An up-and-coming evangelical pastor has been told his denomination will no longer support his new church in Portland, Ore., because of his support for gays and lesbians.
The Rev. Adam Phillips arrived in Portland in 2013 to start Christ Church, a new congregation sponsored by the Chicago-based Evangelical Covenant Church. Phillips, 35, had previously worked in Washington with a number of advocacy groups, including as director of faith mobilization for the ONE Campaign, the relief and development group started by U2 frontman Bono.
On Feb. 4, Covenant officials told Phillips they were dropping support for Christ Church because of his “personal convictions and advocacy for the full inclusion and participation of LGBT Christians in the church at all levels of membership and leadership,” he said in a statement.
An up-and-coming evangelical pastor has been told his denomination will no longer support his new church in Portland, Ore., because of his support for gays and lesbians.
The Rev. Adam Phillips arrived in Portland in 2013 to start Christ Church, a new congregation sponsored by the Chicago-based Evangelical Covenant Church. Phillips, 35, had previously worked in Washington with a number of advocacy groups, including as director of faith mobilization for the ONE Campaign, the relief and development group started by U2 frontman Bono.
On Feb. 4, Covenant officials told Phillips they were dropping support for Christ Church because of his “personal convictions and advocacy for the full inclusion and participation of LGBT Christians in the church at all levels of membership and leadership,” he said in a statement.
Phillips said including LGBT parishioners “was not only consistent with the whole arc of Scripture, but was where the Holy Spirit was guiding the church today.”
Phillips’ change of heart mirrors a larger shift among evangelicals and even Pope Francis as believers reconsider their positions, or tone, on homosexuality. In recent months, evangelical ethicist David Gushee and longtime activist Jim Wallis announced their support for same-sex marriage, and author Matthew Vines’ Reformation Project and his book, “God and the Gay Christian,” drew attention from top evangelical leaders.
The vast majority of evangelicals, and most conservative Christian churches, however, remain opposed to homosexuality or civil marriage for LGBT couples.
The Covenant, founded by Swedish immigrants in the late 1800s, has not made homosexuality a marquee issue and has not been torn by the same internal fights over human sexuality that have divided Episcopalians, United Methodists or Presbyterians. The church bills itself as “evangelical, but not exclusive; biblical, but not doctrinaire; traditional, but not rigid.”
Calls to officials at church headquarters in Chicago and the church’s Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Conference were not returned.
For now, Phillips calls himself “a son of the Evangelical Covenant Church” and said he remains an ordained Covenant pastor. His church plant plans to continue, even without the three-year $150,000 support from the denomination. “This idea of being companions to all undergirds all that we do,” he said.