United Church News is reporting today that Cathedral of Hope, a mega-church located in Dallas, is exploring the possibility of joining the United Church of Christ.

Starting Aug. 3, the 4,300-member Cathedral of Hope in Dallas, Texas, will begin a five-week series of church-wide conversations about affiliating with the 1.3-million-member United Church of Christ.

If such a move were to transpire, the Cathedral of Hope would become the UCC’s third largest congregation.

"We’ve been taking a look at this for a number of years,” says Dennis Bolin, a 10-year member of the church and chair of its Affiliation and Expansion Committee.

The 35-year-old Cathedral of Hope, which until 2002 was affiliated with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, is considered to be the largest church in the world with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. In more recent years, however, the congregation has attracted many non-LGBT members. It also has a satellite congregation, with a full-time pastor, in Oklahoma City.

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Cathedral of Hope's strong history of Gospel-centered social justice work would make them a welcomed addition to the UCC family.

Meanwhile, two churches nominally connected to the United Church of Christ have recently voted to end their affiliation with the denomination. “On July 24, the 49-member Center Congregational UCC in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood voted to withdraw from the UCC’s Southeast Conference. Likewise, on July 31, the 470-member Shiloh UCC in Faith, N.C. voted 189 to 9 to sever its ties to the Southern Conference,” reports United Church News.

Neither of these congregations provided financial support to the covenantal ministries of the UCC – a primary obligation of any church. Both churches cited the UCC’s General Synod decision supporting same sex marriages as a reason for voting to leave the UCC now. “We are open, but we will not be affirming. We are open to all people, but we will not condone sin,” said The Rev. J.R. McAliley, minister of the Center Congregational Church.

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