Presbyterian pastors draw a line against same-sex attracted clergy

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s General Assembly last week voted 516-386 to approve a pastoral letter allowing ordination for certain celibate, same-sex attracted individuals. Hours later, more than 80 pastors who opposed the letter spontaneously gathered in the columbarium at Cherry Hills Community Church in Highlands Ranch, Colo., for prayer.

“We had a real sense that if this is where the denomination is going, we don’t feel in good conscience we can be a part of that,” said Donald Fortson, a professor of church history and pastoral theology emeritus at Reformed Theological Seminary.

The majority of the nearly 1,000 attendees at the June 18 General Assembly in Colorado approved the new pastoral letter proposed by the denomination’s “Ad-Interim Committee on Same-Sex Attraction and Ordination Standards.” The EPC’s committee sought to address how the denomination should consider expectations for individuals who still experience same-sex attraction and seek to be ordained in the denomination. The process of clarifying those standards has caused sharp division within the denomination over whether someone who is same-sex attracted should be allowed to serve in leadership in the EPC.

The denomination, which dates back to 1981, has 600 churches and about 121,000 members. The same-sex attraction committee formed in 2024 after Greg Johnson, pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Mo., sought to bring his church into the EPC. Johnson identifies as a gay, celibate Christian who is committed to the Christian sexual ethic, a view often referred to as “Side B Christianity.” Johnson and Memorial left the Presbyterian Church in America in 2022 after the denomination pursued disciplinary action in part for their involvement in the controversial Revoice conference, a leading advocate for Side B.

The new pastoral letter acknowledges “many Christians who experience [same-sex attraction] are committed to the biblical sexual ethic.” It advises examining elders to confirm that candidates for office who disclose having ongoing same-sex attraction “have a long record of living chaste sexual lives in their identity, behavior, desires, and attitudes.” The 19-page revision says ordination is inappropriate if “habitual or unresolved sexual sin persists” but calls for discernment for candidates whose ongoing same-sex attraction is “unindulged, repented of, and mortified.”

A June 19 statement from the denomination said the vote “reaffirmed the EPC’s historic position on human sexuality and ordination.” It said the approved statements provide a “firm foundation” and reflect Reformed doctrine that “all disordered sexual desires, including those that arise from same sex attraction, are in fact sinful.”

But critics reject the pastoral letter and other recommendations as contrary to Scripture and confessional standards. Earlier this year, more than 340 ruling and teaching elders signed a “Red Line Statement,” saying that ordaining individuals who continue to experience same-sex attraction would “compromise the purity and peace of Christ’s church.” Two attorneys in the EPC also warned of unintended legal and financial risks, including eroding the ministerial exception and putting children at risk.

Fortson is among the critics who argue the pastoral letter relies on cultural terminology such as “same-sex attraction,” “latent propensity,” and “proclivity” to downplay the sin of homosexuality. He said the letter “embraces a different view of sanctification which emphasizes the ongoing struggle” rather than the power through the gospel to overcome it.

In 2024, Fortson and other EPC pastors formed an online journal, The Presbyterian Plumb Line, to raise alarm about the committee’s proposed changes. Fortson’s father was a founding member of the denomination that formed in 1981 out of concern about the liberal drift within what is now known as the Presbyterian Church (USA). Its cooperative ministry model emphasizes freedom in what it deems “nonessentials,” leaving room for differing views on women’s ordination and charismatic practices.

In recent years, the denomination’s liberality on those issues has come under scrutiny.

Earlier this month, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, one of the nation’s oldest Presbyterian denominations, voted to end its fraternal relationship with the EPC. In letters obtained by WORLD, the ARP cited concerns about EPC’s leadership and denominational structure and its promotion of women’s ordination and charismatic gifts. Cameron Shaffer, co-chair of the EPC’s committee on same-sex attraction, wrote on his personal website that the termination came as a shock. He added that the EPC wants more answers about what went wrong.

Now, sharp division within the denomination over ordaining celibate same-sex attracted individuals is testing the denomination’s consensus over what qualifies as allowed nonessentials.

Dave Strunk, the outgoing EPC moderator and lead pastor of Church of the Redeemer in Maryville, Tenn., expressed confidence in the denomination’s position on same-sex attraction. “So long as anyone says their homosexual desires are constitutive of their identity, or at the very least neutral, those things we passed at the general assembly rule [ordination] out,” he said.

The EPC General Assembly also approved committee recommendations on changes to the denomination’s Position Paper on Human Sexuality and its Book of Government, which is part of the EPC’s constitution. Proposed amendments to the denomination’s constitution require ratification from three-fourths of the presbyteries over the next year and then a majority vote at the subsequent General Assembly. Strunk said the position paper and constitutional changes resolve that “someone must be mortifying sin in their life.”

But at the General Assembly, some pastors were less confident.

Andrew Brunson, an EPC pastor and missionary who was imprisoned for his faith in Turkey for two years, reportedly warned the denomination’s stance “will open a door that we will all regret, and once opened, we will not be able to close it.”

At the columbarium gathering after the General Assembly vote, Nate Atwood, senior pastor of St. Giles Church in Charlotte, N.C., said he prayed for comfort and assurance of God’s sovereignty. He also prayed the denomination would return to what he believes are its historic foundations.

“If your view is that homosexuality is on par with other sins, then this is no biggie,” Atwood said. “But if you believe that there is a bright red line in Scripture between natural and unnatural … you think those statements in the pastoral letter are just unacceptable.”

Atwood told me that numerous EPC churches, including St. Giles Church, may consider leaving the denomination.

“I don’t think this is over … it’s very much a live issue for many churches in the EPC,” he said. “We’re in the middle of a pretty significant realignment.”

—This story was updated June 27 to correct the name of the Presbyterian Church in America.