UMC Finds Lesbian Pastor Guilty of Violating Church Law
(As reported on Prophecy News Watch)

A jury made up of United Methodist church clergy has convicted a lesbian minister of violating church law by living openly with her homosexual partner. Pastor Irene Elizabeth Stroud could be defrocked as a result of the ruling, which came on the second day of her church trial. The same 13-member jury is now preparing to decide her penalty.

An openly homosexual United Methodist pastor has told a church trial she's not guilty of violating church law that forbids homosexual clergy.

Once again, the United Methodist Church is being forced to deal with a pastor who is openly violating scriptural teaching. Facing the possible loss of her Methodist clergy credentials, Pastor Irene Elizabeth Stroud freely told a church court that she lives with her lesbian partner, but refused to plead guilty to violating the denomination's ban on homosexual clerics in non-celibate relationships.

Alan Symonette, a lay leader in Stroud's Germantown, Pennsylvania, church, told UMNS that the lesbian pastor "happens to be gay and in a covenanted relationship and has been called to ministry by God." The church, he said, should not "depress" Stroud, nor should it "separate Beth from who she is and from her ability to practice ministry."

Should Stroud lose in the clergy court, her congregation in Philadelphia has already agreed she can continue preaching, teaching, and pastoral work as a lay employee. She would not, however, be able to celebrate baptism or communion.

The Pennsylvania pastor, who admitted to her lesbian lifestyle 18 months ago, appeared at a pre-trial press conference with her lesbian partner, Chris Paige. Stroud stated her belief that God created her to be a lesbian, and conveyed her hope that the UMC will eventually change its laws regarding self-avowed practicing homosexuals being appointed to churches.

Rev. Tom Hall is the lead counsel for the Eastern Pennsylvania Annual Conference, which brought the complaint against Stroud. Hall acknowledged it is painful to bring a colleague to trial based on the denomination's Book of Discipline, but "when someone steps over the line, we are to be accountable." The trial, he said, is "to determine guilt or innocence -- not to debate a word."