The Seattle-based megachurch Quest Church has announced its departure from the Evangelical Covenant Church as it faced potential expulsion over the congregation's support for the LGBT movement.
Although multiple real estate interests were in the running to purchase the prime urban Seattle property owned by the now-defunct 15,000-member megachurch Mars Hill, the Ballard neighborhood church facility will remain a sanctuary, as a nearby congregation won the bidding on Tuesday with a $9-million offer.
Eugene Cho, founder and lead pastor of Quest Church, an urban, multicultural and multigenerational church in Seattle, Washington, announced his resignation Sunday after 18 years at the helm of the church. The pastor, whose resignation becomes effective Sept. 30, assured his congregation that his decision is not due to moral failure but the need for a new leader who has a fresh vision for the church.
As he gets ready for his final Sunday at Quest Church in Seattle, Washington, Founding Pastor Eugene Cho, formally introduced the Rev. Brenda Salter McNeil as the church's new transitional pastor.
(RNS) The Seattle megachurch’s move to disaffiliate from the denomination comes as the ECC was prepared to vote this summer on expelling Quest and Awaken Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, over the churches' support for LGBTQ Christians.