The Reverend Thomas Jay Ord. (Photo © Mark Amstott)
(RNS) A court has found one of the Church of the Nazarene’s most prominent theologians guilty of affirming and advocating acceptance of LGBTQ+ believers in a way that goes against the church’s teachings.
The court ruled Saturday night (July 28) against Pastor Thomas Jay Ord of Nampa, Idaho, stripping him of his preaching license and expelling him from the 2.5 million-member global denomination.
“We, the members of the Local Disciplinary Board, unanimously find with moral certainty and beyond a reasonable doubt that Thomas Jay Ord has committed acts unbecoming of a pastor and taught doctrine contrary to the doctrinal statements of The Church of the Nazarene,” the court ruled.
The Church of the Nazarene maintains that “the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is against God’s will.”
Ord’s trial, which took place in Boise on Thursday (July 25), follows the conviction last year of former San Diego Nazarene pastor Selden Kelly, who was also defrocked as a result. Kelly, who was pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in San Diego, was an advocate for dialogue on LGBTQ+ issues.
The church’s four-member tribunal, consisting of four clergy and two lay members, emailed its five-page decision to Ord on Saturday night. Ord’s district superintendent, the Rev. Scott Shaw, who testified for the church at Ord’s trial, declined to comment.
In its decision, the church court cited a book that Ord co-authored with his bisexual daughter, Alexa Ord, titled “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirmative,” which affirms same-sex sexual acts, which the court found particularly egregious.
“Some LGBTQ behaviors, including same-sex marriage, promote happiness,” the Ords wrote, “and are good and healthy and represent God’s kingdom values. The changes God desires to see rarely require LGBTQ people to change their sexual orientation, identity, or loving behaviors.”
The court also took issue with Ord’s ignoring of church rules, including demanding that he either stop advocating for homosexuality or give up his preaching license (though it is unclear whether Ord was obligated to do so).
“Ord has demonstrated no willingness to submit to Church authority or any remorse,” the ruling read, adding, “His actions show a disregard for Church authority and
Contempt for authority.”
Reached on Saturday, Ord said he wasn’t surprised but disappointed: “I had hoped that the Church of the Nazarene would be a place for me and other queer people like me that fully embraces and supports their allies.”
Samuel Powell, a retired theology professor at Point Loma Nazarene University and one-time dean of the School of Theology and Christian Mission, said Ord’s sentence was unprecedented.
“While the defrocking was not unexpected, expelling him from the church is harsh and retaliatory,” Powell said. “We do everything in our power to retain our members. We have never tried to exclude members who don’t believe in everything.”
Powell testified on Ord’s behalf at trial, arguing that the second charge, “inappropriate conduct,” was vague and not clearly defined in the church’s rulebook or manual.
The denomination is in decline in the United States, with about 500,000 members in 4,600 churches.
The theologically similar United Methodist Church (both have their roots in John Wesley) have experienced major schisms over LGBTQ+ inclusion in the past two years, losing 25% of its churches in the United States and, more recently, all of its churches in Côte d’Ivoire, Africa. In its most recent conference, the United Methodist Church voted to remove provisions from its rulebook that condemn homosexuality and to allow LGBTQ+ people to hold the ordination and for its pastors to marry same-sex couples.
Ord, who has written or edited 30 books, believes love is central to Christian teachings and that to love like Jesus, believers should seek the flourishing of all people, especially the poor, the marginalized and even LGBTQ+ people.
He says he became “queer-affirming” in the early 1990s and spent the next few decades helping queer students feel accepted and loved at Eastern Nazarene University and later Northwest Nazarene University, where he was fired in 2015 for his progressive views.
He currently teaches doctoral theology students at Northwind Theological Seminary, an online-only school that is not affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. He will be able to keep his job, but will no longer be able to publish with the Church of the Nazarene-owned publishing company, The Foundry, or preach or serve as a member of any of its churches.
At Ord’s trial, two queer people testified about the damage the church’s teachings do to queer people. Four theologians also represented him in his defense. A few weeks before the trial, he published a book called “My Defense: A Response to the Charge that I Am Totally Supportive of LGBTQ+ People.”
“I’m happy with how I conducted myself at the trial,” Ord said. “I aimed to base my argument on love and express an attitude of love, and I think I was successful. But apparently the disciplinary committee was not convinced that love is a call to all of us to be fully affirming of queer people.”
This article was originally published here.
