OUR STORY
In the summer of 2005, the idea to begin aChurch4Me was initiated. Beginning with a search for worship space, and asking many questions of friends and members of the community regarding direction, inspiration for something new in Chicago was officially in motion.
After attending the Metropolitan Community Church's (MCC), global conference in Calgary Canada, we learned of the vision, values, and purpose of MCC, and found great resonance.
MCC is on a bold mission to transform hearts, lives, and history. We are part of a movement that faithfully proclaims God's inclusive love for all people, and proudly bears witness to the holy integration of spirituality and sexuality.
We are called to:
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Do justice, show kindness, and live humbly with God
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Explore life’s questions with open hearts and minds
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Raise our voices in sacred defiance against religious (and political or systemic) exclusion
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Reach out to those in need
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Lift up new generations of remarkable, far-reaching, spiritual activists
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We value inclusion, community, spiritual transformation, and social action. As God’s liberated people, we boldly reclaim our holy identity, while advancing our call to social justice through action. We share the story of God’s transforming grace, nurture the value of community, and build bridges that Liberate and Unite.
Throughout 2006 we continued to ask questions, attend community meetings, and to listen to the hopes, dreams, and struggles, of people who find themselves lost or challenged by prior negative religiously based or spiritual experiences that were unjust, unloving or unwelcoming.
Early in 2007 we began working in the community to confirm the mission and direction of this new, radically organic community, and church. We held our first gathering on Palm Sunday in 2007. At that time our offices were located at the Center on Halsted, and we worked within the community to bring together twelve faith communities in celebration of spiritual diversity and community.
In 2008 the congregation elected its first board, affirmed the Pastor, and became the first church of the MCC's 2nd generation. We affiliated as a member of MCC on the 40th founding anniversary of the Metropolitan Community Churches.
Today, aChurch4Me MCC celebrates worship each Sunday morning at 11am at the Center on Halsted. We are a growing and diverse congregation, where all are welcomed and celebrated!
Our Founder MCC, Rev. Troy Perry
HISTORY OF MCC
In 1968, a year before New York’s Stonewall Riots, a series of most unlikely events in Southern California resulted in the birth of the world’s first church group with a primary, positive ministry to gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender persons.
Those events, a failed relationship, an attempted suicide, a reconnection with God, an unexpected prophecy, and the birth of a dream led to MCC’s first worship service: a gathering of 12 people in Rev. Troy Perry’s living room in Huntington Park, California on October 6, 1968.
That first worship service in a Los Angeles suburb in 1968 launched the international movement of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), which today has grown to 43,000 members and adherents in almost 300 congregations in 22 countries. During the past 36 years, MCC’s prophetic witness has forever changed the face of Christianity and helped to fuel the international struggle for LGBT rights and equality.
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We invite you to read and learn more about Rev. Troy Perry and the history of the Metropolitan Community Churches here.