Leading the fold

Huddled in a nearby room with her husband beside her, Nancy S. Taylor waited patiently yesterday as more than 250 members of the Old South Church in Copley Square decided her future.

As the members gathered in the church's meeting hall saw it, they were also deciding their own. In the church's 335-year-old history, whoever ascends to senior minister typically remains in the position for decades.

There have been only 19 leaders since 1669 at Old South Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ, so the decision to pick the 20th required careful discussion -- even after the Senior Minister Search Committee's unanimous recommendation that Taylor become the first female pastor.

The search committee picked Taylor from a field of about 90 candidates because of her ''superb" preaching and commitment to social justice.

But it's the members who have the final say.

''We call our own pastors," said 39-year-old Janice Graves, a 15-year-member of the church on Boylston Street. ''We decide our fate, not the hierarchy. There is no hierarchy."

And members clearly relished the freedom to express their opinions in a 30-minute discussion that followed a worship service during which Taylor preached about building a community of faith.

Before the vote, one member called Taylor a prophet while another doubted she was a strong enough voice for the church.

Gary Griffiths, 58, said he was elated when she welcomed gays and lesbians in her morning sermon, though another member found the homily ''long-winded."

Finally, the outspoken members agreed to make Taylor their next minister. The vote was overwhelmingly in Taylor's favor, with only three members opposing her appointment.

Taylor, 48, an advocate for gay marriage who played a major role in the passage of a state law that required clergy to reveal sex offenders in their midst, will assume her new role in January.

''I believe that we are going to have many faithful, exciting, challenging, and joyful years as God's people in the hub of the hub of the world," she told the members who welcomed her into the meeting hall with a standing ovation.

Following her short acceptance speech, Taylor said she was unperturbed by the criticism about her preaching during the selection process.

''I guess my response to that is I have more than one style of preaching," she said, smiling.

Taylor will leave her job as president of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ, the state's largest Protestant denomination.

As the first woman to hold the presidency, she will relinquish the high-profile job when she becomes the Old South Church pastor.

''You might consider it a promotion," she said. ''In our tradition, leading the local church is the most important thing you can do."

Her current role at the Massachusetts conference is parallel to that of Boston Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, according to church leaders.

But, unlike O'Malley, Taylor has no authority over the 425 churches in the state, and the denomination's membership is much smaller.

''We're autonomous," she said of the approximately 100,000 members. ''My leadership is not by directive. It's by persuasiveness."

She used her powers of persuasion when gay marriage became legal in Massachusetts earlier this year, encouraging church leaders to discuss the changes openly.

In 2002, she was a vocal advocate for proposed legislation that required clergy to report suspected cases of sexual abuse to the state.

''Having the leader of the size of our denomination saying, 'Yes, this is a change that should be made' prevented people from saying legislators who wanted to make the change were acting against churches," said Larry Bowers, one of the 12 members of the Senior Minister Search Committee.

Though her gender was never mentioned as a factor in the selection, Taylor, who is married to the Rev. Peter Southwell-Sander, an Anglican priest ordained in the Church of England, said she believes it may have been difficult for some to accept.

National research has shown congregants tend to favor male preachers, she said.

''In imagining their pastor, they imagine a young man with children and a wife who doesn't work," Taylor said.

But she said she gives the matter little weight.

''It was challenging to some people; it wasn't challenging to me," Taylor said.

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com