Key points:
- The Missouri Conference has reached a resolution with a United Methodist pastor who briefly worked for Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.
- The Rev. Stephanie Remington is not accused of any crime. But she faced a complaint under church law that she had not adequately kept the conference informed about her work and ministry setting.
- The conference also committed to strengthen its supervision of clergy who serve beyond a local church.
An ordained United Methodist elder who briefly worked for Jeffrey Epstein is no longer under suspension but is blocked from serving as pastor of a United Methodist congregation.
The Rev. Stephanie Remington is not accused of any crime. She faced a complaint under church law that she had not kept her home Missouri Conference adequately informed of where she was serving, including when she worked for the convicted sex offender.
The Missouri Conference announced the resolution of the case in an update late July 9.
Remington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As things stand, Remington retains her clergy credentials but can only be appointed to a United Methodist church again after a thorough evaluation process and approval under church law. For now, the conference said it would not be pursuing further disciplinary action against Remington.
Bishop Robert Farr, the conference’s bishop, suspended Remington and launched an investigation in March after learning that she had worked for Epstein without first informing the conference.
“This matter raised serious concerns about judgment and public witness,” Farr said in the July 9 announcement. Farr is also board president of United Methodist Communications, which includes United Methodist News.
“Clergy are entrusted with a visible and accountable ministry, and employment with a company connected to Jeffrey Epstein is deeply troubling given what is now known about the scope of his crimes and the harm done to his victims.”
Remington first worked for Epstein as an administrative assistant from August to December 2018 and then as a temporary property manager of his private island from January until May 2019.
That was when he was already a convicted sex offender, but before his second arrest in July 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors. In August of that year, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in what authorities ruled a suicide.
Remington is not accused of any crime. In March, she told UM News that she never saw Epstein or anyone else on the island abuse anyone. During her time working with him, many of the island’s facilities were closed for repairs after damage by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
In the Epstein files released by the U.S. Department of Justice, her name appears in more than 1,800 records. Many of her emails deal with the day-to-day running of facilities on the island, including travel arrangements for guests and the kitchen renovations she was overseeing.
“I never saw anything,” she told UM News in March. “I knew him for the last nine months of his life, well after he served time for the things that he was accused of doing.”
Still, she acknowledged that she knew Epstein was a registered sex offender when she accepted a job in his employ. At the time, Epstein had already completed an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty a decade earlier to one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18.
In a July 2025 memo, the Department of Justice said it has identified more than 1,000 victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking.
Remington said she did not know about these crimes.
Before coming to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Remington had previously served as a pastor at a series of United Methodist churches in Missouri for more than 15 years. She took leave in 2016 from pastoral ministry after she and her husband, a fellow United Methodist pastor, divorced.
In 2017 and 2018, during part of the time she lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands, she worked remotely as a research manager for the Lewis Center for Church Leadership — part of United Methodist-related Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. In subsequent years, she continued to do some contract work with the center.
But she explained that her work with the center was a part-time position, which is why she needed to apply for another job on the Virgin Islands. She left her job with Epstein, months before his second arrest, to care for her father after he had received a cancer diagnosis.
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The Book of Discipline, The United Methodist Church’s policy book, details the rules guiding ministry beyond church walls — what the denomination calls extension ministries.
Under The United Methodist Church’s connectional system, conference leaders and clergy in extension ministries are supposed to stay in regular contact. Clergy, no matter where they are serving, are supposed to file reports at least annually about their activities.
That did not happen in Remington’s case. She told UM News in March that for years, she did not file any reports, and conference leaders did no follow-up.
Remington said she did file a report in 2025 and later told her district superintendent through Zoom about her time in the Virgin Islands, including her work with Epstein. But she said she was unsure if the district superintendent fully understood her mention of Epstein.
The Missouri Conference says Remington is now, at her request, on what church law calls “Honorable Location.”
That means she is no longer part of the United Methodist itinerant appointment system, where the bishop appoints her to a ministry setting each year.
While she keeps “the Rev.” title, she also is no longer a member of the Missouri Conference — meaning she loses guaranteed appointment, voting privileges and eligibility to be elected as a clergy delegate to jurisdictional or General Conference.
In its announcement, the conference acknowledged that it needs to improve its supervision of clergy in extension-ministry appointments. The conference said it is reviewing its internal procedures to ensure clearer expectations and accountability, including for bivocational clergy who hold jobs in both church and secular settings as Remington did.
“The Missouri Conference recognizes the seriousness of the concerns raised and the pain associated with the exploitation and abuse connected to Epstein’s criminal conduct,” the conference said in its announcement.
“Nothing in this decision should be understood as minimizing that harm or weakening the Church’s commitment to the protection of vulnerable persons.”
Hahn is assistant news editor for UM News. Contact her at (615) 742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
