Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA)
Report to the 2004 General Assembly
from the Human Sexuality Committee

Mandate:

The broad mandate originally envisaged for the Human Sexuality Committee by the Priorities and Resources Committee (Papers 2001, Pg 48) read as follows:

"To consider moral and pastoral issues related to human sexuality as they apply to the policy of the UPCSA and our faith."

This, together with a number of other issues, was referred back to the Priorities and Resources Committee, and so no formal mandate appears to have been agreed to. However, in 2002, the Assembly adopted a proposal (Proceedings 2002, Pg 482) which instructed the Human Sexuality Committee:

To formulate a position for the UPCSA on:

• Homosexual practice
• Homosexual marriage
• Homosexual couple parenting and adoption.

Unfortunately no report was made to the 2003 Assembly. A new Committee was thus appointed at the 2003 Assembly to give attention to this matter, and in March 2004 the Executive Commission further clarified the mandate of the Committee in the following resolution:

"The Executive Commission of the General Assembly instructs the Committee on Human Sexuality to present to the 2004 General Assembly a report in order for:

• the Assembly to establish an official standpoint on ministers and office-bearers within our denomination who are self-acknowledged practicing homosexuals;
• the Assembly to rule (in the light of the mutual acceptance of ministries laid down in the Church Unity Commission Agreement) whether an appointment to one of our churches of a minister from one of the other denominations in the CUC who is a self-acknowledged practicing homosexual would be acceptable to the UPCSA."

(Note: In the debate of the Executive Commission it was recognised that this matter may take more than a few months for the Human Sexuality Committee to consider, but it was asked that some interim feedback be given to the 2004 Assembly.)

Initial deliberations:

The burning issue in the above instructions to the Committee is clearly that of homosexuality and its acceptability amongst the membership and especially the leadership of the church. We are not the only denomination recognising the need to wrestle with these questions, and since the Committee does not wish to reinvent the wheel, a review of the work done in other denominations is under way.

In its preliminary reflections on the question of homosexuality the committee has made the following observations:

• The issue of homosexuality cannot be analysed without reference to the much deeper question of human sexuality in general. The questions raised are complex and need to be thought through by the church at a much broader level than a committee if we want to find ourselves able to live our responses with integrity.
• Perspectives are diverse (and often relatively uninformed) as to the origins of homosexuality, and responses to homosexual people are thus hugely varied, depending on whether people see homosexuality as a chosen "behaviour" (thus avoidable / controllable) or a predetermined "orientation" (genetic or sociological).
• Any attempt to develop a theology of homosexuality will inevitably challenge our agreement on a biblical hermeneutic, of which there is quite some variety within the UPCSA. There are no simple and easy answers to the question of homosexuality, unless one adopts a thoroughly fundamentalist hermeneutic, which in itself is inconsistent with our theological roots and practices in other areas of church life (such as divorce and remarriage).
• Recognising that there are many homosexual believers within the church, we have to recognise the pastoral dimensions to this issue, and avoid debating it and deciding on it apart from those who are most affected by it.
• There is much to be learnt from the experiences of other church groupings in which premature legislation, which has not been thought through and lived with at a fairly broad level, has ended up being very divisive. While understanding the desire of many within the UPCSA for certainty / absolutes, the Committee believes that in this issue we must avoid the temptation to "fast forward to the end of the movie" for the sake of our impatience or our need for less ambivalence and more security.
• It is believed that instead of a "linear" approach which argues for a particular perspective within the Assembly and seeks its adoption, we would be better served by an "encircling" approach, in which we create space for people to be exposed to, and to explore, the relationship between Christianity and homosexuality without a predetermined outcome.
• In this, the process is probably more important than reaching a legislated "position", because it is in the process that growth happens. In the end, the desirable outcome has much to do with developing more confidence in the guidance and care we are able to extend to Christians struggling with homosexuality, and this cannot be achieved without the participation of people on every side of the experience and debate.
• At the same time there is a certain urgency to get on with this process - it is recognised that a general lack of guidance from the church has for too long left homosexual believers unsure as to how they should view their sexuality, and other believers very insecure and ambivalent in their responses to homosexual people. The result has been either avoidance on the one hand or antipathy on the other.

The Way Forward:

The Committee has spent some time investigating various ways of facilitating a broad-based dialogue, particularly amongst our ordained ministry, whose responsibility it is to interpret the Scriptures for our times. In the proposals that follow, we are asking the Assembly to launch a process that will allow all our ministers to be exposed to, and explore at both a pastoral and a theological level the issue of homosexuality and Christianity. The process involves the following aspects:

• Materials will be provided for a workshop to be run in each Presbytery - including a video which opens up some case studies, and a discussion paper which explores the theological and biblical paradigms appropriate to our debate of such sensitive and potentially divisive issues.
• Resources will be identified, and made accessible to ministers, which explore the interpretation of the scriptural and historical perspective on homosexuality as well as bringing them up to date on the most recent scientific research in this area.
• A summary of the thinking and conclusions of other churches who have considered this issue in depth will be circulated for ministers for reflection, and the Committee will request an opportunity to workshop the issue of homosexuality at any UPCSA Ministers' Conference which may take place in 2005/6.

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Report adopted by the Committee on 15/6/2004:

Proposals:

1. Assembly receives the report.
2. (L) Assembly acknowledges the need for thorough exploration of the issue of homosexuality before the adoption of any official standpoint should be attempted, and affirms the value of living a little longer with the ambiguity of having no official standpoint.
3. (L) The Assembly endorses the Committee's plan to facilitate the necessary dialogue and calls on all Presbyteries of the UPCSA to arrange a workshop before the end of March 2005, utilising the materials to be provided by the Committee.
4. (L) The Assembly calls on all Ministers of the UPCSA to make time to study the resources identified by the Committee, and to discuss with at least one believer who is homosexual their understanding of Scripture and their experience of Faith and Community.
5. (L) The Assembly requests the organisers of any UPCSA Ministers' Conference which may take place during 2005/6 to make half a day available to the Committee to workshop the issue of homosexuality with our Ministers.

Additional, more recent details of this discussion are given in the full version of the newsletter, Robert Steiner rotilu@mweb.co.za