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Core Value: Inclusion
MCC Core Value, Inclusion: “Love is our greatest moral value, and resisting exclusion is a primary focus of our ministry. We want to continue to be conduits of faith where everyone is included in the family of God and where all parts of our being are welcomed at God’s table.”
Anyone who believes inclusion is easy has likely never:
- led a Bible Study with participants from different political affiliations
- offered a worship service in multiple languages
- facilitated a diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging congregational workshop
- created a hospitality plan for children entering the church
- ensured involvement of people with a mental health diagnosis in all congregational service opportunities
- negotiated with a construction company to build a ramp to ensure building accessibility
- developed a ministry for incarcerated church members
- invested in tools to assist visual and hearing-challenged worshipers
- provided an MCC worship service to a local nursing home
- planned a church banquet with scholarships for members who cannot afford the ticket price
- regularly used female language for God in church bulletins, websites, and newsletters
- managed an interfaith event
What would you add to the list? Where have you experienced the “itch and scratch” of true inclusion? Praise God for all of the faithful MCCers seeking to grow in the depth and breadth of radical welcome.
Resisting exclusion is rarely a smooth process and our labors toward inclusion need significant prayer support, a spirit of reconciliation, a willingness to be uncomfortable, grace in abundance, along with some good humor.
In MCC, we know the gospel call to inclusive table fellowship: Jesus ate with despised tax collectors (Matthew 9:10, Mark 2:15 & Luke 5:29). We also know the prophetic call to inclusion, as God declares through Isaiah: “my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). And we are aware that Paul also shared an inclusive vision: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer enslaved or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
Living out God’s vision to be the inclusive beloved community is exhilarating and demanding. It is always worth the time.
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