Eighty-seven retired United Methodist Church ministers have signed a pact agreeing to perform gay marriages, defying the church's official ban on such unions.

Most of the pastors making the pledge are from California, where recent court victories have resulted in the resumption of same-sex marriages. Five of the pastors, however, are from Nevada, where such unions are not legal.

At a press conference on Friday, the pastors, all of whom are retired, announced their intention to perform holy unions in Nevada for gay couples.

“We've always been on the edge of justice, but this time it does not seem that way,” Pastor Nadine DeWitt is quoted as saying by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The United Methodist Church, the third largest Christian group in the country, is officially opposed to holy unions as well as marriages for gay couples.

The pastors could face charges for going against church law.

“I don't think people think they're going to be hurt or harmed, but there is this sense that we could be held accountable and we don't know what that means at this point,” Rev. Kathy La Pointe-Collup of the Elk Grove United Methodist Church told NBC affiliate KCRA.

According to KCRA, some United Methodist Churches in California have already married gay couples.