EPC Votes to Allow Ordination of Celibate ‘Same-Sex Attracted’ Pastors

One elder says the debate echoes the arguments that led to the PC(USA)’s decline.

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) voted last week at its General Assembly to approve a “pastoral letter” to churches that opens the door to ordaining celibate, same-sex attracted individuals — a decision that has drawn sharp criticism from within the denomination.

A meeting of the EPC’s 46th General Assembly earlier this month / Photo via Facebook

The measure passed by a vote of 57% to 43%, according to the Presbyterian Plumb Line, an online journal of EPC elders who describe themselves as seeking “to lead [the] denomination toward a more biblical expression of our Presbyterian conviction.”

Background: The Greg Johnson Question

According to the Plumb Line, the controversy traces back to Greg Johnson, pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, who identifies as homosexual but celibate. Johnson left the Presbyterian Church in America in 2022, and his church subsequently inquired about joining the EPC.

“That has stirred up all kinds of controversy because we’ve got some in the EPC that appear to be very open to bringing him into the EPC, and we’ve got other groups that are absolutely opposed to him coming into the EPC,” said Donald Fortson, professor of church history and pastoral theology emeritus at Reformed Theological Seminary and a long-time EPC member, in an interview with Christianity Today.

What the Vote Did — and Didn’t — Do

The EPC’s news release characterized the vote as “reaffirm[ing] the EPC’s historic position on human sexuality and ordination.”

“The assembly approved statements that affirm the historic Reformed Doctrine of Concupiscence — the theological position that disordered desires, not only sinful acts, are themselves sinful — that all disordered sexual desires, including those that arise from same-sex attraction, are in fact sinful,” the EPC wrote. “These sinful desires of thought, word and deed must be renounced, repented of and regularly mortified by all who seek to follow Christ, especially those potentially called to serve as leaders.”

The Plumb Line offered a more pointed summary: “While the letter did not endorse same-sex marriage or homosexual behavior, it opened the door to ordain those who struggle with same-sex attraction as long as they are celibate, repentant, and seeking to mortify their sin.”

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Critics Warn of Exodus and Legal Risk

The Plumb Line expressed concern that the decision could prompt churches to leave the EPC. Peter Larson, a teaching elder in the Midwest Presbytery, drew a direct parallel to the controversy that drove many congregations out of the Presbyterian Church USA.

“As I listened to the debate, I had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu — that I had seen this all before,” Larson wrote. “Seventeen years ago, I helped lead my congregation into the EPC to escape from the homosexual agenda that infected the PC(USA). Now, I was witnessing the very same thing in the EPC General Assembly: the same specious arguments, the same evasive answers, the same non-biblical terminology and the same clever theological subtleties that were used to undermine the biblical foundation of the PC(USA).”

Two EPC attorneys, Robert Flores and Yvonne Chapman, warned of unintended legal and financial consequences for the denomination and its congregations.

“The AIC’s recommendations erode the ministerial exception and may expose congregations who choose not to ordain unsuitable candidates to potential liability,” they wrote. The authors argued that allowing some congregations to ordain same-sex attracted individuals while others decline could fracture the denomination’s governance structure in the eyes of a court — creating an opening for litigation.

Andrew Brunson, an EPC pastor and missionary who was imprisoned for his faith in Turkey for two years, had weighed in on the controversy earlier this year.

“I am specifically concerned that our witness and fidelity to Scripture are in danger of being compromised,” Brunson wrote. “Rather than providing clarity, [the report] introduces ambiguity and confusion. Compromise formulations have too frequently led to a drift away from orthodoxy, with irreversible consequences.”

Not everyone in the denomination shares those concerns. EPC Pastor Bob Stauffer offered a more measured assessment of the vote.

“We live in challenging times,” Stauffer said, “but the EPC again has stood firm on the inerrant Word of God in a graceful way — we have not, nor will not declare good, what God has declared sinful.”

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