A retired minister’s ordination may hinge on his presbytery’s next move following his claim of conscience against his denomination’s deletion of traditional chastity and fidelity standards.

During a regular meeting in July, the Rev. Steve Moss of Salisbury, N.C. told Salem Presbytery that, while he will continue to be governed by the polity of the Presbyterian Church (USA), he will refuse to affirm the ordination or installation of “any officer of the church who refuses to repent of the sin of choosing to live sexually outside of the bonds of holy matrimony between a man and a woman.”

Moss said the recent change of ordination standards sparked his decision. Amendment 10A removed the chastity/fidelity clause from the PCUSA Book of Order.

In April, Salem voted in favor of the amendment by a 186-107 vote. The amendment effectively permits presbyteries to ordain gay or lesbian candidates as deacons, elders and pastors.

Moss, a member of the presbytery for 19 years and a three-term past moderator, said he believes the presbytery could choose to remove his ordination status due to his claim of conscience. Moss is currently retired but occasionally preaches at area churches.

According to the denomination’s constitution, Moss’ status as an ordained pastor could be in jeopardy if his stance was judged as a serious departure from the “essentials of the Reformed faith and polity”

In his statement, Moss said he would not work with any church officer who refused to either live chaste in singleness or in a bond of fidelity in heterosexual marriage of “one man to one woman.”

“While I consider such persons to be my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, I will not be able to consider such a willfully unrepentant sinner to be my colleague in ministry to Jesus Christ,” he said.

In response, according to Moss, Salem officials initially agreed to allow his statement, which was made as a point of personal privilege, to be referred to the presbytery’s committee on ministry (COM).

“Our moderator immediately provided an extraordinarily competent statement to the presbytery as to what scruples of conscience were, and advised the body that what I had just done was to offer one,” Moss said.

However, when the presbytery considered new business at the July meeting, Moss said the moderator, David Parker, refused to act on his statement, claiming that since the statement was offered as a point of personal privilege and not a motion, its introduction would be inappropriate.

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