Session adopts resolution of disagreement with GAC over Women of Faith Awards By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Thursday, August 5, 1999 The session of Northway Presbyterian Church, Williamsport, Pa., has joined a chorus of other voices protesting the Women of Faith Awards, which were presented to Jane Dempsey Douglass, and self-professed lesbians Jane Spahr and Letty Russell during the week of General Assembly. The session has adopted "A Resolution to Register Disagreement with the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA)," and has sent the resolution, along with a letter signed by members of the church, to John Detterick, executive director of the GAC, with instructions to "share it with the full membership of the General Assembly Council." The resolution reads in part, "Whereas, the General Assembly Council has taken action to uphold the conference of 'Women of Faith' awards to recipients whose lifestyle and ideology are abjectly opposed to the Truth revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and professed by the constitutional standards of the Presbyterian Church (USA); … be it hereby resolved by the Session …That we implore the General Assembly Council to repent of this action and to recant the approval given for the conference of 'Women of Faith' awards … That we encourage other Sessions to follow our example by taking action to formally register disagreement with the action of the General Assembly Council. …" Gravely grieved over GAC action The letter reads, "Words cannot express the depth of sorrow which we, as a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), feel as a result of the action taken by the General Assembly Council in regard to the 1999 'Women of Faith' Awards. We are gravely grieved over the choice which the Council made in upholding the decision to confer these awards on individuals whose lifestyle and ideology violates not only the constitution of our denomination, but the very Word of God as expressed in the Scriptures. "The Bible specifically warns against receiving the gift of God's grace in Jesus Christ as an excuse to continue in a life of sin (Romans 6). Jesus expressly condemns those who witness the miracle of his healing mercy without being moved to repentance (Matthew 11:20-24). There is no excuse for substituting the political correctness dictated by our culture for the rule of faith and practice demanded by God's Word written. By encouraging and granting awards to a lifestyle which the Bible names an abomination, the General Assembly Council has made our entire denomination subject to the wrath of God's judgment against sin and unrepentance. By sanctioning and endowing with honor an ideology which elevates Sophia as co-equal with the only Lord and Savior of our lives, the General Assembly Council has made our entire fellowship in the name of Christ Jesus into a mockery of the very Gospel we profess. "We the undersigned member of Northway Presbyterian Church profess that we belong to Jesus only! In the name of Christ our Lord, we renounce the action of the General Assembly Council and we rebuke each Council member who voted in support of granting the 1999 'Women of Faith Awards' to Jane Spahr, Letty Russell and Jane Douglass. We join with our Session in calling upon the General Assembly Council to repent of this action and to recant this decision."

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