ALEXANDRIA, Ind. — A Methodist church in Indiana that suffered a massive walk-out after forcing its gay choir director to resign, will close its doors for good at the end of 2014.
David Mantor, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Ind., says the decision to close the church resulted from falling attendance, membership and financing problems, reports The Herald Bulletin.
The church made national headlines in January when as much as eighty percent of the congregants left the church after a popular gay choir director was forced to resign, and a respected church lay leader was fired for his support of the choir director.
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Dr. David Steele, a member of the church for nearly 60 years, was subsequently fired from his leadership position after advocating that Fraley be re-hired.
Steele says most of the congregants who left the church, including himself, never returned.
But Mantor says the closure “is not due to that situation whatsoever,” and cites statistics he says he’s seen from United Methodist Church headquarters that reflect a “downward spiral” of membership and donations across the whole UM church for the past 30 years.
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