In so far as these amendments about church officers address homosexuality (and they simultaneously address by name financial folly, relational abusiveness and racial wickedness), they simply parallel the common grace observation of AA. The absence of alcohol or of sex truly is significant, but it is not inherently decisive in the discernment for ordination. Gay and celibate isn’t enough. These amendments fix firmly the immutable obligation of PCA courts to recognize dry drunks and moist homosexuals as believers ineligible for ordination.

It is to be expected that the following opinion piece will be criticized as homophobic, fundamentally at odds with the gospel, grossly callous and hurtful. It will surely be faulted for issues it does not address, and for forbidden diction as well as insufficient empathy.
Criticism of that kind will simply prove the point. Some matters are indubitable, no matter how they provoke offense. Some matters are judgement calls, no matter how much a motion to call the question disappoints. You can’t have this discussion without a messy omelette. You can’t have this discussion without wails and consternation.
Such shadow & gesture & implication assessment of my assertions and conclusions is purposefully invoked by this italicized introduction as a convenient demonstration of the whole. Earnest engagement with homosexuality in the PCA will bring friction, flack and slow moralistic pressure. Our Constitution and our vows must be fit for both our convictions and our weakness. Pass 23 and 37.
Our Setting and Circumstance
In the summer of 2021, overtures 23 and 37 were passed by large majorities at the PCA General Assembly. During the subsequent year, 88 presbyteries will vote on the corresponding amendments to the Book of Church Order, defeating them if more than 29 presbyteries reject them. If at least 59 presbyteries uphold them, a final vote will be cast at the 2022 General assembly. Yes, that is 90 votes. That is what it takes for a positive result, but essentially only 31 votes for a negative conclusion. These are the numbers of the process.
The most sympathetic and poignant reasons to reject the overtures are the possible negative impact for some who aspire to office in the PCA. Purportedly the amendments would become discriminatory tools in the hands of teaching and ruling elders shepherding men through the process of ordination. They would cause collateral grief and provoke understandable sins. In sum, the argument arises from distrust in the competence of PCA officers to act with wisdom. (See Part One).
Distrust is a common thread in discussion of homosexual persons– not just in the church. Over the last decade the cultural significance of homosexuality has changed, and such distrust has become less defensive and rather preemptive. Homosexuality has been transformed– not into a matter of individuality and public indifference, but rather into a benchmark of recognizable authenticity and public liberty. (See Part Two)
Ensconced in the framework of sexual minority status, that distrust anticipates and squares off with any diminution of homosexuality as an honored value in the attempted social equilibrium. Similar though not identical preemptive distrust has been articulated in the PCA; however, at times similarity seems to bend from being identical only by the difference of being congruent. It can be difficult to detect the difference. A discriminating disposition to detect determinative differences is the desideratum in presbyterian process. In a wholesome sense– even if the lexicon expunges it– the business of church courts is discrimination.
PCA Policy and Procedure
The policy and procedures of the PCA regarding homosexuality must reckon with the de facto status imputed to homosexual men and women. Contemporary admiration and protection afforded to homosexual persons is grounded in the axiom that same sex attraction is fixed and immutable; moreover, that static foundation is all the more virtuously embraced when combined with the commitment to celibacy. The virtuous estimation of homosexuality combined with a traditional rejection of illicit sexual activity waxes more fully, even to both praise for and vigilance on behalf of homosexual persons in the PCA.
The offered amendments do not curtail either the praise or the vigilance; however they provide a stipulated requirement for courts to persist in distinguishing members from officers, a credible profession of faith with all its entitlements in the PCA from an exemplary piety with all its authority in the PCA. Preemptive distrust discolors discriminating examination and analysis as inherently discriminatory, so long as gay (fixed and immutable) is combined with celibate (persevering and reliable). Gay and celibate should be enough, or 95%, to end the consideration of a man’s fitness for office so far as the seventh commandment is concerned.
Is celibacy the boundary of homosexual corruption? Such self-mastery, no– Spiritual fortitude, in a professing Christian calls for admiration and protection. Gay&Celibate can be mocked and discouraged by other homosexuals as obvious “wannabes and gonnabes”. Certainly that is the diction of the accuser of the brethren– declaring that Christ has not emancipated them from the flesh. Victory must be celebrated and faith vigilantly bolstered in the household of God. Such is true with all believers and all besetting sins. Still, the question stands: is unstinting celibacy the homosexual line between the general office of church member and the special offices of deacon and elder? Does gay celibacy only need to pass the requisite ordination exams?
The offered amendments address only the standards for discriminating which men are fit for special office. They assume that what falls short of ordination does not disqualify from membership. In regards to homosexuality, they do not rule out some notion of “fixed” (indwelling sin, anyone?); however, they are in no way controversial for compromising “immutable.” Gay&celibate has already championed a real index of change. The amendments go further in rejecting celibacy as the demarcation of exemplary piety requisite for office in the case of same sex attracted aspirants to office. The amendments do not establish a checklist, rather they call for examination of the man’s character and conduct in regards to his remaining sinfulness in the specific array and dynamic of homosexuality.
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So many leaders in our churches today are so spiritually dead and morally bankrupt that they actually believe that strobe lights, smoke machines and ‘party, party, party’ is what we must now rely on to get folks in and build up the church. Good grief.

For some decades now I had a standard line about the decaying church surrendering to the surrounding culture, especially on things like homosexuality. I would often say this: ‘We might as well just give it all up and turn our churches into discos’ – or words to that effect.
I of course had in mind selling off empty church buildings. I did not think for a moment that folks might start taking my words to heart. I certainly did not think folks would do this to churches while they were still considered to be churches! But that now seems to be happening, and I guess nothing should surprise us anymore.
Churches used as discos? Yes, you heard me right. A friend in the UK just sent me this news item from the BBC, featuring this headline: “Canterbury disco: ‘Parties can get more people to visit church’.” The piece opens with these words:
When you think of a church or cathedral, the thing that might come to mind is it being a place and time for self-reflection. But lately there have been a series of silent discos taking place in cathedrals and historic buildings around the UK and Europe. “I love the idea of people dancing on a Saturday night and praying on a Sunday morning. I think we can do both,” the Reverend Jessica Fellows tells BBC Newsbeat.
The “disco-loving” vicar is a self-proclaimed Harry Styles fan who uses her church to organise silent discos as well as beer and carols events. “The more the merrier. We need people to come in and have fun – it’s not all boring and serious,” she says. She hopes these events can result in greater interest in religion, at a time of less interest.
In the 2021 census for England and Wales, a third of people under the age of 35 identified as Christian, compared to just under half of those under 35 in 2011. Church of England figures also suggest dwindling congregation numbers, with 2022 having an average weekly attendance of 654,000 people – up from 2021 but down from 854,000 people in 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-68279198
Oh dear. Discos to get more people in. Now why didn’t the disciples and those in the early church do things like that? Oh yeah, that’s right: they did not need to. They simply relied on faithfully preaching the gospel and trusting the Holy Spirit to do his work. So they didn’t do anything to ‘get people in.’
But so many leaders in our churches today are so spiritually dead and morally bankrupt that they actually believe that strobe lights, smoke machines and ‘party, party, party’ is what we must now rely on to get folks in and build up the church. Good grief.
The article goes on to say this:
The Reverend Michael Darkins from Hythe, just down the road from Canterbury, has put on concerts at his church as well as Warhammer game nights. “We’ve got this beautiful 11th century church… we’re known locally for our collection of 1,200 skulls in the crypt – so it’s the perfect aesthetic for that.”
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God is not interested in simply re-tweaking a few behaviors and calling them good. He is about repentance and radical transformation in our lives! Jesus is not about behavioral retraining of a therapeutic relationship which is reward-based. That is basically to stop bad behavior and start doing good behavior like training a dog! How does he sanctify us and make us more like Jesus? 

“You’re Ready to Go!” Those are the words I received from my Senior Pastor! I felt pretty good about myself. I was 20, single, and was still in Bible college. What can go wrong right?
Now that I’ve been 15 years fast forward, I have been in ministry, and some may have the idea that it was an easy-breezy journey as it led to where I am today. But that was not the case. I went through a significant church conflict as a young pastor that has shaped the rest of my ministry.
Knowing where you start helps us understand how we can end at the final destination. Hope while suffering and strife, gives them fuel to run together.
God is not interested in simply re-tweaking a few behaviors and calling them good. He is about repentance and radical transformation in our lives! Jesus is not about behavioral retraining of a therapeutic relationship which is reward-based. That is basically to stop bad behavior and start doing good behavior like training a dog!
How does he sanctify us and make us more like Jesus? Sometimes, he brings great affliction. There’s nothing like the school of suffering is there? Trial, tribulation, testing, and temptation…. These were all part of the equation of becoming the person I am today.
What is Your Life About?
“What brings you in today?” That is often how I begin a counseling session. I sometimes wonder, how Jesus would approach us in the mess.
A humanistic approach in psychotherapy would say, “Not get too involved” because of transference. The clinical model is where you are the authority in the room and that is under your tool so you can be trusted and have a “cold” and “distant” relationship.
I’m thankful Jesus was not sent for a professional relationship, but Jesus seeks for a personal relationship. The world avoids messed up people, but Jesus runs to messed up people. Jesus would look at our suffering and he would give a word, a look, and a touch.
Jesus began his ministry of service by proclaiming the good news of God.  What is this good news? Gospel which means “good news.” Specifically, it refers to the good news of salvation through Jesus. It comes from the Old English word god-spell (meaning “good news”) which comes from the Greek word euaggelion (Strong’s #2098, eu = “good,” angelion = “message”).
The good news is all about Jesus! The good news is both from God and about God. As one commentator put it this way, “Men and women have been longing to hear such a message. Now they not only hear it but encounter the One who can deliver it.”
Jesus then called the disciples to himself with his life. He wanted to communicate with a life of discipleship which is not easy. He sees the life of the disciples and they will suffer for their faith. Jesus’ call to discipleship is the main point that we see. What it means to carry the cross.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34).  What does carrying the cross cost look like? Christians ought to believe and obey: It is not just knowing the Word of God.
So, what does a follower of Jesus look like practically? What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? What is the cost of the call to “discipleship” in the process of learning to become like Christ?
Who is Jesus Christ?
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” (Mark 1:2-3). This was a quotation from Isaiah from the Old Testament. He was quoting from the Old Testament Isaiah 40:3 with Elijah the eschatological prophet, “a voice crying in the wilderness”
Later in the context says, “Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.” (Mark 1:6). You may be thinking, what is up with this weird dude?
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