A Church of the Nazarene minister advocating for “full queer inclusion” has been brought up on charges and faces an upcoming trial that could result in removal of his credentials as an ordained minister.
Thomas Jay Oord / Video screenshot
Thomas Jay Oord has been charged with teaching doctrines contrary to the Church of the Nazarene and with conduct unbecoming of a minister for his efforts to move the denomination to affirm same-sex behavior.
The charges are the latest indication that human sexuality disputes that have divided mainline Protestant denominations are also surfacing in Wesleyan-Holiness churches.
Oord currently serves as Professor of Theology at Northwind Theological Seminary, an ecumenical, online interdenominational seminary with roots in the Wesleyan tradition. He is co-editor of Why the Church of the Nazarene should be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming, a volume published in 2023.
“In early August of 2023, Nazarene [Intermountain] District Superintendent Scott Shaw gave me a document with two charges,” Oord recounted in a video made available on his YouTube channel. “Both of these charges pertain to the fact that I’m a straight, cisgender male who fully affirms and supports queer people and who wants the Church of the Nazarene to do the same. For my views on queer inclusion I have been charged first with teaching doctrines contrary to the Church of Nazarene statement on human sexuality and, secondly, I’m charged with Conduct Unbecoming of a Minister for advocating for queer people and their allies.”
Oord alleges in the video that unnamed denominational leaders have tried to silence him and threatened to make additional charges if he speaks publicly about the trial.
“The fundamental issue at stake here is whether the Church of the Nazarene will love queer people by affirming their identities, their orientations, and their healthy sexual behaviors,” Oord insists. “The Church of the Nazarene statement on human sexuality does not reflect love well.”
The Church of the Nazarene Manual prohibits sexual activity between people of the same sex, alongside polygamy, unmarried sexual intercourse, and adultery. The denomination’s Board of General Superintendents ruled in 2023 that the church’s Statement on Human Sexuality and Marriage is among “essential statements of the doctrine.”
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The statement reads, in part:
“Because we believe that it is God’s intention for our sexuality to be lived out in the covenantal union between one woman and one man, we believe the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is contrary to God’s will for human sexuality. While a person’s homosexual or bi-sexual attraction may have complex and differing origins, and the implication of this call to sexual purity is costly, we believe the grace of God is sufficient for such a calling. We recognize the shared responsibility of the body of Christ to be a welcoming, forgiving, and loving community where hospitality, encouragement, transformation, and accountability are available to all.”
The statement in the Manual was overwhelmingly passed at the General Assembly, the denomination’s governing convention.
Dissent by theological revisionists is not being tolerated among leaders and academics within the Church. Recent examples include the dismissal of Selden “Dee” Kelley from San Diego First Church of the Nazarene (including revocation of his ministerial credentials) and Dean of Theology and Christian Ministry Mark Maddix from Point Loma Nazarene University, who lost his Nazarene credentials after aligning with an “affirming” United Methodist church in California.
This begs the question of why it has taken the denomination so long to deal with Oord given his outspoken opposition to Nazarene doctrine and practice.
Oord could be regarded as an outlier within an otherwise overwhelmingly conservative denomination. He has been a controversial figure for at least a decade, including for his embrace of open theism, the view that God does not know the future. He departed Northwest Nazarene University, where he was a tenured professor, in 2018 following the elimination of his position.
The seminary professor is active within an LGBTQ-affirming Facebook group, Loving Nazarenes, and is soliciting donations for a crowd-sourced publicity campaign calling upon the Church of the Nazarene to replace the Statement on Human Sexuality with an LGBTQ-affirming one.
The Church of the Nazarene is within the Wesleyan–Holiness tradition. It reports 2,724,006 members and 30,747 congregations globally. Within the United States and Canada, the denomination lists 600,000 members in 5,100 congregations.
“The doctrine that distinguishes the Church of the Nazarene and other Wesleyan denominations from most other Christian denominations is that of entire sanctification,” reads a statement on the denomination’s website. “Nazarenes believe that God calls Christians to a life of holy living that is marked by an act of God, cleansing the heart from original sin and filling the individual with love for God and humankind.”
This article was originally published at Juicy Ecumenism, the official blog of The Institute on Religion & Democracy.
Main photo: Thomas Jay Oord / Video screenshot
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