Cross Denominational Mission
The
Metropolitan Community Church - MCC (full name: The Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches or UFMCC) is an
international fellowship of Christian congregations. It is
congregational, prebyteral and liberal. There are 250 member
congregations in 23 countries, and the denomination has a specific
outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The MCC has Official Observer status with the World Council of
Churches, but has been repeatedly denied membership of the (US) National
Council of Churches. However, many local MCC congregations are members
of local ecumenical partnerships and MCC currently belongs to seven
state-wide councils of churches in the United States.
History
The
first congregation was founded in Los Angeles by the Rev. Troy Perry in
1968, a time when Christian attitudes toward homosexuality were
negative and hostile. MCC has grown since then to have a presence in 23
countries with 250 affiliated churches. During that time many local
congregations have been the victims of homophobic hate crimes and more
than 6000 members were lost during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.
Troy
Perry served as moderator of the Fellowship until 2005 when Nancy
Wilson was elected by the General Conference. Wilson was
formally installed as moderator in a special service at the Washington
National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. on October 29, 2005.
Worship and Beliefs
MCC
bases its theology on the historic creeds of the Christian Church such
as Apostles' and Nicene creed. Every church is required to celebrate
the Eucharist at least once a week, to practice open communion,
(meaning that recipients need not be a member of the MCC or any other
church to receive the Eucharist). Communion can be presided over by
either a member of the clergy or by a designated lay person; in some
congregations the pastor or clergy rarely preside. Beyond that MCC
allows its member churches independence in doctrine, worship, and
practice consequently worship styles vary widely from church to church.
MCC
sees its mission being social as well as spiritual by standing up for
the rights of minorities, particularly those of lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender people. Many local churches are also involved
with other national and international campaigns, including Trade
Justice, Fair Trade and Make Poverty History.
Among its social justice work,
MCC has a strong commitment to marriage equality for gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and transgender people. MCC's founder, the Rev. Elder Troy
Perry, performed the first public same-sex marriage in the United
States in Huntington Park, California in 1969. In 1970, he filed the
first lawsuit in the U.S. seeking legal recognition for same-sex
marriages. Perry lost that lawsuit but launched the debate over
marriage equality in the U.S. Today, MCC congregations around the world
perform more than 6000 same-sex union/marriage ceremonies annually.
The
Rev. Brent Hawkes and the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto were
key players in the legal action that ultimately brought same-sex
marriage to Canada.
MCC fully affirms the
ministry of both men and women, seeing them as equal, and the recent
election of the Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson as Moderator makes MCC one of a
small number of communions with female senior leadership. Additionally,
it is almost unique in having the majority of current senior leaders
being women.
Leadership
MCC
is led by a Board of Elders (BOE) and a Board of Administration (BOA).
The Board of Elders consists of a Moderator and 7 regional Elders (one
of whom is appointed Vice-Moderator). The BOE has responsibility for
leading the Fellowship on matters of spirituality, mission development,
and Christian witness. Currently 7 out of the 9 member Board of Elders
are women. The Board of Administration is made up of up to seven
members appointed by the Board of Elders and is the legal corporate
board of the denomination, handling financial and legal matters. The
two Boards are assisted by a small permanent staff, headed by the
Executive Director, currently the Rev. Dr. Cindi Love. As a California
Corporation, MCC is still officially headquartered in West Hollywood,
California, USA, but all denominational offices have been dispersed to
a number of strategic locations.
MCC
divides the World into 7 regions each served by an elder (broadly
similar to a Bishop - although the use of this term is controversial
within the denomination) who has authority to affiliate and
disaffiliate churches, appoint regional staff and spend funds from the
regional budget. They have no direct control over the permanent
election of pastors or the day-to-day operation of congregations,
instead their role is to support the pastors and local congregations.
General Conference
Internationally,
the government of the UFMCC is vested in the bi-annual General
Conference, subject to the provisions of the Fellowship Articles of
Incorporation, its Bylaws, or documents of legal organization. The
General Conference is authorized to receive the reports from the
various Boards, Committees, Commissions and Councils of the Fellowship.
Throughout its history the General Conference has met both in and
outside of the continental United States, in places such as Sydney,
Australia and Toronto and Calgary, Canada. After the General Conference
in 2007 (Phoenix, Arizona,USA) the General
Conference will meet tri-annually beginning in 2010.
Local congregations
Each
affiliated member church of MCC is a self-governing, legally autonomous
body, is vested in its Congregational Meeting which exerts the right to
control all of its affairs, subject to the provisions of the UFMCC
Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, or documents of legal organization,
and the General Conference. An ordained Pastor provides spiritual
leadership and administrative leadership as the moderator of a local
church administrative body. In the United States and Canada the local
church administrative body is usually called "board of directors". Each
local congregation is required to send a tithe of income to UFMCC,
currently set at 14% of income, although many larger MCCs delay payment
of these dues. Each local church elects its own pastor from the roster
of MCC acreditted clergy.
Each local congregation is free to
determine matters of worship, practice, theology and ministry providing
they meet certain basic requirements involving open access to communion
and subscription to the traditional Christian creeds. Styles of worship
include liturgical, charismatic, evangelical, traditional and modern -
diversity is an important part of MCC.
Links
Metropolitan Community Church
MCC of Washington DC, typical US church
MCC Edinburgh, typical UK church
JesusMCC