Email Post to a Friend: The Ministry Report

Send Email

Transgender Pastor

Drew Phoenix, pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore, was named Ann Gordon until last fall. That's because until then Phoenix was a woman. The pastor switched genders "in order to reflect my true gender identity and to honor my spiritual transformation and relationship with God," according to a quote from the Church Report's story. It's unclear exactly what's going on physically with Phoenix, but CBS's story says he has "received medical treatment to become a man."

St. John's voted to reappoint Phoenix as their pastor, and Bishop John R. Schol approved the decision last week. But Methodist clergy in the Baltimore area have called for the Judicial Council, kind of the Supreme Court for the denomination, to rule on it when they meet in October.

Other groups in Methodist circles are calling for a new ruling on transgender pastors by the General Conference, an international Methodist body, when they meet next year. Currently Methodist law bans sexually active gay pastors but doesn't say anything about the transgender issue.

This is going to be a tough issue to articulate, but I hope the Judicial Council and the General Conference step up to the plate and tackle this situation with a well-though out, balanced response explaining why there's no way a Christian church can accept a transgender pastor. Obviously it seems like that would be an obvious conclusion based on their stance on homosexuality, but this is a touchy topic. Hopefully they will give us something we all can reference.

INTERACT: How should the Methodist Church respond to this situation? What would you say?