MINNEAPOLIS - Leaders of the Evangelical Covenant Church voted to defrock a Minneapolis pastor and expel his church for permitting gay marriage. Leaders also voted to expel Collison’s First Covenant Church, a founding member of the 134-year-old denomination. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOWThe ECC says First Covenant is free to keep operating as a church and can keep its church building. A First Covenant staff member officiated at an off-site wedding of two women from the church worship band in 2014. Those two things were coming into tension in this case.”First Covenant Church was founded by Swedish immigrants in 1874.

Source: thestar June 29, 2019 15:47 UTC