LGBTQ-friendly Minneapolis church faces ouster from ECC

The lead pastor at an historic church in downtown Minneapolis could be ousted along with his entire congregation because of their support of the LGBT community.

The First Covenant Church, part of the ECC faith, has been around since 1874.

Although there have been some disagreements between First Covenant and the ECC over the years, in 2018, First Covenant put out a “Love All” statement.

It included the welcoming of the LGBTQ community as members, in ministry and in staff and leadership roles.

A month later, the pastor, Dan Collison, had his ministerial credentials suspended. The church was notified it was “out of harmony” with the ECC’s position on human sexuality.

In Nebraska, at ECC’s annual meeting, delegates will decide whether pastor Collison will lose his ministerial credentials altogether and if the First Covenant Church will be involuntarily dismissed from the Evangelical Covenant Church.

It would be a move that hasn’t happened in 130 years of the ECC.

Those issues are scheduled to be discussed Friday.

Today, church leaders say if the congregation is dismissed, nothing will really change.

The church building and the congregation will stay and move forward, as it’s a very successful congregation.

In fact, the church isn’t really fighting to stay with the ECC. They do, however, think that what the delegates are doing is wrong and other churches in the ECC are likely facing the same challenges that they are.

They see their effort to stay a part of the ECC as benefitting other churches as well.