Same-Sex Relationships

Membership Guidelines, III. Clarification on some issues related to homosexuality and membership: We hold the Saskatoon (1986) and Purdue (1987) statements describing homosexual, extramarital and premarital sexual activity as sin to be the teaching position of the Mennonite Church USA.

Pastors holding credentials in a conference of Mennonite Church USA may not perform a same-sex covenant ceremony. Such action would be grounds for review of their credentials by their area conference’s ministerial credentialing body. (See A Mennonite Polity for Ministerial Leadership, p. 125)

Report of the Theology Committee, The Gift of Sexuality: A Theological Perspective: [4.5] We also recognize there is a range of sexual identities among human beings, and a portion of the population experiences itself as having a homosexual orientation. As Christians, we affirm that persons of all sexual orientations are created in the image of God, and they are full members of the human family. The Church vigorously denounces discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation, and we call upon all members of our society, and especially members of the body of Christ, to honor their baptismal vow to respect the full humanity and dignity of every human being (BCP 305).

[5.0] The Episcopal Church, and the larger Anglican Communion, belongs to the tradition of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, and we are thereby bound by the decisions of the first Four Ecumenical Councils. These decided the Trinitarian identity of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Creator of heaven and earth; and the full humanity and full divinity of Christ. These two great doctrines anchor the Church in orthodoxy. As Anglicans we further believe Christian unity is grounded in the principles of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral (BCP 876-878). It is our conviction that only those issues that undermine these foundational doctrines and commitments should constitute grounds for separation within the Church.

[5.8] Regardless of the origin of homosexuality, there are at least two contrary positions regarding homosexual intimacy: (1) Homosexual genital expression is always sinful and is not acceptable within the Christian ethic. (2) Some homosexual genital expression is legitimate and Christians should lend pastoral support for such relationships. Neither the complexities nor the issues end here.

[8.1] For these reasons, we believe it is imperative that the Episcopal Church refrain from any attempt to "settle" the matter legislatively.

RLDS Doctrine and Covenants Section 2:2a-b - [2a] Remember, remember, that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men; [2b] for although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet, if he boast in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.

[Sec 49:3a] And again, I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry, is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man;
[Sec 49:3b] wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation;

Section 98:3a - Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances.

May, 2023 - SUPPORTING 2SLGBTQIA+ ADVOCACY AND FULL INCLUSION IN THE USA - In April 2013, the USA Community of Christ National Conference voted to support same-sex marriage and ordination for persons in same-sex marriages. It was a monumental and necessary step towards widening the circle of inclusion and unity in diversity. The journey towards full participation of 2SLGBTQIA+ persons in the life and ministry of our church is one of ongoing learning, listening, and loving.

May 9, 2009 Letter from the First Presidency - The language of WCR 1182 does not provide authorization for ministers of the Community of Christ to perform marriages between two persons of the same sex, even in jurisdictions where such marriages are legally valid. The resolution does, however, provide for the recognition of legally valid marriages. Thus, a same-sex marriage may be entered into the church records as a legal fact, just as in other instances where the church recognizes legally valid marriages that it may not choose to solemnize.

Book of Discipline: 304. Qualifications for Ordination - While persons set apart by the Church for ordained ministry are subject to all the frailties of the human condition and the pressures of society, they are required to maintain the highest standards of holy living in the world. The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals1 are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.

What is the Church's position on homosexuality? Underlying this is the constitutional principle of inclusiveness of the church. Everyone is welcome to worship and actively participate in the life of our churches. Laypersons may become members and live out their faith through their local church without respect to sexual orientation or practice.

HOMOSEXUALITY - 2019 Position Papers - Inasmuch as some segments of liberal Christianity have expressed a willingness to accept the so-called “gay rights” movement as a legitimate lifestyle, and

Whereas the inerrant, inspired Word of God emphatically declares, in Romans chapter 1, homosexuality to be vile, unclean, unnatural, unseemly, and an abomination in the sight of God, and

Whereas the United Pentecostal Church International is a fundamental Bible believing organism entrusted with a divine destiny to provide spiritual direction to a wayward world,

Let us therefore resolve that the United Pentecostal Church International go on public record as absolutely opposed to homosexuality and condemn it as a moral decadence and sin, and do hereby encourage prayer for the deliverance of those enslaved by that satanic snare.

The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9, “… do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals … will inherit the kingdom of God.” And so, homosexuality clearly is a sin. There are many other passages that teach the same thing.

Yet, to believe that homosexuality is a sin does not mean that the homosexual is to be hated. We firmly believe that no one is to be hated. But we do believe that it is biblical to call homosexuals to repentance, to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and by the abiding power of the Holy Spirit to fight against sin.

Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. Against the background of this exposition of theocratic law, an eschatological perspective is developed by St. Paul when, in I Cor 6:9, he proposes the same doctrine and lists those who behave in a homosexual fashion among those who shall not enter the Kingdom of God...In Romans 1:18-32, still building on the moral traditions of his forebears, but in the new context of the confrontation between Christianity and the pagan society of his day, Paul uses homosexual behaviour as an example of the blindness which has overcome humankind. Instead of the original harmony between Creator and creatures, the acute distortion of idolatry has led to all kinds of moral excess. Paul is at a loss to find a clearer example of this disharmony than homosexual relations. Finally, 1 Tim. 1, in full continuity with the Biblical position, singles out those who spread wrong doctrine and in v. 10 explicitly names as sinners those who engage in homosexual acts.

Seventh-day Adventist Response to Same-Sex Unions--A Reaffirmation of Christian Marriage - We reaffirm, without hesitation, our long-standing position as expressed in the Church’s Fundamental Beliefs: “Marriage was divinely established in Eden and affirmed by Jesus to be a lifelong union between a man and a woman in loving companionship.”1 Though “sin has perverted God’s ideals for marriage and family,” “the family tie is the closest, the most tender and sacred of any human relationship,” and thus “families need to experience renewal and reformation in their relationships” (An Affirmation of Family, 1990).2 God instituted “marriage, a covenant-based union of two genders [male and female] physically, emotionally, and spiritually, spoken of in Scripture as ‘one flesh.'” “The monogamous union in marriage of a man and a woman is . . . the only morally appropriate locus of genital or related intimate sexual expression.” “Any lowering of this high view is to that extent a lowering of the heavenly ideal” (An Affirmation of Marriage, 1996).

XVIII. The Family - Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

XV. The Christian and the Social Order - Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography.