Gay Methodist
once rejected by church is accepted by new pastor

The new pastor at a South Hill, Va., Methodist church that had barred a gay man from membership two years ago has reversed that decision and allowed the man to join.

The Reverend Barry Burkholder, the new leader of South Hill United Methodist Church, told the congregation to accept the man's transfer from a Baptist church. The denomination has not released the name of the gay congregant.

The former pastor, the Reverend Edward H. Johnson, said in 2005 that he could not accept the man as a member because he would neither repent nor seek to change. Johnson has since been appointed pastor at another Virginia church, Dahlgren United Methodist Church.

The case led to a showdown in church courts between Johnson and the denomination's Virginia Conference, which oversees congregations and pastors in the region.

The conference tried to bar Johnson from ministry for a year for his decision.

The Methodist Book of Discipline declares gay relationships ''incompatible with Christian teaching'' and bars sexually active gays from ordination. However, the denomination has no rules on church membership for openly gay congregants. The mainline Protestant denomination advertises itself as an open and welcoming church.

Johnson appealed his punishment to the highest church court--the Judicial Council--and won. The high court concluded that pastors have the authority to decide who becomes a member of a local church and ordered Johnson reinstated to ministry.

Burkholder told United Methodist News Service last week that the gay man professed that Christ was his savior and that Jesus died for his sins, so, the pastor said, he was ready to become a member of the church. (AP)