Sunday, July 6 at 6 pm – First United Methodist Church, Cuyahoga Falls

In 2024, after more than a half century of debate and defiance over the place of LGBTQ people in the denomination, General Conference delegates — by sizable majorities — voted to end decades-old bans on the ordination of “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy and the officiation of same-sex weddings.

Jennifer Wellington and Michael Alexander will regain their United Methodist ordination credentials during a joyous worship service hosted by the Board of Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Cuyahoga Falls (245 Portage Trail). You are invited to the celebration.

Bishop Sally Dyck will be preaching, and Revs. Wellington and Alexander will be speaking. We will celebrate Holy Communion and enjoy special music from a choir directed by Rev. Joy Fenton-Jones. A fellowship gathering with light refreshments will follow the service.

If you would like to participate in the choir for this service, contact Rev. Joy Fenton-Jones (contact the church office for her contact information). We will be singing Draw the Circle Wide by Mark Miller and Show Us How to Love by Lindy Thompson/Mark Miller.

For those who are unable to attend, the service will be live streamed on the First United Methodist Church of Cuyahoga Falls Facebook page (@firstchurchcf) and YouTube channel (@firstchurchcuyahogafalls).

About the Speaker

Bishop Dyck is a retired episcopal leader of The United Methodist Church, having served from 2004 to 2020. She previously oversaw the Northern Illinois Annual Conference (2012-2020) and the Minnesota Conference (2004-2012). She currently serves as the Ecumenical Officer of the Council of Bishops. Ordained an elder in the East Ohio Conference, Bishop Dyck pastored churches there and served as a district superintendent in the Wooster area. She earned a master of divinity degree from Boston University School of Theology and a certificate from the Ecumenical Institute, a joint program of the World Council of Churches and the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She is the author of A Hopeful Earth: Faith, Science, and the Message of Jesus (with Sara Ehrman; Abingdon, 2010) and A Faithful Heart: Daily Guide for Joyful Living (both published by Abingdon Press, 2010). Deeply committed to justice, she worked for full inclusion of the church, immigration reform, women’s and racial justice, climate justice, and peacemaking as essential to discipleship. She runs daily and enjoys traveling with her husband, retired elder Rev. Ken Ehrman.