MCC Newcastle

Step up and step out

12/4/2014

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The man shook as he told us his story of persecution: we could see the scars on his head and his hands. Another man in the group flinched as someone he didn’t know came into the room. I promised him “You will always be safe here.”  A woman cried as she told me how, as an out and proud Christian lesbian, she had been told she could not become a member of the church that she had been attending for months. “I am so glad to be back here” she said. A charity that works with children hired a room in the building we use, to run an event for LGBT people interested in adoption – “Because we saw you at Pride and thought this would be a good space to hold our event.” These three things all happened in the past month at MCC Newcastle. They are part of what we do, week in, week out. We offer hope and light to our community and beyond. Often it is in small, unseen ways – small gestures of kindness and compassion, such as the regular donations of clothing that people give to the West End Refugee Service. Sometimes we are able to bring hope at big events like Pride and World AIDS Day. People who may never worship with us follow us online and through social media. We are observed at a distance by many individuals, who may turn to us when life changes for them and they need a safe place to be.

A good while ago Mikee preached on Micah 6:8: What does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. He suggested that at MCC Newcastle we are good at walking humbly with God – our worship is excellent and we offer many ways to go deeper in our spiritual life. He challenged us to really step up and step out in acting justly and loving mercy. This message has stayed with me and has continued to challenge me ever since. How do we move out beyond our church walls and how do we make it easier for groups to see us as a resource to support them in what they do?

This year’s Annual Congregational Meeting marks a key moment in our response to the challenge to love mercy and to act justly. The Board is proposing only two aims, which will help us to put our faith into action. Firstly, we are now ready to start looking for our own building, choosing a venue that is better suited to our needs and that will give us the flexibility to develop our ministries more fully. Secondly, we are going to focus on developing activities that intentionally reach out and serve those beyond our church walls.  We are called to bring hope and light. This is our time.

God bless

Cecilia    
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Sowing Seeds

16/10/2013

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This month’s worship theme at MCC Newcastle is “Back to the Future”. We are considering how our history is helping to shape our future, especially when it comes to generosity. At Worship team meetings, it is a real process of discernment to come up with each new worship theme. There is often quite a lot of discussion to and fro, and often several different versions of the theme title and content, until all the team really feel as though we have the right idea. I was pretty unsure about “Back to the Future” and how it connected with such topics as harvest, ministry teams and Fellowship Sunday. Someone in the team explained “Well, think about harvest. Someone had to sow the seeds in the past, so that we can harvest the crop in the present and make use of it in the future – back to the future.” Fair enough – that was me on board.

Sowing seeds – that is what this month is all about really. Obviously there is harvest, the easiest one to make the connection with. All the ministry teams have started off as “an idea waiting to be born”. Some are still in seed form, others are still maturing, some are well established. Next week we celebrate Fellowship Sunday and take up an offering to fund the networks, groups of MCCs supporting and connecting with each other. The final Sunday is looking at us sowing the seeds for our future – what is God calling MCC Newcastle to do and to be in the months and years ahead?

In all of these Sunday themes, there is the underlying message about celebrating our generosity. The food we collected at the Harvest service went to the People’s Kitchen. It is through the generosity of people giving their time and talents in ministry that we have so much going on at church each week. The offering we give for Fellowship Sunday will really make a difference in keeping MCCs around the world in touch with each other.

And what about the future? Not long ago, the Board asked everyone in the church to consider increasing their giving, or to start to give via standing order or giving envelope. This was so we could cover the budget that was agreed at the Annual Congregational Meeting in April. It is also about something more. It is about sowing those seeds for our future. And guess what? Together we are doing it. Financial giving has increased and we will meet our budget. We can do the things we wanted to do, to help us build for the future. Every little helps and whatever you have been able to give has made a difference. Thank you for your continued generosity, in so many ways.

God bless

Cecilia

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Dancing Forward Together - Reflections on our Visioning Day

16/2/2011

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For our Visioning Day on 12th February, new attenders and regular members got together to think about how we are going to move forward as a church in the year ahead.  Guided by our Interim Support Pastor, Pressley, we first reflected on what the church has achieved in the past last year.  As we listed each memorable event month by month, it was remarkable to see how we have grown and changed, almost without noticing.   We have two new church employees (Charlotte N and Kate), new people are attending worship and becoming members; we have seen friends graduate from our Creating a Life that Matters course; new groups have sprung up, from Art and God to Kairos; the Young Adults’ Ministry (YAM) has flourished, and exciting new social events have taken place, from Turkey and Tinsel to regular Listening Lunches.  Some of us feel we have grown and deepened in our spiritual journey.

 Thanks to Pressley, we learned about other MCCs around the world where he has had first-hand experience – in New York, which has wonderful outreach mission to the homeless and LGBT youth; in Cape Town, where church volunteers work with residents in a local township, and whose Christmas party now attracts 300 children; in Cologne, where a small MCC congregation runs a café that has become an essential community venue; and in North London, where the Biblical quotation ‘No Fear in Love’ has become their kerygma or rallying call.  We experienced the sensory delights of sweets and cakes, themed according to the countries we were learning about – genius – including some home-made South African doughnuts that expanded my waistline just looking at them…

We also spent time identifying those areas of growth and spiritual vitality (‘noticing spirit and momentum’), those where there is a steady-state, and those where additional support is needed (or perhaps those areas where the spirit has moved on, guiding us somewhere else).  In teams we came up with five ideas from the least to the most audacious, from the easily achievable (better advertising outside of the church, for example) to the vision of one day having our own worship space. 

In the afternoon the Board, staff and ministry leaders took stock of the ideas we had discussed in the morning with the aim of formulating some action points.  We grouped ideas among four areas in particular: having our own space, producing well-written and exciting resources to inform and educate people about MCC Newcastle; reaching out to queer and marginalised groups who are on the edge of mainstream Christianity; offering dynamic and transformational worship.  These areas had been highlighted in the morning as of particular interest and concern to the congregation, are key components of our five year plan, and will inform our planning process in the months ahead.

In all of this, one thing I have learned is that prayerful consideration, consultation and respect for one another is absolutely crucial.  Growth involves loss – certain things will pass away, and we need to respect the sensibilities of those for whom change can be difficult, as well as having a keen sense that the time to tackle injustice, and do more is now!   How many people out there need to hear about Jesus?  How many of them need the safe haven and acceptance that we at MCC can provide?  We need to broaden our vision, to make sure our worship is inclusive, our spaces accessible, and welcoming of children.  We need to be attentive to gender imbalance, and to our need to become more aware through training where needed of issues that affect our congregation.  We need to listen and respond to ministries involving trans- people, asylum-seekers and the homeless – often marginalized people among those already on the margins.

In all of this, and as we continue to work on translating our vision into action, we need to be patient with one another, to speak openly and acknowledge that we are all doing our best.  Sometimes we may disagree, but in a healthy family, it is possible to disagree without falling out.  One of the best ways, as the apostle Paul recommended, is to try and leave our egos at the door and instead see ourselves as conduits for God’s work.

This will start with small steps that could have big consequences.  Personally I would like to see us hold our big Easter service, (how about making it a musical bonanza, our best yet?) – held in the main church, then I would like to see us remain there for regular worship on a permanent basis.  That is just my view, and I would like to know yours.  Without space, and the provision of a decent piano and instruments for our talented musicians, we cannot grow in the quality of worship we provide, or in numbers.  As St. Paul says in this week’s reading from 1 Corinthians 3, 1-9, ‘I planted the seed, [another] watered it, but God made it grow’.  There are challenging but exciting times ahead - let us do the work, dance forward together, and see where the spirit guides us, in Jesus’ name.  AMEN
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Helen Berry, Vice Moderator


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    by Rev. Cecilia Eggleston
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Worship with us Sunday 6.30pm at St. James's URC, NE1 8JF
Email: contact@northernlightsmcc.org.uk
Phone: 07770543407