Lesbian Pastor Defrocked 20 Years Ago from United Methodist Church Reinstated After Denomination Goes Full-LGBTQ
A ‘pastor’ who was removed from the United Methodist Church 20 years ago for being in a same-sex relationship has been reinstated following the demonic denomination’s recent decision to affirm and celebrate homosexuality.
Earlier this week, the UMC’s Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference voted overwhelmingly to reinstate Rev. Beth Stroud, who was defrocked in 2004 after being discovered in a long-term romantic relationship with another woman. The decision comes after denominational leaders struck down long-standing policies that prohibited LGBTQ individuals from serving as clergy members, opening the door for many others to be restored to leadership within the church. According to the AP:
In a closed meeting of clergy from the UMC’s Eastern Pennsylvania region, Stroud exceeded the two-thirds vote requirement to be readmitted as a full member and pastor in the UMC.
Bishop John Schol of Eastern Pennsylvania welcomed the outcome, stating, “I’m grateful that the church has opened up to LGBTQ persons.”
Stroud was brought into the meeting room after the vote, overcome with emotion.
“I was completely disoriented,” she told The Associated Press via email. “For what felt like several minutes I couldn’t tell where the front of the room was, where I was, where I needed to go. Everyone was clapping and then they started singing. The bishop asked me quietly if I wanted to say anything and I said I couldn’t.”
She was handed the red stole that designates a fully ordained member of the clergy, and joined her colleagues in a procession into a worship service.
Stroud said she doesn’t plan on turning to full-time ministry anytime soon, as she’s spent the last twenty years teaching and is starting a new stint as a professor at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, one of a dozen seminaries run by the United Methodist Church, but said she loves that she now has the option.
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Compared to her being a professor at the Methodist Theological School, she’d probably do less harm as a pretend pastor (impastor) at a small, hopefully dying church.
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