Current policy on homosexuality

Gregor Henderson, Assembly General Secretary, 15 July 1997

1. Membership of the church

2. The ordained ministry

Uniting Church policy on the question of homosexuality and ordained ministry is stated in three resolutions of the Assembly Standing Committee, in 1982, 1987 and 1994. These resolutions have not been overturned or amended by any Assembly. They are reproduced in full in Appendix 2 of the report Uniting Sexuality and Faith (Standing Committee minutes 82.12, 87.46 and 94.78.3).

The current policy can be summarised as follows.

1. All applicants for candidature for the ordained ministries and all candidates for ordination are to be assessed through the procedures of parish, parish minister, presbytery and synod on an individual basis (as laid down in Regulations 2.2.1 - 2.2.15 and 2.3.1).
2. In assessing suitability for candidature and for ordination, many factors are to be taken into account (see Regs 2.2.1(a)(ii), 2.2.3(b), 2.2.4, 2.2.7, 2.2.8, 2.2.11, 2.3.1), with the emphasis on gifts for ministry, perceived call from God, spiritual maturity, personal character and abilities, potential for leadership, and capacity to undertake the course of study.
3. The sexual orientation of an applicant or candidate is not and has not been in itself a bar to candidature or ordination. A decision on the suitability of an applicant or candidate may of course depend, among other things, on the manner in which the applicant's or candidate's sexuality is expressed.
4. Presbyteries are the usual decision-makers on individual suitability for candidature and ordination. Where there is disagreement between the presbytery and the synod selection panel or the presbytery is unable to make a decision or the applicant appeals against the presbytery's decision, a synod body makes the decision on candidature.
5. Although the Regulations require individual assessment of applicants and candidates, the Assembly has not taken any decision which would prevent a presbytery from deciding that a particular pattern of sexual conduct would be a determining factor for a negative decision on applications for candidature or ordination.
6. The same policies apply (by extension) to the presbytery's oversight of its ministers.
7. There is an expectation in the church that its ministers will adhere to the standard of celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage. Presbyteries are free to take it into account in assessing suitability for ministry and in oversight of ministers. But the church has not declared "celibacy in singleness and faithfulness in marriage" to be a specific requirement of its ministers.

I'm sick of being called a layperson. It is a power-over word in which laypeople are seen as less than. As a layperson, I've been laid for the last time.