Statements below taken from RCA.org
Statements below taken from RCA.org
Most Recently from Reformed Church in America:
The RCA’s General Synod, meeting at Central College in Pella, Iowa, on June 9-14, 2022, affirms the worth and human dignity of all persons, regardless of sexuality or gender, as beloved, shared image-bearers of God; and further,
To lament the ways in which the RCA and church universal has failed to consistently recognize the equal worth of all persons and has resorted to fear or frustration when speaking about human lives in our midst, rather than speaking to all with love and compassion. Specifically, we acknowledge and lament the harms experienced by LGBTQ persons, whom we embrace as children of God who are welcome in the RCA. (MGS 2022: 177-179)
The RCA synod has discussed questions about the LGBTQ+ community and the church extensively since the 1970s. However, due to the RCA’s polity, there is no “denomination-wide policy” on LGBTQ+ matters in the RCA. The RCA’s constitution does not address the subject of marriage, and efforts to define marriage as between a man and a woman within the RCA’s constitution have failed. Today, there is a wide range of views on this topic within the RCA.
General Synods have consistently urged loving pastoral care for LGBTQ+ people, while expressing traditional views on human sexuality. General Synod statements, outlined below, have repeatedly affirmed marriage between a man and a woman, yet in the RCA’s polity, the authority for ordination and supervision of ministers lies with the classis and not the General Synod. Consistories have authority over ordination of elders and deacons. On paper, at the General Synod level, the RCA is only supportive of traditional marriage, but in practice that is not always the case at every level of governance.
As the Vision 2020 Team wrote in its final report, “There have been many moments where we have truly been the church, drawing closer to God through prayer and worship, and drawing closer to one another by listening and seeking to understand. Other moments have been a cause for grief, admonition, confession, and repentance, when we have forgotten who God calls us to be as the church and in relation to one another.”
General Synod 2016 also passed this resolution:
No matter what position we as Christians have taken on the moral status of same-sex behavior, we reject all forms of mockery, degrading words and thoughts, economic oppression, abuse, threats, and violence made against members of the LGBTQ+ community, and we call on anyone involved in such behavior to repent and immediately begin walking in obedience to Jesus’ command to love.