Metropolitan Community Churches
FACT   SHEET

--MCC has an inclusive membership of over 43,000 members and adherents in 22 countries as of September 2003.

--Starting with one group of 12 in Los Angeles in 1968, MCC now has almost 300 churches throughout the world.

-- MCC was founded in October 1968, one year prior to 1969's Stonewall Riots.

--MCC has been at the vanguard of civil and human rights movements and addresses the important issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and other forms of oppression.

--MCC congregations have an aggregate annual operating budget in excess of $20 million (US). MCC Headquarters and Regional Elders have an annual operating budget of $3.2 million (US).

--More than fifty percent (50.5%) of MCC clergy are women, a higher percentage than any other Christian denomination.

--MCC churches and groups are located in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, Romania, Russia, Scotland, South Africa, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

--MCC has churches in 48 states of the United States. There are members in every state.

--The largest MCC church is Resurrection MCC (Houston, TX), with a membership exceeding 600.

--MCC holds observer status in the World Council of Churches, participates in the programs of the National Council of Churches -- and has full membership in four U.S. state councils: California, Colorado, Hawaii, and North Carolina.

--The MCC Headquarters are located in the $3.8 million MCC World Center in West Hollywood, California.

--AIDS has dramatically affected MCC churches.  Since 1982, an estimated 6,000 MCC members have died of AIDS and related diseases, yet the epidemic has also brought many new members who are facing questions of life and death.

--MCC clergy are trained by 20 seminaries of mainline Christian denominations that accept MCC students.

--An increasing number of the children of lesbian or gay parents are active in MCC, and many congregations offer specialized ministries to meet the spiritual needs of these children.

--MCC clergy bless same-sex couples with Marriage and Holy Union ceremonies. MCC clergy perform more than 6,000 same-sex weddings annually.

--Elected leadership of the denomination consists of a 10-member Board of Elders composed of the denominational Moderator, Vice-Moderator, and eight Regional Elders. Reverend Troy D. Perry is the Moderator and of the denomination. A Board of Administration oversees administration, finances, and policies for the denomination.

--MCC follows a congregational form of church government with self-governing local congregations. Local churches are represented in an international General Conference that meets once every two years.

--MCC Moderator, Reverend Elder Nancy L. Wilson, was elected to serve the denomination in July, 2005. She began her position as Moderator in October, 2005. Wilson was founder of Free Spirit MCC, an outreach to women incarcerated at California Institute for Women, and sponsored the first three UFMCC Conferences for “MCC Women in Ministry.” Her published works include: Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus and the Bible (Alamo Press); with Fr. Malcolm Boyd, Amazing Grace; and her prayers and poems are included in Race and Prayer edited by Malcolm Boyd and Chester Talton (Morehouse Press). She is a popular preacher and speaker; has been honored with the first “Lazarus Award” from the Presbyterian Church and was invited to preach at the Earl Lectures at Pacific School of Religion in January 2002.

--MCC Founder, Reverend Troy D. Perry, is an internationally recognized human rights activist and has received honors from many human rights organizations, including honorary doctorates from Episcopal Divinity School, Samaritan College and Sierra University along with awards from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, the Lazarus Project, and the Gay and Lesbian Press Association. Reverend Perry attended the first ever White House meeting of gay and lesbian leaders during the Carter presidency, was the first openly gay member of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission and was appointed as a delegate to the White House Conference On Hate Crimes by President Bill Clinton.

--MCC is the largest international vehicle for public education about homosexuality and Christianity.

--Twenty-one MCC congregations have been victimized by the antigay hates crimes of arson or fire-bombing.