This Sunday at 11am, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, located in Dallas, TX, will perform acts of civil disobedience and sacred resistance against church authority in the midst of Pride weekend.
DALLAS, June 3, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Two staff members of Oak Lawn United Methodist Church—which sits in the heart of Dallas’s diverse LGBTQIA+ neighborhood — have been denied appointment as pastors to that church. Policies in the United Methodist Church exclude “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from serving as pastors. Both of these pastors are openly in same-gendered, committed relationships.
These beloved pastors, Isabel Marquez and Ryan Wager, serve critical ministry roles in the church and the Oak Lawn community, including Oak Lawn’s Migrant Respite Center and Oak Lawn’s shelter ministry, which is the City of Dallas’s only emergency inclement weather shelter.
This Sunday, Oak Lawn UMC will engage in an act of Sacred Resistance, that is, civil disobedience against church authority. At 11am on Sunday, June 5, Oak Lawn’s Worship Service of Sacred Resistance will tell stories of the United Methodist Church’s discrimination against its LGBTQIA+ members. In an act of defiance, Oak Lawn UMC will officially recognize and celebrate Ryan Wager and Isabel Marquez as ministers at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church.
There is a long history of discrimination and injustices against LGBTQIA+ persons called by God into ministry. Beginning Pride Month in this manner is not how we would have chosen to honor and celebrate the beautiful LGBTQIA+ community that we serve, but we will not stand by while these decisions are made without accountability. Oak Lawn UMC has had enough.
Dating back to 1874, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church is one of the oldest United Methodist congregations in Dallas. They offer city leadership in care for unsheltered neighbors, refugees, members of the community who struggle with addictions and they offer the love of Christ through worship, study and care for their community which is open to people of all ages, nations and races.
Media Contact
Cheryl Allison, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church, 1 760-285-2899, [email protected]
SOURCE Oak Lawn United Methodist Church
