Rev. Tony Chance

Rev. Clare Chance

Editor's note:

A husband-and-wife team of United Methodist pastors who lead different churches was featured recently in the Orlando Sentinel.

Read about the joys and challenges of the work of Rev. Tony Chance, pastor at Azalea Park and Faith United Methodist churches, and Rev. Clare Chance, pastor at Broadway UMC.

By Jeff Kunerth, Orlando Sentinel | July 25, 2012 

At roughly the same time Sunday, in churches five miles apart, the Rev. Clare Chance is preaching to her downtown Orlando congregation while her husband, the Rev. Tony Chance, is addressing members of his church in Azalea Park.

They prefer it this way.

"There are advantages to being in different churches," said Clare, pastor of Broadway United Methodist Church. "We love the way it is now."

Husband-and-wife ministers are not unusual in the United Methodist Church, but it is uncommon for pastoral couples to serve in separate churches, said Gwen Purushotham, associate general secretary with the church's Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.

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