A Statement in Support of Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement From the College of Bishops

Whereas: The Jerusalem Declaration of 2008 states: “We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married;” and,

Whereas: The Anglican Church in North America affirms our Lord’s teaching that Holy Matrimony, commonly called a Sacrament (Article 25 and ACNA Catechism 124-125), is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, binding both to self-giving love and exclusive fidelity. Jesus Christ teaches that God is the author of marriage from the beginning of time. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27; cf. Matthew 19:4-6). God’s design for marriage has always involved one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24). Marriage is established by God for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord; for mutual joy, and for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity; to maintain purity, so that husbands and wives, with all the household of God, might serve as holy and undefiled members of the Body of Christ; and for the upbuilding of Christ’s kingdom in family, church, and society, to the praise of his holy Name. (ACNA Constitution and Canons, Title II, Canon 7, Section 1); and,

Whereas: St. Paul wrote: “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old is passed away, behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV); and,

Whereas: There are Christians seeking to live faithful, celibate lives who nevertheless persist in identifying themselves as “Gay,” doing violence to St. Paul's teaching that Christians “once were” such things but have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), retaining fallen sexual predispositions as the ground of their post-conversion identity; and,

Whereas: The College of Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America did at their January 2021 meeting unanimously approve Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement From the College of Bishops, a statement that combined biblical fidelity with pastoral sensitivity and compassion in addressing these issues: and,

Whereas: Several clergy and laity of our Province have signed “Dear Gay Anglicans,” a statement that circumvents our bishops’pastoral instruction that members of the ACNA not identify themselves "Gay Christians,”

Now Therefore: We, the undersigned clergy and laity of the Anglican Church in North America do hereby express our support for the unanimous statement of the College of Bishops, recommit ourselves to uphold the teaching of Scripture and our Province, and call those members who have affixed their names to “Dear Gay Anglicans” to reconsider and turn back from this act of public defiance.

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