Problems in Church of Scotland

General Assembly 2009 — Statement

Statement regarding the ruling of the General Assembly to support Aberdeen Presbytery’s decision that living an openly homosexual lifestyle is no barrier to ordained ministry in the Church:

We deeply regret the decision of the General Assembly, which has brought great shame on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church by publicly proclaiming as holy what God, the Bible, and orthodox Christianity all down the ages, and all over the world, unambiguously call sin.

This is about far more than just sexuality. The very nature of the Christian gospel is at stake. The true gospel is not about self-fulfilment and self-expression, but a command to take up our cross in a life of self-denial, regardless of our own personal inclinations, desires or past history. Jesus’ call is one of compassion, but of compassionate truth: ‘I forgive you; go and leave your life of sin’. That is why the world rejected Jesus personally, and rejects his message today.

But the Church’s task is to proclaim the truth of God to the world nonetheless. Our own congregations, which include a number of homosexual people, are united in opposing this decision. We stand in complete solidarity with congregations in Aberdeen who stood for the truth of God, and we affirm our Christian fellowship with them, and trust many others will do likewise.

This crisis has galvanised many living churches within the Church of Scotland to seek to work together in a new way through the Confessing Churches movement. In fellowship together, and sharing resources for real gospel mission, we will embrace with renewed vigour the commission of Jesus to make true disciples, calling people to repentance and faith in his gospel, and teaching them obedience to all that he has commanded through his apostles. True Christianity cannot be silenced.

We fear that the General Assembly is seriously out of touch with the grass roots in the churches. But it should remember that these are the people who have—hitherto at least—kept a creaking denomination afloat financially. We suspect there will be a great deal less willingness to do that from now on.