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Affirmation Of Faith
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Up		 Issued June 10, 2002

 
This statement is in response to the failure to remove article G-6.0106(b) from the Book of Order. We continue to call for removal of this article, which places unprecedented limitations on the right of congregations to select and ordain their elders and deacons and discriminates against people for reasons other than their profession of faith, especially GLBT people.

We, the Session of The First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church of Baltimore, Maryland, in affirming our ordination vows, express our firm and sincere resolve to uphold the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). In obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of the Scriptures (guided by the Holy Spirit) and the Confessions, we confess and affirm the following:

  1. The Gospel. "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." At the cost of his own life, Christ fully paid for our sins. Our salvation is undeserved, and comes only by the grace of God. Through Christ's life, crucifixion, and resurrection, God teaches us to love God and our neighbor. Christ's Gospel thus gives us new life. 1

  2. The Church. "But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves." Our new life in Christ takes shape in a church community in which all people know that God loves and accepts them in spite of who they are. To be reconciled to God is to be sent into the world as God's reconciling community. Our Church has been called to a new openness by affirming itself as a community of diversity, made of persons of all conditions and providing for inclusiveness as a visible sign of the new humanity. We resist the Spirit of God whenever we exclude, dominate, or patronize other human beings. Indeed, failure to extend the fellowship of Christ to all persons would constitute a rejection of Christ Himself - and cause a scandal to the Gospel. 2

  3. Membership and Ordination. "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone." All persons who respond in trust and obedience to God's grace in Jesus Christ are welcome to become active members of our Church. No person shall be denied membership in our Church because of any reason not related to profession of faith. Active members of our Church are entitled to vote and hold office. The government of our Church is representative and the right of God's people to elect their elders and deacons is inalienable. The manner of life of elders and deacons should be a demonstration of the Christian Gospel in our Church and in the world. 3

    4.  

  4. Church Power and the Individual Conscience. God alone is Lord of the conscience, and has left it free from doctrines and commandments that are contrary to God's Word or beside it in matters of faith or worship. All Church power is only ministerial and declarative; that is to say, the Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and manners. 4
    5.
  1. Sin. "There is no one who is righteous, not even one." Nature and sin make every person prone to deny not only God, but also his or her neighbor. 5
  1. Mutual Forbearance. There are truths and forms with respect to which persons of good character may differ, and in all of those truths and forms it is the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other. 6
  1. Historical Awareness. The Presbyterian system of government calls for continuity with and faithfulness to the heritage that lies behind our contemporary Church. It calls equally for openness and for faithfulness to the renewing activity of God in all history. The Reformed Church is always reforming. 7

In view of these confessions and affirmations, the Session of The First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church continues to proclaim that all people who respond in trust and obedience to God's grace in Jesus Christ are welcome as members of this congregation, entitled to all rights of membership including ordination as elders and deacons.

In renewing this affirmation of faith, we carry on the history of a congregation first called to worship in a rough one-room cabin when Maryland was still a British colony - 28 years before the first General Assembly met in 1789. At the same time, we carry out the work of our Church and our congregation to overcome the troubling legacy of past practices toward marginalized groups including women, African-Americans, and gays and lesbians.

NOW THEREFORE, in a divisive time in our Church's history, we reiterate that, in ordaining elders and deacons, our congregation has acted and will continue to act according to its knowledge of individual candidates' faith and character and with no regard whatsoever to those candidates' sexual orientation. We respectfully reject the assertion that a candidate's sexual orientation is a litmus test for whether his or her life demonstrates the Christian Gospel in our Church and in our world.

We regret that G-6.0106(b) seeks to impose unprecedented requirements on the offices of elder and deacon, and we respectfully submit that this new provision of the Book of Order improperly interferes with our congregation's inalienable right to elect its officers. The collective conscience of this Session requires us to take this stand in obedience to God's commandment, which is given to us by Scripture, by the Confessions of our Church, and by the Holy Spirit.

With an urgency born of hope, the Church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world. It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat. In steadfast hope, the Church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God. 8 We pray for reconciliation within our Church, and for God's renewing activity in history.

 
 
  1. Matthew 22:37-40; Heidelberg Cathechism, 4.001.
  2. Luke 22:26,27; G-3.0401; G-5.0103; The Confession of 1967, 9.22; 9.31; 9.44.
  3. I Corinthians 12:4-7; G-5.0103; G-5.0202; G-6.0107; G-6.0106.
  4. Westminster Confession, 6.109; G-1.0307
  5. Romans 3:10; Heidelberg Confession , 4.005
    6.
  6. G-1.0305, G- 1.0307
  7. G-4.0303
  8. The Confession of 1967, 9.55

 
 

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