ATLANTA (AP) – The gay pastor of Atlanta’s oldest Lutheran church, who disclosed he was in a same-sex relationship, said Thursday, July 5, he will not leave the pulpit despite being removed from his denomination’s clergy roster.

The Rev. Bradley Schmeling’s decision could open the 350-member congregation at St. John’s Lutheran Church to disciplinary action from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

“The congregation issued a call to me in 2000, and as far as we are concerned that hasn’t changed,” Schmeling said. “I’m disheartened [the decision] gives the impression the church is more interested in rules than in compassion.”

An appeals committee on Monday ruled that Schmeling would be removed from the roster at St. John’s Lutheran Church – a decision that overturned a ruling from an earlier panel, which had allowed the pastor to stay on the roster until Aug. 15.

Schmeling told St. John’s and his bishop that he is gay before he was chosen as pastor in 2000. But last year, when Schmeling announced he had found a lifelong companion, Bishop Ronald Warren of the ELCA’s Southeastern Synod asked the 44-year-old pastor to resign.

When Schmeling refused, Warren started disciplinary proceedings against him, leading to a closed-door January trial in which a disciplinary hearing committee basically served as the jury.

In their decision, seven members of the 12-member disciplinary committee said they felt the church rule left them no choice but to defrock Schmeling, effective Aug. 15. But the committee also wrote that, if not bound by the rule, it “would find almost unanimously that Pastor Schmeling is not engaged in conduct that is incompatible with the ministerial office” and would order no discipline.

The committee suggested that the ELCA should remove its rule and reinstate gay clergy who were removed or resigned because they were in a same-sex “lifelong partnership.”

Both Schmeling and Warren appealed the committee’s decision, and the appeals members sided with Warren on Monday.

The appeals committee ruled that the first committee had no right to delay Schmeling’s removal until after the ELCA’s biennial meeting churchwide assembly Aug. 6-12 in Chicago. It also said it exceeded its authority by suggesting the church should change its policies.

The acceptance of gay clergy has been at the core of a heated debate in many Protestant denominations. The ELCA, which has 4.9 million members, allows openly gay clergy, but only if they are celibate. Still, many Lutheran churches support ordaining partnered gays and perform same-sex blessing ceremonies despite the policy.