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First Gay Church Celebrates New District Pastor

April 26, 2010
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The Metropolitan Community Church formally installed Rev. Dwayne Johnson, in the rainbow stole, as senior pastor Sunday. His parents, both ministers in the Church of the Nazarene, joined the festivities.
Asma Khalid
The Metropolitan Community Church formally installed Rev. Dwayne Johnson, in the rainbow stole, as senior pastor Sunday. His parents, both ministers in the Church of the Nazarene, joined the festivities.

By Asma Khalid

The oldest Christian denomination created by and for the gay community, the Metropolitan Community Church, is installing a new senior pastor in Washington.

Dwayne Johnson was a minister in the Church of the Nazarene, a church that forbids homosexual relations.

"Obviously being gay and being a Nazarene Minister didn’t work. And I felt like there was no place for me in ministry," says Johnson.

Johnson says he was depressed, nearly suicidal, but found salvation nearly 20 years ago when he stumbled into MCC-D.C.

"And it was one of those Sundays where you know the whole thing was God’s not finished with you yet. So this church gave me this vision that I as a gay person, I could pastor, and so it really restarted that journey of being able to minister, but being able to minister openly," he says.

Many MCC congregants are members of former denominations, and Johnson wants to make sure everyone feels at home.

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