Thomas Jay Oord trial outcome

Wednesday 31st July 2024

Dr Thomas Jay Oord has been found guilty after standing trial in a Church of the Nazarene court for being LGBTQ+ affirming.

Dr Thomas Jay Oord has been found guilty of "conduct unbecoming a minister and of teaching doctrines out of harmony with the doctrinal statement of the Church of the Nazarene," after standing trial in a Church of the Nazarene court for being LGBTQ+ affirming.

The hearing came after Dr Oord published a book titled 'Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming,' - in which, among other things, he supported same sex marriage.

According to the Nazarene church's official doctrine, sexual intimacy between people of the same gender or biological sex is 'contrary to God's will.'

Previously Dr Oord, a specialist in philosophical theology, was forced out of a teaching position at a Nazarene college.

He has long promoted a progressive theological stance, and says that he believes this to be in line with the the emphasis on love which is at the heart of the Wesleyan holiness tradition upon which the Nazarene church is founded.

In the run up to the trial date in July, Dr Oord claimed that the church had tried to prevent him speaking out about the trial or talking publicly about the issues it concerned.

He has been stripped of his role as an elder in the denomination , and expelled from membership. Dr Oord is expected to appeal the ruling.

The Church of the Nazarene has 2.5 million members spread across just over 30,000 churches worldwide, and has its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. It is part of the World Methodist Circuit, and was founded as part of an attempt, during the great awakening of the nineteenth century, to refocus attention on the poor and disadvantaged.

Dr Oord will be visiting the UK in August, and will speak at four PCN events, as well as at the Greenbelt festival.