Out In The Mountains : Burlington Church Faces Expulsion

Members of the Chirst Church congregaton are regular participants in the Vermont Pride festivities. Leaders of the group say that members are unified in their support of GLBT rights. Photo by Scot Applegate

A Vermont congregation may soon find itself removed from its parent church for welcoming gays and lesbians into its ministry and lay ministry.

Presbyterian Church USA has ordered Christ Church, Presbyterian to comply with a recent amendment to the national church’s constitution that prevents gays and lesbians from serving as ministers, elders or deacons.

The Burlington congregation has repeatedly refused to do so. Now the national body is forcing the issue by putting CCP’s direct governing body, the Presbytery of Northern New England, on trial.

CCP says it disagrees with the national church’s stance on a biblical level, but that it’s more importantly a matter of conscience.

"We cannot ethically turn our backs on people by prohibiting them from leadership or any other way," said Rev. Michael Brown, CCP co-pastor.

CCP, a More Light congregation since 1984, has long stood behind its official statement that it will "welcome and embrace on an equal basis" members regardless of, among other things, sexual orientation.

Because the church’s ban on homosexual ordination was only a guideline until recently, the national body was powerless to challenge the CCP stance.

But with the 1997 amendment changing the guideline to a requirement came an order to conform.

CCP refused, calling the amendment a "measure entirely in contradiction to the principles of inclusiveness in membership and service within" the church that "represents an unjust denial of qualified persons’ call to office, and is an abridgement of the rights and duties of congregations and presbyteries within this Church."

The regional New England presbytery, which had given the original orders to conform, decided that it agreed with the congregation’s assessment of the situation and rescinded its order. It’s for that recision that Presbyterian Church USA is taking it to task.

The trial begins in Bedford, New Hampshire, on October 8.