Ousted for Espousing Dialogue on Same-Sex Marriage After 17 Years as Pastor at Pt Loma Nazarene, Dee Kelley Files Last Appeal

By Paul Sisson / San Diego Union-Tribune / Dec. 17, 2023

Four months into a church disciplinary process, the possibility of reinstatement looks remote for Selden “Dee” Kelley, the San Diego pastor who lost his job after writing 1,218 words that called for a broader dialogue on same-sex marriage in the Church of the Nazarene.

Kelley, who led San Diego First Church of the Nazarene for 17 years before his dismissal on Aug. 14, said last week that a regional church court denied his initial appeal on Nov. 20. Though he petitioned the Nazarene General Court of Appeals last week, the leader, a man practiced in helping others hold onto hope, says he does not have much in this case. Though a panel of six people from across the globe will review his 27-page plea for reversal of his dismissal, that outcome seems unlikely.

“I don’t anticipate that there will be a change,” Kelley said. “I think my best shot at receiving exoneration was at the last hearing board which was a group from the USA and Canada.

 “But since this second appeal was an option, and it gave me an opportunity to talk about these issues at one more level of our church, I decided to try and make that happen.”

It’s an issue that is not restricted to this one particular church or this specific denomination. Disagreements over same-sex ministry have roiled many communities of faith in recent years, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America to the United Church of Christ. Just last week, news broke that one quarter of congregations in the United Methodist Church are leaving the denomination “over disputes involving the church’s LGBTQ-related policies,” according to the Associated Press.

Kelley’s crime, according to the appeal documents he shared, is penning an essay entitled “A Hope For Change” in “Why the Church of the Nazarene Should Be Fully LGBTQ+ Affirming,” an anthology of 90 essays published on April 13.

In his piece, Kelley argues that it is high time for the church to have a grassroots-level conversation about same-sex marriage, which is currently forbidden by Nazarene policy. “I’m not referring to select committees or an isolated task force,” Kelley wrote. “We need open dialogue among the rank and file, and we need the dialogue to be encouraged by leadership.”

But discipline, not dialogue, arrived quickly after publication, eventually forcing Kelley to surrender his pastoral credentials. His latest appeal quotes from the church’s original charge that his essay “holds and teaches doctrine contrary to that of the Church of the Nazarene about human sexuality and marriage. He publicly advocates beliefs that are unorthodox and out of harmony with the Church of the Nazarene’s doctrine, teaching, beliefs and practices.”

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