First UMC Dallas to Bless All Marriages Dec. 29

First United Methodist Church in Dallas will take a big step into the fray over LGBTQ+ acceptance on Dec. 29 when it holds a special service of blessing for marriage – all marriages, including gay and lesbian couples.

According to a Dallas Morning News article by Sharon Grigsby, On eve of church’s LGBTQ clampdown, Dallas’ First United Methodist will celebrate all marriages in special service, senior pastor the Rev. Andy Stoker says First UMC’s “Covenantal Celebration of Holy Marriage” will be “part pastoral and part social justice.” Ms. Grigsby quotes Rev. Stoker that the event is “about seeing and recognizing all congregation members, to help us really see one another.”

Ms. Grigsby’s article notes two other distinguishing marks of the service:

1) First UMC-Dallas sits across a downtown street from First Baptist Church, an anti-LGBTQ+ stronghold led by Rev. Robert Jeffress;

2) First UMC has invited LGBTQ-welcoming congregations of other denominations around Dallas to take part in the celebration. These include Wilshire Baptist, Preston Hollow Presbyterian, Cathedral of Hope (United Church of Christ) and Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration. Also invited are representatives of Dallas’ eight Reconciling Ministries Network congregations, believed to be the largest urban contingent of LGBTQ-welcoming churches among United Methodists.

First UMC’s marriage celebration grew out of months of consultation among members following the 2019 General Conference at which the so-called Traditional Plan was adopted, Ms. Grigsby reported. In June the North Texas Annual Conference adopted its own “One Church” resolution which pledges to allow congregations to minister in their own contexts – including with LGBTQ+ people – regardless of the new restrictions. First UMC’s executive associate pastor, the Rev. Ann Willet, was among the organizers of the resolution.

In addition to Ms. Grigsby’s article on First UMC’s marriage celebration, we commend to your reading her column on the dispute between Southern Methodist University and the South Central Jurisdiction over its ownership and governance, What SMU’s plan to split from Methodist control could mean for Dallas churches angry about LGBTQ policies. Her reported Methodist background has given her a good understanding of the significance of the worldwide UMC dispute on local congregations, and her articles and columns show diligence and fair-mindedness.