Ours is an Inclusive Church
At the national level within the Presbyterian Church,
the issue of gay and lesbian people serving as church officers has been
a divisive one. PC-USA, our
national church organization, has adopted some rather draconian and
exclusive rules, but these have been pretty widely ignored by many
(but not all) local churches. To our shame, many angry words have been exchanged, and later
reported in newspapers such as the New York Times. The Palisades Church does not have any sort of litmus test for
church members or for church officers. We have only the expectation that
a person genuinely desires to serve Christ and participate in the
works of the Church. We do not exclude people on the basis of their
sexual orientation, or for that matter, on the basis of race, sex or national
origin. Any decision we make on whether a person should serve as
a church officer is made by us alone, on our understanding of that
individual's calling.