The overture and the pushback it received within the increasingly liberal PCUSA prompted national headlines. Three committees in the denomination—the Advocacy Committee for Women and Gender Justice, the Advocacy Committee on LGBTQIA+ Equity and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy—appended “advice and counsel” against the overture after it was introduced.

A committee of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently voted that a controversial overture to mandate monogamy among ordained clergy is out of order, but referred it for further study.

CON-10, formerly OVT-044 and titled “On Requiring Ministers of Word and Sacrament to Be Monogamous,” was referred last Wednesday by a 45–12 vote of the PCUSA’s Constitutional Interpretation Committee to the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, according to The Presbyterian Outlook.

CON-10 sought to amend the denomination’s Book of Order to require clergy “in any relationship of a sexual nature” to be “living in a monogamous one.” The Constitutional Interpretation Committee did not vote for or against CON-10, but deemed that it did not meet procedural standards for a constitutional amendment or authoritative interpretation.

The committee acknowledged the concerns expressed in the overture, however, and recommended forwarding them for inclusion in GEN-09, a broader overture to fund and develop new theological framework documents for addressing contemporary issues of sexuality, relationships and family life.

The overture, submitted by the Presbytery of Sierra Blanca in New Mexico, was drafted by conservative Gen Z members of Presbyterians for the Kingdom, an organization in the PCUSA dedicated to pushing back against encroaching liberalism in the denomination by restoring orthodox, confessional Reformed theology.

Richard Ackerman, a seminarian at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary and a board member of Presbyterians for the Kingdom, co-authored the overture and addressed the committee during comments last week, The Presbyterian Outlook reports.

“The biggest stumbling block for people joining [a church] is the perceived sexual anarchy of the PC(USA),” he said. “My generation grew up in a cesspool of moral chaos, and those seeking answers from the church need stability.”

Ackerman, whose X account “Redeemed Zoomer” has more than 38,000 followers, also posted a YouTube video on June 7 explaining that part of the strategy behind the overture was to expose how radically liberal some elements within the PCUSA have become.

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