A Methodist church in Indiana that fired its gay choir director earlier this year will shut down by December 31. David Mantor, who is a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, said declining membership and insufficient funds are the causes for the shutdown of his church, as 80 percent of its members have left since their beloved gay choir director Adam Fraley was fired.
Fraley, who went to church with his partner for over six years, also happened to be the choir director. However, after Mantor was hired, Fraley says, the new pastor felt uncomfortable with a gay man occupying a leadership position. Fraley was often reminded that he would not be able to keep his position because of his sexual orientation.
“The pastor that’s currently at the church, doesn’t want to work, or doesn’t feel like he can work, with somebody that is like me,” Fraley told the media in January.
Even though United Methodist Church welcomes gays, self-avowed, practicing homosexuals cannot serve in the church. According to a lay leader and former church member David Steele, approximately 80 percent of the congregation left after Fraley was fired.
“This church is closing precisely because of David Mantor, precisely because of the issues surrounding gay rights in the church,” said Steele’s daughter, Danielle.
However, Mantor insists the church’s shutdown is unrelated to Fraley’s firing. He talked of an ongoing downward spiral, saying church attendance, donations and membership numbers are declining across all United Methodist Churches for the past three decades.
Steele explained United Methodist Church dates back to the 1800s and his own church was built as long ago as in 1901. In 2002, the church underwent a $500,000 renovation, when at its peak it had more than 700 members. Ironically, today, the church has only 20 or 30 members.
Even though the church’s doctrine suggests homosexuality is incompatible with Christianity, it has in the past attempted to include members from the LGBT population. For instance, the church’s highest judicial body ruled in favour of Frank Schaefer, a Methodist pastor who was initially defrocked for officiating his son’s gay wedding. After the ruling however, Schaefer was permitted to keep his ordination.
Ahead of Schaefer’s verdict however, 36 ministers from United Methodist Church in Philadelphia blessed a gay wedding to show support for his cause. While they were not disciplined at that time, they were still warned to not do such a thing again. In 2005, too, a lesbian minister Irene Stroud had been defrocked by the church for sharing a relationship with another woman.
Photo Credits: LGBTQ Nation
