POTE On Women 's Ordination

The Presbytery of the Eastward took action today that will hold a important impact on the futurity of some PCUSA churches in the Northeastward that wish to reassign to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. After much nice and respectful argument, POTE passed the undermentioned recommendation from an administrative committee:

1. The Presbytery of the Eastward of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church ( EPC ) will honour the Christian autonomy of single faithfuls to name their curates and, hence, will not nix nominees for ordination as Learning Seniors from being processed and exhibited to Presbytery referable their gender.

2. All nominees will be processed as set awaily in the Book of Order of the EPC, the EPC Procedural Manual for Ministerial and Candidates Commissions , and the Presbytery of the Eastward By-Laws.

3. All campaigners will be analyse in conformity with the EPC 's specific touchstones for ordination and ministerial readying and must concur with the Requisites of Our Religion and take the Westminster Confession of Religion

4. Once demoed on the flooring of Presbytery, campaigners will be oppugned as set offly in the Book of Order of the EPC.

5. Members of Presbytery will be permited to vote their scrupleses in regards to their Scriptural convictions relating an somebody 's ordination.

6. All members will be handled during the total procedure with charity, grace and the regard ascribable one who seeks to subject themselves to Book and the vocation of the Holy ghost.

I voted for this, and believe that it is the right thing for POTE to make. Our presbytery was one of two in the EPC that holded antecedently enacted a woman to the pedagogy eldership, and I conceive we could not decline to regard women for ordination in the hereafter without proposing that there was something invalid in the one that holded been maked before. The determination to be unfastened to future ordinations implicitly betoken that female pedagogy seniors among possible PCUSA transferrals will not chance their gender an handicap. At the EPC Web site , there is farther info about the current province of drama on the issue within the denomination:

In the EPC, we presently hold two presbyteries that disallow women learning seniors, two that will not employ gender as a consideration in O.K. rectors and nominees, two others who hold a process in situ that lets consideration of women rectors and nominees without breaking scruples, and two that are still working on the issue and will hold come to a decision by the 2nd hebdomad of February 2009.

We are one of the two named in the last sentence. I 'll permit you cognize how things move at the last one equally presently as I hear.