Rio Texas Methodist Federation for Social Action

Rev. Jen Stuart is the Associate Pastor at First UMC, Austin.  She recently wrote this letter to her congregation to explain why she is transferring from the Southwest Texas Conference to the Pacific Northwest Conference.

(Excerpt) “I do not wish to make sacred ordination vows in a place where I cannot clearly speak my mind about the equality of all people in the eyes of God…I am very aware that there are many other issues that the church must deal with, but none of them involve excluding a wide swath of the population from ministry and marriage.”