St. Stephen UMC
By vote of its church council, St. Stephen UMC in Mesquite, TX, has crossed out the words "United Methodist" from its sign by covering the text with rainbow-colored tape. (Photo by Amy Martindale, St. Stephen UMC).
MESQUITE, Texas – Leaders of a United Methodist church long committed to seeking justice have taken a bold public stand in support of a gay minister who they believe has been made a scapegoat for how their denomination's political turmoil is playing out in North Texas.
The Church Council of St. Stephen United Methodist Church voted in late December to withhold its funding, roughly $15,000, from the North Texas Annual (regional) Conference of the worldwide United Methodist Church. Council leaders say they took the drastic action to protest the regional unit's apparent scapegoating of the Rev. Dr. Gregory S. Neal, a former St. Stephen pastor, who married his fiancé Kade Rogers last October in defiance of church rules against same-sex unions.
At the same time Dr. Neal was suspended, other North Texas pastors were leading their local churches to exit the worldwide denomination, with some promoting a breakaway group, the Global Methodist Church. The dissident pastors also have acted contrary to church rules, but none have been disciplined for their infractions. Among them are the Rev. Arthur Jones, senior pastor of 6,500-member St. Andrew UMC in Plano; the Rev. Mark Vowell, pastor of First UMC in Frisco; and the Rev. Doug Fox, pastor of First UMC in Irving.
"The action against Dr. Neal was far harsher than it had to be," said Jennifer Keltner, chair of St. Stephen's leadership council.
As part of his punishment, Dr. Neal was removed from his pastorate at Lakewood United Methodist Church in east Dallas, where he and Mr. Rogers were married Oct. 1, 2022, in defiance of UMC rules against same-sex marriage, even though such unions are legal in the United States. To date, no other North Texas pastor who also has defied United Methodist laws in breakaway actions has been suspended or removed from ministry, despite church regulations that warrant investigation of their actions.
St. Stephen lay leader John Astle said church members decided to withhold annual funding for North Texas Conference to protest such unequal application of church laws.
"We're outraged that a gay minister is being made a scapegoat for the splintering that's happening in the United Methodist Church," said Mr. Astle. "We've been assured previously that LGBTQ persons in North Texas would be treated fairly, and that complaints against LGBTQ clergy would be postponed until church law could be reviewed.
"That turned out not to be the case, and we decided as a council that it was time to hold conference leaders accountable for how they've failed to apply church law equally."
In early January, Bishop McKee, who has since retired, issued a statement saying that the complaint against Dr. Neal would be held "in abeyance" until the 2024 session of the UMC's top legislative assembly, the General Conference, decides whether to do away with the church's 50-year-old ban on LGBTQ clergy. However, Dr. Neal has not been allowed to return to active ministry. Bishop McKee is now serving as interim dean of UMC-related Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.
Withholding annual funding payments known as apportionments has been a previous tactic of conservative factions in the United Methodist Church opposed to LGBTQ inclusion. Since 2019 when the UMC's legislative assembly, the General Conference, enacted harsh penalties against same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy, St. Stephen has withheld that portion of its annual funding that went to the global institution, but paid its regional "dues."
Church Council chair Mrs. Keltner said St. Stephen leaders voted unanimously to flip that formula, remitting the international stipend but withholding the regional portion.
"We regret having to take such action, but we decided it was the only way we could speak up for justice in this case," Mrs. Keltner said.
The St. Stephen Council sent a letter Jan. 11 to Metro District superintendent Rev. Edlen Cowley explaining its vote and the rationale behind the decision. "We can no longer overlook or tolerate such a system of injustice as we are convicted that to do so—to express apathy in the face of need, to advance errant priorities, and to cooperate with oppression and injustice—would constitute our own sin (Resolution 8031, The Book of Resolutions, 2016)," the letter read in part.
Currently the UMC is undergoing a season of reorganization as so-called "traditionalist" factions opposed to LGBTQ inclusion are splintering off. The UMC has provided an exit process for those wishing to "disaffiliate," but some North Texas churches and pastors have defied that legal procedure, attempting to take with them church property that is held "in trust" for the worldwide denomination. The "trust clause," as the agreement is known, has been upheld in secular courts with rare exceptions. Again, violating the "trust clause" is an infraction of United Methodist rules.
St. Stephen UMC long has taken bold actions to seek justice for marginalized and oppressed persons.
The church made history in 1964 when its founding pastor, the late Rev. Dr. William K. McElvaney, and lay leaders convinced the Mesquite Independent School District to desegregate a year before the Civil Rights Act was passed in the United States.
In 1998, St. Stephen became the first United Methodist congregation in North Texas to join the Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial group committed to LGBTQ inclusion and justice. Since then, St. Stephen has been a public ally of LGBTQ persons in North Texas.
In 2022, St. Stephen helped residents organize against life-threatening conditions at a Mesquite apartment complex for low-income persons. The congregation is now engaged with other groups in an ongoing effort to convince city officials to support affordable housing in Mesquite.
The Rev. Dr. Geoffrey C. Moore, St. Stephen's current pastor, said the congregation's leaders are monitoring events in the North Texas Conference to see if church laws are upheld justly in the future.
"Our United Methodist baptismal vows commit us 'to accept the power God gives us to resist justice, evil and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves,'" Dr. Moore said. "Our church's leaders view withholding our conference apportionments to seek justice as fulfilling our baptismal vows."
Full disclosure: St. Stephen is the congregational sponsor of United Methodist Insight.