Methodist Church's Membership Drops by 80% after Choir Director is Fired for Being Gay

I learned the story of Adam Fraley earlier today. He is a gay man who, until recently, was the choir director of First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, IN. According to this article, he and his gifts were well-received by most of the church membership. However, the church's current interim minister recently fired him for being a gay man.

The issue is that United Methodist Church law insists that "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church." Does a church choir director violate that law? First UMC's interim pastor believes that it does. Others, including the Indiana Conference of the UMC, believe that this rule only applies to those seeking to become ordained.

Here is the interesting part. 80% of the congregation has left because of the way that Fraley was treated by the church's leadership. Of course, I don't know if that's 80% of 200 members, 80% of 100 members, or 80% of 20 members. But it's still a significant drop in membership.

Interim ministers are ministers who are specifically trained to take over temporarily when one minister leaves and to prepare the church for the next ongoing minister. There is some logic to shaking things up a bit between ministers. It helps prepare church members for the inevitable leadership differences between the minister that they knew and (presumably) loved and the new guy. But there's also a danger to shaking things up so much that you severely wound the church.

Will Fraley get his old job back? How much longer will this interim minister remain at First UMC? Will the church regain its old membership? It will be interesting to see how this story shapes up.