HEADLINE NEWS - EMERGE Edition
5 July 2016
MCC General Conference 
Does Not Elect New Moderator
New Governing Board to Appoint 
Interim Moderator

The Metropolitan Community Churches General Conference XXVI delegates were unable to elect the denomination's third Moderator at the Business Meeting.

None of the four candidates received a simply majority from both the Clergy House and the Lay House after five rounds of voting. Candidates Rev. Elder Héctor Gutiérrez and Rev. Dr. Irene Laudeman each asked to remove their names from the ballot after three rounds of voting.

By a two-thirds vote of both houses, the General Conference voted to add a fifth round of voting when none of the candidates achieved majority in both houses during the fourth round.

The newly elected Governing Board will appoint an Interim Moderator to fill the vacancy until the next General Conference in 2019. 

The Governing Board will also appoint a new Moderator Nominating Committee to actively solicit and present candidates to the next General Conference. 

Current Moderator, Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson, will continue to serve as the denomination's global leader until her retirement 30 September 2016 following two terms as Moderator since 2005. 

MCC General Conference 
Elects Governing Board Members

Clergy Candidates Elected t0 Six-Year Terms

Rev. Joe Cobb
Rev. Jakob Hero
Clergy Candidates Elected t0 Three-Year Terms

Rev. Dr. Stephanie Burns
Rev. Dr. William Knight
Lay Candidates Elected t0 Six-Year Terms

Kimberly Brown
Dr. Mark Dalgleish
Lay Candidate Elected t0 Three-Year Term

Angel Collie
MCC General Conference 
Passes New Statement of Faith
"It passes overwhelmingly," says MCC Moderator.

MCC Statement of Faith Preamble
Metropolitan Community Churches is one chapter in the story of the Church, the Body of Christ. We are people on a journey, learning to live into our spirituality, while affirming our bodies, our genders, our sexualities. We don't all believe exactly the same things. And yet in the midst of our diversity, we build community, grounded in God's radically inclusive love for all people. We are part of an ongoing conversation on matters of belief and faith, shaped by scripture and the historic creeds, building on those who have come before us. Our chapter begins when God says to us: "Come, taste , and see."

Our Faith
"Come, taste, and see." Jesus Christ, You invite all people to Your open table. You make us Your people, a beloved community. You restore the joy of our relationship with God, even in the midst of loneliness, despair, and degradation. We are each unique and we all belong, a priesthood of all believers. Baptized and filled with Your Holy Spirit, You empower us to be Your healing presence in a hurting world.

We expect to see Your reign on earth as it is in heaven as we work toward a world where everyone has enough, wars cease, and all creation lives in harmony. We affirm Your charge to all of humanity to care for the land, sea, and air. Therefore, we will actively resist systems and structures which are destroying Your creation.

With all of creation we worship You-every tribe, every language, every people, every nation. We know You by many names, Triune God, beyond comprehension, revealed to us in Jesus Christ, who invites us to the feast.

Amen.

MCC Brand (2012)
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