Barbara Lungalang
MCC Manchester

..."Why would an evangelical, charismatic, fundamentalist, bible-believing Christian be an attender at a gay church? Furthermore, why would a straight, middle-aged woman, with all of the background described above, attend a church 40 miles away from home, whose congregation is primarily made up of gay people?

Confused? I was - still am at times.

I had spent an evening with a gay work colleague, his partner and a friend. We had enjoyed one of our heated exchanges when as an almost throw-away remark he said that I couldn’t be a Christian and not be homophobic. I disagreed at once but later began to wonder if perhaps that was true. His words had almost hurt me as I had grown to love him as a friend. I hated the thought that my beliefs had contributed to some of the issues of acceptance some gay people experience.

He had given me a copy of the Pink Paper and on one of the pages was an advertisement for MCC. Some months passed and I felt more and more compelled to visit the church to see for myself what these ‘people’ were like. I doubted I would hear the Christian gospel or be part of a worshipful congregation but I needed to test it out for myself"...

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Jenny-Anne Bishop
MCC Manchester

We went to the Metropolitan Community Church in Manchester, which I immediately found to be a truly inclusive and supportive church. I don't say it's perfect - we're not - but we do welcome any and every body, unless they're disruptive! I was so amazed to go and feel the welcoming love and support of the people at this church after feeling that churches had rejected me for so many years. I felt it was the most Christian Church I'd ever been to, and felt, at last, I 'd found a spiritual home to be in.

After a while of going to the MCC church, I was asked to become a full member rather than just somebody attending. So Linda and I went to the classes about the faith of the church, and very broadly it was quite similar to my faith as a Catholic. Both of us joined the church as full members and I began the process of forgiving myself for being transgendered and beginning to believe that maybe God was quite happy with me going to church as Jenny-Anne and being the person God had created - although I do sometimes still feel, 'no, no, no, you're just cheating and fooling yourself!' However, I feel much less like this than I used to, because my faith and acceptance by others has made me feel much more comfortable with myself.

At the AGM the only person who didn't vote for me, was myself! ...

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Philip Jones
MCC Manchester

... "After many years in the Anglican Church I grew tired of the way their official position on my sexuality disowned me. I felt I was used for what I could give to the church, but not affirmed in who I really was.

"So, in 1994 I made my first visit to MCC Manchester and was immediately struck by their exciting and liberating vision of God's unconditional love for all people. After further visits I soon realised that I was being challenged to make a new start, to bring my time, tithe and talents to this young and developing church, and to let God grow and develop my own spirituality among this diverse group of people."...

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Rev Debbie Gaston
Brightwaves MCC, Brighton

"At the end of my first year there, I began to get to know Elaine as a close friend. We shared a lot and prayed a lot encouraging one another. She was married with two children and I was single with a great passion for God. We were both in the same church but had not really spoken very much although whenever we did get together, we laughed so much always at the same things. Over several months we fell in love and shared our past experiences of our sexuality. Elaine had struggled with her sexuality as much as I had but she had decided to marry to resist the attraction to other women, and I had gone to Bible college! Her marriage had been falling apart since the start and she had wanted to move on for many years."...

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Rev Andy Braunston
MCC Manchester

... "I started to realise that I was made to love other men and I realised that it would be difficult, if not impossible to live out my vocation in either the Catholic or Anglican communions. I knew I was not called to celibacy and I believe that Jesus did not see this as a sin, or as something which should be denied. This led to a long period of depression and questioning. I felt that I had to give up one thing or the other - and I knew I could not give up being gay.

"This struggle got worse when I went to university, and I knew I could not continue within an evangelical church, so I started attending Mass again, just sitting at the back and being anonymous. In my second year at university I came out and started to explore my gay self. At the same time, and for the first time, I read of gay people who celebrated their faith, who had come to a full understanding of the Scriptural passages used to condemn us. I became very angry that I had never been told there was a debate on these passages and there was another point of view!"...

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