18]
John Robinson, spiritual leader of the pilgrims who founded the Plymouth Colony, died in England before he could join his followers in the New World. In 1646, governor Edward Winslow recalled Robinson's farewell to the pilgrims as they set sail on the Mayflower. Robinson had urged the pilgrims to be open to new religious teaching, and:
...if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his Ministry. For he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word.
No teacher yet had perfect knowledge of God; Robinson had said:
"For though they were precious shining lights in their Times, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them; and were they now living," saith he, "they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light as that they had received."
In the 1850s the Congregationalist hymnwriter George Rawson (1807–1889) used Robinson's speech as the basis of his hymn "We Limit Not the Truth of God," with the lyric:
More Light is one of several American Christian LGBT-welcoming church programs working for gay inclusion in America.
Within the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Covenant Network of Presbyterians also works to enshrine the full participation of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the life of the church and society.
Similar groups in other denominations include Reconciling Congregations among the Methodists, Open and Affirming Congregations in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists in the Baptist church, Reconciled in Christ Congregations among the Evangelical Lutherans and Integrity USA in the Episcopal Church.
Within Christianity, there are a variety of views on sexual orientation and homosexuality. The view that various Bible passages speak of homosexuality as immoral or sinful emerged through its interpretation and has since become entrenched in many Christian denominations through church doctrine and the wording of various translations of the Bible.
The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country, known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and members of the LGBT community as elders and ministers. The Presbyterian Church (USA) was established with the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, whose churches were located in the Southern and border states, with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, whose congregations could be found in every state.
The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Reformed in theology and presbyterian in government.
The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 84,957 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church.
The Confessing Movement is a largely lay-led theologically conservative Christian movement that opposes the influence of theological liberalism and theological progressivism currently within several mainline Protestant denominations and seeks to return those denominations to its view of orthodox doctrine or to form new denominations and disfellowship (excommunicate) them if the situation becomes untenable. Those who eventually deem dealing with theological liberalism and theological progressivism within their churches and denominations as not being tenable anymore would later join or start Confessional Churches and/or Evangelical Churches that continue with the traditions of their respective denominations and maintaining orthodox doctrine while being ecclesiastically separate from the Mainline Protestant denominations.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is an American church body holding to presbyterian governance and Reformed theology. It is a conservative Calvinist denomination. It is most distinctive for its approach to the way it balances certain liberties across congregations on "non-essential" doctrines, such as egalitarianism /complementarianism in marriage or the ordination of women, alongside an affirmation of core "essential" doctrinal standards.
The blessing or wedding of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which leaders of Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that homosexual acts are sinful and that holy matrimony can only exist between two persons of different sexes. These disagreements are primarily centred on the interpretation of various scripture passages related to homosexuality, sacred tradition, and in some churches on varying understandings of homosexuality in terms of psychology, genetics and other scientific data. While numerous church bodies have widely varying practices and teachings, individual Christians of every major tradition are involved in practical (orthopraxy) discussions about how to respond to the issue.
Chris Glaser has been an activist in the movement for full inclusion of LGBT Christians in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), or PCUSA, for over 30 years. He is currently a minister in the Metropolitan Community Church, or MCC.
The Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) is an organization seeking the inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in both the policy and practices of United Methodist Church. It is one of many Welcoming Congregation organizations to emerge in American Christianity in the 1980s. The ministry has over 1100 affiliated congregations and 42,000 affiliated individuals.
Unitarian Universalism, as practiced by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC), is a non-Creedal and Liberal theological tradition and an LGBTQ affirming denomination.
The Assemblies of God USA (AG), officially The General Council of the Assemblies of God, is a Pentecostal Christian denomination in the United States and the U.S. branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, the world's largest Pentecostal body. The AG reported 2.9 million adherents in 2022. In 2011, it was the ninth largest Christian denomination and the second largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. The Assemblies of God is a Finished Work denomination, and it holds to a conservative, evangelical and classical Arminian theology as expressed in the Statement of Fundamental Truths and position papers, which emphasize such core Pentecostal doctrines as the baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, divine healing and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Attitudes in Presbyterianism toward homosexuality vary, ranging from outright condemnation to complete acceptance.
The positions of the Baptist churches about homosexuality are varied. They range from liberal to fundamentalist or moderate Conservative and neutral.
Methodist viewpoints concerning homosexuality are diverse because there is no one denomination which represents all Methodists. The World Methodist Council, which represents most Methodist denominations, has no official statements regarding sexuality. Various Methodist denominations themselves take different stances on the issue of homosexuality, with many denominations holding homosexual practice to be sinful, while other denominations ordain LGBT clergy and marry same-sex couples. The positions of the various Methodist denominations around the globe are outlined in this article.
The ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) clergy who are open about their sexuality or gender identity; are sexually active if lesbian, gay, or bisexual; or are in committed same-sex relationships is a debated practice within some contemporary Christian denominations.
Although the United Church of Canada is one of the few mainstream Christian denominations to both ordain LGBTQ clergy and consecrate same-sex marriages, support for these issues have caused deep divisions within the church.
ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congregations and members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA). Denominational disputes over theology—particularly ordination of practicing homosexuals as pastors and gay marriage—and bureaucracy led to the founding of ECO. In 2018, ECO has over 383 congregations, 103,425 covenant partners and over 500 pastors. ECO churches are egalitarian in beliefs and ordain women as pastors and elders.
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