A majority of our presbyteries must now vote to ratify the statement in order to amend the Directory for Worship in our Book of Order . Several presbyteries have already voted. Voting is expected to continue into April of 2001. The GA-PJC ruling was a surprise. That left the GA-PJC and the ACC in conflict, and the denomination in confusion.
Every vote counts.
Amendment O limits only the leadership of ceremonies that support relationships inconsistent with God's design for marriage and singleness. Some argue that the amendment would proscribe parents who are church officers from participating in a blessing ceremony of their son's or daughter's same-sex union by being in the congregation. That is not the intent or the wording. Some argue that the amendment would prohibit pastoral care to persons of homosexual orientation. They argue, for example, that a minister could not perform a funeral for a same-gender partner who has died.