The pastor who lost his flock

The Rev. Oliver White paid a heavy price for supporting gay marriage, said Sarah Duguid in the Financial Times. In 2005, the Minnesotan pastor voted in favor of a resolution backing same-sex marriage at the United Church of Christ’s General Synod. White’s conservative congregation in St. Paul was furious. “Within three months my congregation collapsed from 320 members to just 70,” he says. “A lot of people left the church without a word. I would go to their houses and argue, but after visiting 10 families, I gave up.” He received hate mail calling him a “faggot.” “I’m not [gay],” says White. “But I do believe in equal rights for all.” As membership dwindled and donations dropped, his church fell into debt. “One day an anonymous man called me and offered to pay our debts. I thought I was about to be saved, then he told me: ‘But I have one thing for you to do. Repent.’” The church was repossessed last summer, and White has since searched in vain for a new congregation. “My name was so tarnished, no one would even rent me a space. But I still have hope. If I can just get a building, I believe I can form a congregation. I haven’t quit the ministry yet.”

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