The issue of homosexuality looks like providing the most contentious debate at this year's Presbyterian General Assembly, which begins in Belfast on Monday.
It follows remarks on the matter in Hot Press magazine by Ian Paisley jnr, Northern Ireland's junior Minister in the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, which has responsibility for equality legislation.
He said: "I am pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism. I think it is wrong. I think that those people harm themselves and - without care about it - harm society . . . I mean, I hate what they do. I think they should just free them [ selves] from being gay."
The business board report to the General Assembly, which will be debated on Tuesday, recommends that a person should not be referred to "as a homosexual, a lesbian or a heterosexual". To do so was "to narrow their identity to their sexuality alone," it says.
It continues: "For this reason, it seems better to refer to 'people' who have 'same-sex attraction'."
The report criticises "the rights-dominated culture so aggressively surrounding gay issues", which it says "sends a message to the church that it is not acceptance as people that is being sought, but rather endorsement of a way of life".
It continued that "the problem for many within the church is that while they want to accept people in the name of Jesus Christ they cannot, in all integrity of conscience, endorse a way of life that they see as contrary to God's word".
It also notes: "It is sufficiently documented that there are those who have moved from the position of having same-sex attractions to being heterosexual."
It acknowledges that such counselling may not work for many experiencing same-sex attraction. Within the church there was, it says, a need for repentance and greater understanding where the issue of same-sex attraction was concerned.
It continues that "likewise there is a need for those who have same-sex attractions to grasp that it is not easy for those who wish to be genuinely caring yet maintain biblical integrity without giving the impression that in doing so they are rejecting the person".
