Metropolitan Community Churches: Commitment to Equality

Our celebration of 44 years of Metropolitan Community Churches during the month of October continues. The final selection of MCC's early history...commitment to equality.

Equality is a core commitment within Metropolitan Community Churches, and the journey from vision to reality has been both fascinating and hopeful. Women participated in the first General Conference in 1970 as both deacons and attendees. The following year, two women, Rev Alice Naumoff of San Francisco, California, USA, and Rev Ruth (Rob) Shivers of Dallas, Texas, USA, attended the General Conference as "licensed ministers," a position that, at the time, had much less authority than it carries today.

By 1973, the number of women in leadership had grown significantly. Rev Freda Smith made a major impact on the 1973 General Conference, where the number of women attending had grown to 10 percent.

An outgrowth of Rev Elder Freda Smith's leadership was a Women's Commission report to the 1974 General Conference. The commission's work resulted in a recommendation that every church work toward the use of inclusive language. The inclusive language debate climaxed at the 1981 General Conference, when the report of the Task Force on Inclusive Language was approved.

The first General Conference action on behalf of transgender members came in 1979, with the adoption of a denominational resolution.

Throughout its history, MCC has increasingly challenged itself to achieve equality by race and ethnic background. More than a dozen people of color attended the General Conference in 1971, including those of Latino, African and Asian heritage.

Today, MCC continues to embrace and live the words of Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus."