More Light Presbyterians is a coalition of congregations and individuals in the

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA), is a mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the US, and known for its liberal stance on doctrine and its ordaining of women and ...

committed to increasing the involvement of all people in the church, regardless of sexuality.

History

The informal beginning of the More Light movement was in 1974, when David Bailey Sindt, at a meeting of the

Presbyterian General Assembly Presbyterian (or presbyteral) polity is a method of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or ...

, held up a sign reading "Is anybody else out there gay?" Sindt invited sympathetic individuals within the church to join what he first called the "Presbyterian Gay Caucus," later changing the name to "Presbyterians for Gay Concerns," and then "Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns (PLGC)." At that time all national Presbyterian organizations were required to submit an annual report to the General Assembly, and the PLGC was invited to do so by William P. Thompson, Stated Clerk of the assembly. However, after two hours of debate, the assembly refused to accept the group's report. Subsequently, reports from the group were written, submitted, and rejected every year until 1979. It was after the 190th meeting of the General Assembly in 1978, when the assembly approved a statement that "homosexuality is not God's wish for humanity" and "unrepentant homosexual practice does not accord with the requirements for ordination" that several Presbyterian congregations adopted policies welcoming lesbian and gay members and affirming their right to ordination as

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

and

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

if elected by the congregation and found qualified by the session. Although there were other Presbyterian congregations which had been actively welcoming lesbian and gay members (notably the Munn Avenue Presbyterian Church and the West Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles), the first congregation to make a formal statement from the pulpit declaring itself a More Light Church was West Park Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1978. At that time, Rev. Robert Davidson, pastor of West Park made the following statement from the pulpit: The More Light Churches Network (MLCN) was formalized in 1992, and in June 1998 the group combined with the former Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns to make a single organization, More Light Presbyterians. More Light is one of several American Christian

LGBT-welcoming church programs Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) affirming religious groups, otherwise referred to as gay-affirming religious groups, are religious groups that welcome LGBT people as their members, do not consider homosexuality as a sin or negati ...

working for gay inclusion in America. Similar groups in other denominations are " Reconciling Congregations" among the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

s, " Open and Affirming Congregations" in the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...

and

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

, "

Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists The Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists (AWAB) is a Baptist Christian denomination. The headquarters is in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. History The Association was founded by a dozen churches of the American Baptist Churches US ...

" in the

Baptist church Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

, " Reconciled in Christ Congregations" among the

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

s and

Integrity USA Integrity USA was a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Episcopal Church in the United States. It was founded in 1974 to promote the inclusion of Q members and their allies for equal access to Episcopal rites, but dissolved in April 2022 ...

in the Episcopal Church.

Origin of the name "More Light"

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist * John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' *John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *John ...

, spiritual leader of the pilgrims who founded the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...

, died in England before he could join his followers in the New World. In 1646, governor

Edward Winslow Edward Winslow (18 October 15958 May 1655) was a Separatist and New England political leader who traveled on the ''Mayflower'' in 1620. He was one of several senior leaders on the ship and also later at Plymouth Colony. Both Edward Winslow and ...

recalled Robinson's farewell to the pilgrims as they set sail on the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

. Robinson had urged the pilgrims to be open to new religious teaching, and:

...if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his Ministry. For he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word.

No teacher yet had perfect knowledge of God, Robinson had said:

"For though they were precious shining lights in their Times, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them; and were they now living," saith he, "they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light as that they had received."

In the 1850s the Congregationalist hymnwriter George Rawson (1807-1889) used Robinson's speech as the basis of his hymn "We Limit Not the Truth of God," with the lyric: :We limit not the truth of God to our poor reach of mind -- :By notions of our day and sect -- crude, partial, and confined :That universe, how much unknown! that ocean unexplored :For God hath yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word. :Eternal God, Incarnate Word, Spirit of flame and dove, :enlarge, expand all living souls to comprehend your love; :and help us all to seek your will with wiser powers conferred :O God, grant yet more light and truth to break forth from the Word.''

References

{{reflist

External links

More Light Presbyterians

Profile of David Bailey Sindt

by James D. Anderson LGBT Christian organizations Presbyterian organizations Presbyterianism

History

Origin of the name "More Light"

See also

References

External links