Bucks
Nancy Ross Methodist Pastor, State Star Attractions
Dear Friends,
Good morning. A few months ago, I wrote about Reverend Ann Smith who became an Episcopal priest at the tender age of 55. Well, a few weeks ago, I met another lady who left a successful business career to become a Methodist pastor. She was 52.
Friends, meet The Reverend Nancy Ross, the pastor of the Quakertown United Methodist Church. She told me that she’d felt the spiritual tug for years…as early as her college days. “But I was raised a Baptist and Baptists don’t ordain women,” Ross began.
Years later at age 38, she tried to join the U.S. Army and become a chaplain. “But the Army said ‘no’” she continued with a laugh. “I was too old.”
She became a Methodist accidentally. “My children were in a pre school program in a Methodist church and liked it,” she added, “so I became a Methodist. In doing so, Ross joined the second largest protestant denomination, second only to the Southern Baptists. Ross told me that she liked the Methodists because of their social activism.
It was her husband, a former Roman Catholic, who encouraged her to become a pastor. It must be catching because Jack Ross is training to become a Methodist “local pastor.” That is someone who may conduct the sacraments but only at the specific church, which sponsors him.
Nancy Ross has been a pastor at four churches and in each case, the first woman to do so. Her first assignment was in Levittown; the third in Delaware County; and now Quakertown United Methodist, with its 600 members, plus children.
I enjoyed hearing about her second pastorate. The Methodist Bishop sent her to the Frackville/ Grandville Methodist church to close it because there were only eight members in the congregation. “I failed [to close it],” she told me with a smile.
Today, that little church in the coal regions has 31 members and the church members smile again. During her tenure, it was the first time in 25 years that the church had a Sunday school, a confirmation class, and several baptisms.
I asked Ross about the case of Elizabeth “Beth” Stroud, the former Germantown Methodist assistant pastor who was defrocked because she admitted to being gay? Reverend Jack Wright, a former pastor at Quakertown United Methodist, served on the jury that convicted her.
“The Methodist church world wide is governed by the “Book of Discipline,” Ross explained. “We embrace all people. We’re all sinners. But the Book of Discipline refers to the Bible when it rules that homosexuals may not be pastors.
“I was an alternate juror in that trial,” Ross told me. “It would have been very hard for me to render a verdict in the Beth Stroud case. I was conflicted. My heart said it didn’t matter that Stroud was a lesbian. But the vows that I took to become a pastor prohibited me from allowing her to continue as a pastor.”
She told me that Stroud remains at the Germantown Methodist Church but no longer has pastoral duties. While Ross was drawn to the Methodist church because of its social activism, the church continues to deny pastorates to openly gay people. You can understand her personal conflict.
I asked Ross whether she would marry a gay couple?
“No gay couple has asked me to marry them yet,” she responded, and then quickly added, “A blessing for a gay couple is OK because it’s not against my vows.”
Ross is strong willed and has strong opinions. You can see where her heart is in this matter.
“Most of the [Methodist] rules are man made,” she said. “Why do we need all these rules [about homosexuality]? It seems to me that the principle rules should be…love Jesus Christ and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
The Methodists worldwide meet every four years and had their most recent conference in May. They did not address removing the prohibition against gay pastors. The fastest growth in the church is in Africa…its most conservative wing. “The gay issue won’t be liberalized anytime soon,” Ross told me.
Methodist bishops appoint pastors based upon the needs of the local congregation and the community. Do Methodists have a problem with their church’s location on Freier Road, west of Quakertown in Milford Township? Ross is not sure. For years the Methodist Church was at 10th and West Broad Streets in Quakertown but the United Friends School occupies that space today.
But, the Reverend Nancy Ross is an activist. You can bet the ranch that she’ll have a high profile in the Quakertown community. Methodist rules mandate that a pastor must retire at age 72 so she has only eight years left in her career…unless the bishop says otherwise.
She’s a peppy, positive lady and I’m sure that she’ll do well here. As for me, I think that I’d rather be a bishop than a pastor. Then again, it would be more fun to be a married Pope. Maybe in my next life.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith
PS. If you’d like to correspond with me, you can reach me at
Does the top five surprise you? Bloomington (Minn) Mall of America (40 million); New York Times Square (37 million); the strip in Las Vegas, Nevada (30 million); Boston (Mass) Market Place (20 million); and Disney World in Florida (17 million).
Does this mean…down with culture and history…up with entertainment!