Three Congregations Leave Pro-Gay Marriage United Church of Christ
Less than a month after the United Church of Christ adopted a resolution supporting same-sex marriage, three congregations voted to leave the denomination in what some evangelicals are calling 'the cost of not being faithful to the teachings of Chri
Less than a month after the United Church of Christ adopted a resolution supporting same-sex marriage, three congregations voted to leave the denomination in what some evangelicals are calling "the cost of not being faithful to the teachings of Christ.”
“There is a cost of following Jesus and the cost of not following Jesus, and we are paying the cost for not following Jesus on his teachings on marriage and fornication,” said Brett Becker, pastor of the 300-member St. Paul UCC in Cibolo, Texas.
On July 4, the UCC's general conference passed a resolution that supported gay marriage "rights" both inside and outside of the church, and became the first protestant denomination to toss-out the traditional definition of marriage.
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Becker was among the few UCC pastors who opposed the resolution and warned that the move would draw congregations away.
As Becker predicted, by July 31, three congregations voted to disassociate from the church. On July 24, the 50-member Center Congregational UCC in Atlanta voted to withdraw from the UCC’s Southeast Conference, and on July 31, the 470-member Shiloh UCC in Faith N.C voted nearly unanimously to break from the Southern Conference. Also on July 31, the 400-member Salem-Darmstadt UCC in Evansville, Ind. voted to leave the Indiana-Kentucky Conference.
“The desire to try and remain in communion with the UCC was really stretched so far, and we are not able to stretch that far,” said the Rev. J.R. McAliley, pastor of 102-year-old Center Congregational Church, in published news reports. “We are open, but we will not be affirming. We are open to all people, but we will not condone sin.”
Likewise, leaders from the Shiloh UCC told the Salisbury N.C. Post that “It was really obvious that this congregation was not happy.”
“They would not be happy until we made some changes,” Shiloh Consistory President Joe Harrell said.
According to Becker, one of the few evangelical pastors remaining in the UCC, this hemorrhage of churches will likely continue unless the denomination repents.
“In the UCC, each church is able to do their own thing, and I believe there will be a trickle affect of declining membership for years,” said Becker, who drafted a failed resolution that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman only. “We’ve got such a great heritage. We’ve come from the pilgrims, but we’ve strayed away from those roots.
“In the short term, things took very grim.”
However, Becker believes there is always a way to turn back.
“There’s always the hope that God can bring revival and reformation to our church,” said Becker. “I’d like to see us be faithful on the teachings of Jesus on sex, marriage, and everything else for that matter.”
The UCC is the only major mainline denomination that recognizes homosexual marriage as equal to heterosexual marriage.
