The Culture War Goes to Church

By Erick Erickson | 10:14 AM on April 24, 2015

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“[T]he new pastor told the congregation to ‘f*ck off’.”

Still Waters United Methodist Church is a postcard church. It sits on a hill overlooking North Druid Hills Road in Atlanta, Georgia. Its grass is postcard green. Its trees, casting shadows on the grass, are postcard sized tall. It has a high, white steeple. The sound of children laughing filters down the hill from the fenced in playground beside the fellowship hall. The church is Asian, Hispanic, black, and white. The church’s pastor, Dr. Carole Hulslander, and her husband Douglas used their own funds to help start the church fifteen years ago.

But after Dr. Hulslander signed a “Unity and Integrity” statement calling on the United Methodist Church to maintain its standards of Biblical integrity with regard to marriage, the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church sought to remove her.

The culture war has arrived at the door of Still Waters United Methodist Church. It’s congregation, whether they like it or not, is being made to care.

Two weeks before Easter, the District Superintendent showed up with a new pastor. When the Chair of the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee refused to allow a service that Sunday morning, because the District had violated the church’s Book of Church Discipline, the congregation retreated to their fellowship hall to sing and pray. The new pastor came in and began berating one of the members of the congregation. The new pastor demanded keys be handed over. When others intervened to calm the situation, the new pastor told the congregation to ‘f*ck off’.” The lion that would separate the sheep from their shepherd now paces around the walls of this church.

I interviewed members of the congregation at Still Waters United Methodist Church and the pastor they are standing by, Dr. Carole Hulslander. You can listen to it in the attached Soundcloud.

Still Waters United Methodist Church was literally built by the congregation’s hands. They may now lose their building and property. They need your help. They need prayer and financial support to fight back. A GoFundMe Account has been established to help them.