MCC Easter Offering: How Your Gift Impacts MCC Ministry in Uganda!

Building Up Hope.

MCC 2011

PACESETTER

CHURCHES

Churches Participating

in MCC’s Easter

Offering for

Global Ministries

1. achurch4me?
MCC (Chicago, Illinois) – Rev. Kevin Downer, Pastor

2. Agape MCC (Ft, Worth, Texas) – Rev. David Wynn, Sr., Pastor

3. All God’s Children MCC (Minneapolis, Minnesota) – Rev. Paul Tucker, Pastor

4. Central Texas MCC

(Waco, Texas) – Rev. Charley Garrison, Pastor

5. Church of the Trinity MCC (Sarasota, Florida) – Rev. Charles Tigard, Pastor

6. Cornerstone MCC (Mobile, Alabama) – Rev. Lee Carlton, Pastor

7. Exodus MCC (Abilene, Texas) – Rev. Margaret Walker, Pastor

8. First MCC (Wichita, Kansas) – Rev. Jackie Carter, Pastor

9. FirstCoast MCC (St. Augustine, Florida) – Rev. Ruth Jensen-Forbell, Pastor

10. Heartland Community MCC (Springfield, Illinois) – Tony Thieman-Somora, Pastoral Leader

11. Holy Covenant MCC (Brookfield, Illinois) – Rev. Danny Spears, Pastor

12. Imago Dei MCC

(Pennsylvania) – Rev. Janice Bowker, Intentional Interim Specialist

13. Joy MCC (Orlando, Florida) – Rev. Lisa Heilig, Interim Pastor

14. King of Peace MCC (St. Petersburg, Florida) – Rev. Dr. Candace Shultis, Pastor

15. Living Springs MCC (Bath, England) – Rev. Kieren Bourne, Pastor

16. MCC Albuquerque (New Mexico) – Rev. Judith Maynard, Pastor

17. MCC Austin (Texas) – Rev. Karen Thompson, Pastor

18. MCC Boston

(Massachusetts) – Rev. Michael Cooper, Pastor

19. MCC Cologne (Germany) – Rev. Ines-Paul Baumann

20. MCC Detroit

(Michigan) – Rev. Mark Bidwell, Pastor

21. MCC Family in Christ (Fort Collins, Colorado) – Rev. Ken Pilot, Pastor

22. MCC Good Shepherd

(Granville, Australia) – Rev. Robert Clark, Pastor

23. MCC Las Vegas

(Nevada) – Rev. Wayne Lindsey, Pastor

24. MCC Los Angeles

(California) – Rev. Dr. Neil Thomas, Pastor

25. MCC Lubbock (Texas) – Rev. Renae Phillips, Pastor

26. MCC Newcastle Upon
Tyne (England) – Rev. Cecilia Eggleston, Pastor; Rev. Pressley Sutherland, Interim Support Pastor

27. MCC of Baton Rouge (Louisiana) – Rev. Keith Mozingo, Pastor

28. MCC of Greater St. Louis (Missouri) – Rev. Carol Trissel, Pastor

29. MCC of New York (New York) – Rev. Pat Bumgardner, Pastor

30. MCC NOVA (Fairfax, Virginia) – Rev. Dr. Kharma Amos, Pastor

31. MCC of Paducah

(Kentucky) – Rev. Lillian Ferguson, Pastor

32. MCC of the Blue Ridge

(Roanoke, Virginia) – Rev. Joe Cobb, Pastor

33. MCC of the Palm Beaches (Florida) – Rev. Dr. Lea Brown, Pastor

34. MCC of the Spirit

(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) – Rev. Lori E. Rivera, Pastor

35. MCC of Topeka

(Kansas) – Rev. Dr. Ty Sweeting, Pastor

36. MCC Rehoboth

(Delaware) – Rev. Dr. Dusty Pruitt, Interim Pastor

37. MCC Richmond

(Virginia) – Rev. Dr. Robin Gorsline, Pastor

38. MCC San Antonio

(Texas) – Rev. Mick Hinson, Pastor

39. MCC Winston-Salem (North Carolina) – Rev. Ron LaRocque, Pastor

40. New Creation MCC (Columbus, Ohio) – Rev. Margaret Hawk, Pastor

41. New Life MCC

(Charlotte, North Carolina) – Rev. Mark Deane Pastor

42. New Light MCC

(Hagerstown, Maryland) – Rev. Michael Hydes, Pastor

43. New Spirit MCC

(Cincinnati, Ohio) – Open Pulpit

44. Open Arms MCC

(Rochester, New York) – Rev. Jim Mulcahy, Pastor

45. Open Circle at The Villages MCC (Florida) – Rev. Carol Rawlings-Chambers, Pastor

46. Our Hope MCC (Athens, Georgia) – Rev. Dr. Renee DuBose, Pastor

47. Peninsula MCC (San Mateo, California) – Rev. Terri Echelbarger, Pastor

48. Pikes Peak MCC

(Colorado Springs, Colorado) – Rev. Wes Mullins, Pastor

49. Redeemer MCC (Flint, Michigan) – Rev. Ed Yates, Pastor

50. Resurrection MCC (Houston, Texas) – Rev. Harry Knox, Pastor

51. Resurrection Beach MCC (Costa Mesa, California) – Open Pulpit

52. River of Life MCC

(Dorchester, England) – Rev Catherine Dearlove, Pastor

53. Spirit of Life MCC (New Port Richey, Florida) – Rev. Vickie Miller, Interim Pastor

54. St. John the Apostle MCC (Ft. Myers, Florida) – Rev. Steve Filizzi, Pastor

55. St. Jude’s MCC

(Wilmington NC) – Rev. John McLaughlin, Pastor

56. SunCoast Cathedral MCC (Venice, Florida) – Rev. Dr. Sherry Kennedy, Pastor

57. The Rock MCC (Chattanooga, Tennessee) – Rev. Brad Rice, Pastor

58. Tree of Life MCC (Ann Arbor, Michigan) – Rev. Dr. Fran Mayes, Pastor

59. Trinity MCC

(Gainesville, Florida) – Rev. Jim Merritt, Pastor

An Important Update

from Rev. Nancy L. Wilson

Office of the Moderator

Metropolitan Community Churches

MCC’s 2011 Easter Offering for Global Ministries

Dear MCC Friend:

Easter — the holiest day in Christianity – is rapidly approaching!

The Easter message of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection has brought hope to millions of people across the centuries.

And through MCC’s 2011 Easter Offerings for Global Ministries, we have a wonderful opportunity to share the Easter message of hope and to join hands with our brothers and sisters around the globe in their life-changing, life-saving ministries.

Today, I want to salute the 59 MCC congregations and the 59 MCC pastors who have already written to say they will receive an Easter Offering for Global Ministries.

You will find a list of this year’s participating churches in the left-hand column. If your church is not yet listed, I invite you to write to me today and let me know of your participation.

In recent weeks, I’ve shared how this year’s Easter offerings will support MCC’s anchor efforts in Asia and extend MCC’s ministry in Russia.

______________________________________________________

Today, I want to share with you

why your Easter giving is so vital to the lives

of LGBT people in the East Africa nation of Uganda.

______________________________________________________

At a time when many nations are recognizing that LGBT rights are human rights, Uganda is moving rapidly in the opposite direction. In a country where gay sex is already illegal, Uganda’s Parliament has spent two years debating new anti-gay laws which, in various versions, would mandate the death penalty for gays and lesbians, require a sentence of life in prison for engaging in a gay sex act, and even imprison persons who fail to report to authorities if they overhear a conversation in which someone acknowledges they are gay.

It gets worse…

Sadly, some Uganda church leaders are fueling the anti-LGBT frenzy. For example, Rev. Martin Ssempa, pastor of an evangelical church in Uganda’s capital city, regularly hold anti-gay rallies at which he describes all gay people as pedophiles and deserving of imprisonment or death. He even shows hard-core pornography at churches and Christian conferences to fuel anti-gay sentiment.

Think that’s bad?

But it gets worse…

A number of American fundamentalist churches — including some mega-church pastors — are sending funds to support anti-gay in Uganda!

Horrified?

It gets still worse…

The current anti-gay frenzy in Uganda has created a climate of threats, intimidation and violence against LGBT people. The situation has become so volatile that many human rights groups now describe the situation there as a “Gay Genocide.”

On January 26 of this year, David Kato, head of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), was murdered in his home in Mukono, Uganda.

The late David Kato, Ugandan human rights activist,

murdered on January 26, 2111, in an anti-gay hate crime.

MCC’s Global Justice Institute organized David Kato’s memorial service at New York City’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church and helped organize a major rally at the site of Uganda’s mission to the United Nations.

And MCC has partnered with SMUG and Integrity to establish St. Paul’s Reconciliation & Equality Center, which offers safe space to LGBT Ugandans.

MCC is partnering with Integrity and SMUG to provide

this safe space for our LGBT sisters and brothers in Uganda.

This Center meets a pressing need for Ugandans who live under the daily threat of anti-gay violence. For some, it is a safe space where they can experience a time of freedom from persecution. And for others, it offers temporary housing while awaiting asylum to other countries.

______________________________________________________

Your gifts to MCC’s

Easter Offerings for Global Ministries will help

support this life-saving safe space for LGBT Ugandans!

______________________________________________________

I hope you sense why your church’s participation in MCC’s 2011 Easter Offerings for Global Ministries is so very, very vital.

That is why I am asking for your help and inviting your church to receive an Easter Offering for Global Ministries.

If your church will participate this year, I am asking that your church take the following steps today:

1. Send an e-mail to me and let me know of your commitment. When you write, let me know whether you will receive your offering on Easter Sunday, or on a Sunday close to Easter. As soon as I hear from you, we’ll add your church to the list of 2011 Pacesetter Churches — churches that are “setting the pace” in support of MCC’s commitment to global ministry.

2. Let your congregation know about this Easter Offering by sharing the information in these weekly letters. And I especially encourage you to remember our brothers and sisters in Uganda, Russia, and the Philippines in prayer during worship services leading up to Easter Sunday.

Through our shared giving this Easter, we can make a profound difference in our world.

Won’t you write to me today?

Grace and peace,

+ Nancy

Rev. Nancy L. Wilson

Moderator

Metropolitan Community Churches

P.S. May I share one more thought? You may be tempted to think your gifts won’t make a significant difference. I’m reminded of the little boy who brought his few loaves and fishes to Jesus. It wasn’t a large gift — certainly not in the face of the need. But the key was this: He did what he could and he gave what he had — and then Jesus miraculously multiplied them.

I think it’s the same with our Easter giving. When we do what we can and give what we have, God will use our gifts in miraculous ways. Won’t you write to me today ?

Rev. Pat Bumgardner (center, with microphone), executive

director of MCC’s Global Justice Institute, addresses New York City

vigil for slain activist David Kato, at Uganda’s mission to the United Nations.