“Now to the One who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to that One be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3: 20-21.
This is the scripture that forms the basis for the theme of the 2010 General Conference. MCC folks are gathering as we are meeting here today. I invite you to hear the highlights of the report of Rev. Nancy Wilson, Moderator of our denomination. She begins:
I pray that our passion for the radically inclusive gospel of Jesus Christ will be evident and will guide our experience together. The years since we last met for a General Conference have been filled with many joys and challenges. Together we have faced an unprecedented global economic crisis, organizational change, and increasing demand for our ministry in communities where MCC has been established for a long time as well as in many parts of the world where MCC is just beginning to make an impact.
I have abridged her summary of the achievements of the denomination since the last conference as this:
MCC now has churches, missions, centers and groups in formation in 37 countries
In Latin America (including the Spanish speaking Caribbean), we went from 13 worshipping communities in 10 countries in 2007, to 42 worshipping communities in 14 countries
We weathered the worst global economic downturn in decades, took action, right sized our global structure, cut our budget, made strategic changes
The Elders have realigned their work to bring you the best expertise and support for church growth at all sizes,
We have trained 97 local church leaders for “Creating a Life that Matters” since 2007, 121 since 2006.
The Elders have innovated with a new Network system, in which 30 networks now cooperate around the globe to provide care and connection for MCC pastors and congregations. We are a part of the Central Florida Network and I am blessed to have been chosen as the Leader for that Network.
MCC has emerged more than ever as a visible, global leader in the struggle for LGBT and human rights; helping people around the world in dire circumstances achieve safely, human rights, and spiritual community
We raised and spent most of $44,000 for direct relief in Haiti, including helping the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities
We have begun to re-invent church planting in MCC
Would Jesus Discriminate? campaigns were a great success in five countries, 44 cities and 46 churches.
Rev. Nancy then asks us to join her in FACING THE BRUTAL FACTS:
As for so many, this has not been an easy time for MCC. Among other things we face:
The economy: even as we have lowered the tithe requirement, our churches have struggled to pay tithes consistently. Our churches have wealth, property, and net worth, which they do not often leverage, and which we have not leveraged globally. Nevertheless, many churches have purchased property, bought land, improved their facilities, even in this economy, and expanded their ministries.
We experienced a flatness or decline in number of churches, membership and attendance. We see evidence that this is now changing, not only outside of North America, but in North America as well. There is renewed interest in churches and networks in multi-site growth, and in church planting. In the latter years of the worst of AIDS in North America, we lost some of our urgency and passion for church planting, and maybe our confidence. It is time to re-engage, as some churches are already doing.
We struggled for years to live within our means, and have never done that very well. It is time for us to do that, and to focus on long term health and sustainability, and to look to additional funding for expansion from foundations, and donors. We are beginning to make progress in this area, and a lot more can be done.
Rev. Nancy is hopeful and invites us to hear WHAT she BELIEVEs ABOUT MCC’S FUTURE AND DESTINY:
We are still an “Unfinished Church in an Unfinished World.” There is not a day that I do not receive a message from someone who is searching for MCC, just finding MCC, or asking for such a ministry in their location. The global need for partners in justice, in fighting religious homophobia, in supporting emerging Christian LGBT-friendly churches is so clear, and so much a part of our destiny as a denomination. There are some that wonder, in the US in particular, if MCC is no longer needed because some churches have opened their doors. I can tell you that there are MCC’s that thrive in places where LGBT people have many choices. There are places where we have not sustained a healthy church, and we need to try again! MCC’s thrive when they have good leadership and a clear vision and mission, a clear sense of what God is calling them to be and do in their place and time! It is all about servant leadership, and God’s calling.
MCC is still needed in our largest cities – to be a diverse, open, and queer-friendly spiritual home, to be a place that dares challenge the status quo, the religious right. In smaller cities and towns, MCC can be the hub of the community, perhaps one of the few or only gathering places, a place where people can hear about the radically inclusive gospel of Jesus, a place where many can meet. I see this everywhere I travel. I see a maturity in our lay leadership, and in the deepening of hospitality and community connection that can only come with years of service.
I was at one of our most successful churches, in a smaller city in the Northeast – a young woman who grew up in the church, with two lesbian Moms, now teaches the kids. Her husband told me that he loves MCC, which gave him his first spiritual path, and he leads the “green” ministry at the church with a group of young adults who are as diverse as you can imagine, and not so much into “LGBT.” This is also our future and destiny!
And, I see MCC’s emerging in places like “The Villages,” a retirement [community] in Florida, where the need is great for LGBT folks, their friends and families, and for a strong identity and community. Or a place like Asheville, North Carolina, where we had a church years ago, but where a new MCC church, that serves a very LGBT-friendly community is emerging with excellence.
Rev. Nancy reminds us that God is calling us – can we respond with imagination, faith and courage to that call? She says: When we started, in 1968 with 12 people and $3.12, no one could have imagined where we are today. Believe with me that MCC is a church of the 21st century, of the intersections of so many needs, cultures and ministries, and a powerful witness in a world hungry for God and for justice.
And so, now I ask you, where do we fit into all of this? We were blessed to have been mentioned by name in Rev. Nancy’s report. She is planning a visit with us and I will announce the date the minute I know and we can begin our plans for a great celebration. I and many of you come from a tradition where re-dedication of your life to Christ or God was practiced.…perhaps we need to adapt that tradition and rededicate ourselves to looking beyond these walls to the bigger things that are transpiring in the world, a world where people can still be imprisoned for having an engagement party, a world where churches and ministers are still threatened with harm merely for holding services. It is so easy to think that our concerns and struggles are ‘all there is’; MCC invites us to look at the big picture—to see the world as a whole, not just our little paradise corner of it.
And herein lies the blessing! It is a blessing to know that we are a part of this larger ministry—that right now, clergy and lay leaders from MCC churches, literally, from all over the world, are gathering in a place where they will spend the week not only in the business of MCC, but also in worship, in learning, in celebrating and, even consoling. We will soon learn of the location for the Conference in 2013. I invite us to begin even now to put aside funds so that as many of us who want to go, will be able to travel to the next Conference as we become fully participating in the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. In the meantime, your Board of Directors has voted to begin to pay a small tithe to MCC, so that we can truly say that we are joining in this wonderful, larger global ministry. And so, now I invite you to invite others. We have work to do, it is a blessing for me to lead you in this work. And while this work is bigger than all of us, it needs each and every one of us to succeed. Welcome to this blessing! Welcome to this blessed work! Amen and amen.
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