Toward a Church as Generous & Just as God's Grace
We, the Board of Directors of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, say to all our trans and gender non-binary friends in the church today: We see you. Indeed, you are us. We all stand together as God’s people, sharing in love and faith. You will not be erased—not from our church and not from our lives.
Read the complete statement by the Board of Directors of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians.
The Covenant Network of Presbyterians is undertaking a new effort in partnership with congregations and councils around the country to speak a hopeful and helpful word into anxious times for church and society. Covenant Conversations will help Presbyterians live into a new day in the church’s life, bringing communities together to talk about being church for ALL God’s people.
Our first Covenant Conversation is next month in Boise, Idaho, in partnership with the Presbytery of Boise. Register here.
Last month’s General Assembly approved a recommendation that didn’t draw a lot of attention before or during the Assembly. But in light of current events, Item 11-04 was one of the Assembly’s most relevant and critical actions—a statement we are called to help our church, and our nation, live into.
Brian Ellison, executive director, spoke at the CNP luncheon at the 2018 General Assembly: “I tell you about all these voices and faces from the past not because those were the glory days. I tell you because the work they did was really all about these days of glory. This new day in our life together. Together these siblings in Christ have, truly, taken the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — in Pam’s immortal words — “toward a church as generous and just as God’s grace.” But they are not the Covenant Network, not in its fullness. And neither are we….”
It is a new day in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Today, commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly (2018) approved two historic overtures. One affirms and celebrates the gifts of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the church. Another affirms the rights and dignity of people of transgender, non-binary and people of varying gender identities.
Three overtures that strengthen the church’s witness to the rights, dignity and gifts of people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in unprecedented ways were approved by a committee on Monday at the 223rd General Assembly (2018) in St. Louis.
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