Also on Friday, the Assembly approved a new authoritative interpretation of the Book of Order - which contains Rules of Discipline for the PC(USA) - declaring that interpretive statements related to sexual standards for ordination that predate the adoption of the "fidelity and chastity" requirement in 1996 "have no further force or effect," as reported by the Assembly news service.
The "fidelity and chastity" requirement replaced language prohibiting non-celibate gays and lesbians from ministry.
This year's proposed new language requires ministers to "pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church."
The local presbytery or ordaining body would determine whether the gay or lesbian candidate meets those standards.
The vote came a day after the Assembly approved a proposal to begin revising the Heidelberg Catechism - a document of the Reformed Christian faith - which would include removing the reference to "homosexual perversion" among a list of sinful behaviours.
In recent years, a small but growing number of PC(USA) congregations have voted to disaffiliate with the denomination over its liberal direction on Scripture and theology. While this week's Assembly votes are expected to spark another exodus of churches, one Presbyterian urges conservatives to do the opposite.
"Stay and compete," said William J Weston, a sociology professor at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky.
Despite the ongoing attempts to liberalise Church rules, Weston says the vast majority of people in the PC(USA) are conservative and believe in the essential tenets of the Reformed faith.
"The future is actually pretty bright for traditional Presbyterian faith. It is just the rules that are getting loosened, not so many of the people," he said in his latest blog post. "So stay and compete. How people vote with their feet matters the most in the end."
Past votes by the people back Weston's claim. In 1997 and 2000, the denomination's presbyteries overwhelmingly rejected proposals to delete the "fidelity and chastity" requirement.
