Metropolitan Community Church Edinburgh

							Metropolitan Community Church Edinburgh
Love Liberates

What is MCC?

MCC is a worldwide ecumenical Christian Church that affirms and welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as anyone else who wishes to worship with us. MCC members come from a wide variety of faith backgrounds and, or, from no faith background at all.

We embrace and celebrate racial, cultural, linguistic, sexual, gender and theological diversity.

We believe in the priesthood of all believers and almost all of the Church's rite's and sacraments are open to lay people as well as to clergy. Over half of our clergy are women - more than any other denomination. We have member congregations in over 20 countries.

Visit MCC Global Website

MCC Edinburgh

MCC Edinburgh was founded in 1995, as the result of outreach held at the first Pride Scotia festival. From small beginnings, and with the hard work of many hands the church has grown and flourished over the last thirteen years. We recently celebrated our birthday - which we traditionally still celebrate on the third Sunday of July, which is when Pride used to be!

Over the years, we have met in various venues including the University of Edinburgh Chaplaincy Centre, the Friends Meeting House and in 2003 we moved to our current home, Augustine United Church at 41 George IV Bridge.

We meet each week for worship at 6pm, except for August, when we meet at 11am. Our worship services are relaxed and informal, using contemporary music and liturgies that reflect the ordinary day to day nature of our lives. We welcome a broad range of theologies and beliefs and encourage one another to discover our own answers to life's big questions. Our communion is open to all regardless of faith background, and we use alcohol free juice and gluten free wafers, as important symbolic and practical signs of our principle of inclusivity.

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Our Staff

Our Interim Pastor is the Rev Johnathan Jones. He recently moved to Edinburgh from MCC Ancourage. You can read more about his personal journey and ministry by following this link.

Our Associate Pastor is the Rev Maxwell Reay, who has been on staff since December 2007. He is responsible for Congregational Life, which includes pastoral care, welcoming and Creating a Life that Matters. Rev Maxwell works full time as a mental heathcare chaplain in the Department of Spiritual Care, NHS Lothian. He is the first ordained MCC clergy person to hold a post as an NHS chaplain. You can read more about Rev Maxwell by following this link.

Rev Johnathan Jones
Interim Pastor

Rev Maxwell Reay
Chaplain and Associate Pastor for Congregational Life

Leadership

MCC Edinburgh is a membership organisation, which is a registered Scottish charity. It is the members of the church that are responsible for electing the Senior Pastor and the Church Committee, who are responsible for the day to day administration of the church. Church members are represented on the Committee by the Lay Delegate, who also takes forward the congregation's views at a Regional and Denominational level.

The Church Committee

Dorothy Boyle, Chair

Lewis Reay, Treasurer

George Burrows,
Lay Delegate

Vacancy

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MCC Worldwide - Our Denomination

Metropolitan Community Church was founded in October 1968, one year before the Stonewall Riots which gave birth to the modern LGBT liberation movement. Troy Perry, a young, gay, former Pentecostal Pastor, decided to organise a worship service in his home in a working class district of Los Angeles. 12 people turned up. Among those 12 people at the first worship service were represented different faith traditions, different ethnic groups, men and women, gay people and heterosexuals foreshadowing the diversity that was to be rooted in the movement in the years to come.

Rev Elder Troy Perry served as Moderator of MCC until his retirement in 2005. In his retirement, he maintains an active speaking schedule, lecturing on the history of the gay rights movement, HIV issues, and marriage equality. He also regularly preaches in both MCC congregations and other faith communities. To read more about Rev Perry's life and ministry visit his website www.revtroyperry.org.

The first Church, MCC Los Angeles moved from location to location as it grew until it eventually became one of the first LGBT affirming organisation in the United States to own a building. That building was subsequently burned down in an arson attack, one of twenty one MCC buildings around the world to have suffered this fate. MCC Los Angeles now worships in a prominent worship centre in the heart of gay West Hollywood.

MCC came to Europe in 1973 when Troy was invited to speak in London in his capacity as a Gay Rights Activist. A small group of LGBT Christians who had been meeting for prayer under the name Fellowship of Christ the Liberator met with Troy and decided to form an MCC congregation in London. One of their number, Rev Elder Jean White, still ministers in London as Senior Pastor of MCC South London, one of three thriving MCC congregations in London.

12 MCC congregations currently worship in the UK. MCC has Churches and groups in Scotland, England, Germany, France, Denmark, the United States of America, Nicaragua, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Venezuela, Argentina, Romania, South Africa, Nigeria, Russia, Uruguay, Mexico, Cuba and Brazil around 300 in total. MCC has Official Observer Status at the World Council of Churches.

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What Do We Believe?

This is the simple declaration of what UFMCC believes, as stated in our Bylaws, and accepted by our General Conference:

Christianity is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and is the religion set forth in the scriptures. Jesus Christ is foretold in the Old Testament, presented in the New Testament, and proclaimed by the Christian Church in every age and in every land.
Founded in the interest of offering a church home to all who confess and believe, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches moves in the mainstream of Christianity.
Our faith is based upon the principles outlined in the historic creeds: Apostles and Nicene.

We believe:

In one triune God, omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, of one substance and of three persons: God - our Parent-Creator; Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God, God in flesh, human; and the Holy Spirit - God as our Sustainer.
That the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, showing forth God to every person through the law and the prophets, and finally, completely and ultimately on earth in the being of Jesus Christ.
That Jesus...the Christ...historically recorded as living some 2,000 years before this writing, is God incarnate, of human birth, fully God and fully human, and that by being one with God, Jesus has demonstrated once and forever that all people are likewise Children of God, being spiritually made in God's image.
That the Holy Spirit is God making known God's love and interest to all people. The Holy Spirit is God, available to and working through all who are willing to place their welfare in God's keeping.
Every person is justified by grace to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
We are saved from loneliness, despair and degradation through God's gift of grace, as was declared by our Savior. Such grace is not earned, but is a pure gift from a God of pure love. We further commend the community of the faithful to a life of prayer; to seek genuine forgiveness for unkind, thoughtless and unloving acts; and to a committed life of Christian service.
The Church serves to bring all people to God through Christ. To this end, it shall arrange for regular services of worship, prayer, interpretation of the Scriptures, and edification through the teaching and preaching of the Word.

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Love Liberates