What Guides Us

For those of you who like to read the fine print, here are several of our church’s “Guiding Documents.”

Denominational Documents

Our Denomination’s Statement of Purpose

As God’s liberated people, we boldly . . .

Reclaim our Holy Identity

At MCC, we believe that even in our humanness, we are holy. We are liberated from other people’s definitions of who we are. We are made both body and spirit. We believe that our sexuality is a holy gift from God so we no longer distance our bodies from our experience with God. We are a people who proudly participate in the communion of body and spirit.

Advance our call to Social Justice and Action

At MCC, we believe that Jesus led the way in acts of compassion and acts of justice. Because we have been a people in the margins of society, we understand fully the grace that God has extended to us. We seek to distance ourselves from exclusion and draw ourselves closer to including all those who are marginalized in any way. We stand boldly with those who resist the structures of exclusion, as Jesus did, and work to insure freedom for all people. In the margins, we are blessed.

Tell the story of God’s Transforming Grace

At MCC, we come as we are to Christ and are changed by what we find. We experience a God with open arms, inviting all to take the sacred journey of faith and transformation. We are growing in our faith and claim that our place in society has magnified our place in God’s family. We are one of the many voices of God that, until now, has been lost in the margins!

Nurture the value of Community

At MCC, we believe our ultimate ministry is in the world. We know that in order to prepare ourselves for radical service that changes lives, we must equip ourselves and others in the safety of a supportive community. We strive to live out a message that rejects the idea that any are excluded from the family of God.

Build bridges that Liberate and Unite

At MCC, we have experienced the soul destruction that comes from hate-filled rhetoric. In restoring our souls, we have come to find that our voices will speak the liberation that comes through peace, compassion, love, respect and grace. As followers of Jesus, we believe in everyone’s holy privilege to work out their own salvation. While we are a Christian church who follows Jesus, we respect those of other faith traditions and work together with them to free all those who are oppressed by hate, disregard and violence.

Our Denomination’s Vision Statement

Metropolitan Community Churches are on a bold mission to transform hearts, lives, and history. We are a movement that faith-fully proclaims God’s inclusive love for all people and proudly bears witness to the holy integration of spirituality and sexuality.

Just as Jesus did, we are called to:

• Do justice, show kindness, and live humbly with God. (Micah 6:8)
• Explore life’s questions with open hearts and minds.
• Raise our voices in sacred defiance against religious (and political or systemic) exclusion.
• Reach out to those with no hope.
• Lift up new generations of remarkable, far-reaching spiritual activists.

Our Denomination’s Core Values

INCLUSION: Love is our greatest moral value and resisting exclusion is a primary focus of our ministry. We want to continue to be the conduits of a faith where everyone is included in the family of God, and where all parts of our being are welcomed at God’s table.

SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION: Providing a message of liberation from the oppressive religious environment of our day or to those experiencing God for the first time is what guides our ministry. We believe that when people are invited to experience God through the life and ministry of Christ, lives will be transformed.

COMMUNITY: Our deep desire is to offer a safe and open community for people to worship, learn and grow in their faith. We are committed to equipping ourselves and each other to do the work that God has called us to do in the world.

SOCIAL ACTION: Working to talk less and do more, we are committed to resisting the structures that oppress people and standing with those who suffer under the weight of oppressive systems, being guided always by our commitment to Global Human Rights.

Our Church Culture

Every Member is a Minister, and Every Ministry is a Team

At our congregational meeting on June 8, 2008, we decided to explicitly adopt a culture in which every member is a minister, and every ministry is a team.  This means that:

A statement of ministry is part of coming into membership.

Ministry can include:

• Financially Supporting the Church
• Singing in the Choir
• Worship Volunteering
• Helping with Social Hour
• Serving on the Board
• Helping in the office
• Doing outreach
• Giving Reiki
• Serving on a Prayer Team
• Serving on the Community Life Team
• Serving on a team that does hospital visits, etc.

Every ministry is a team ministry

• Teams work together to accomplish goals
• We always ask: How can we involve others in this ministry?
• Our ministries should always be structured so that they can continue even if an important leader becomes unable to participate.

Our Church Covenant

The following document is a covenant developed by our congregation in 2003 and 2004, and formally adopted by the congregation on May 16, 2004.  All current members of the church have agreed to abide by this covenant and all new members are asked to sign this covenant before joining the church.

In order to live the teachings of Jesus Christ to love God and others as ourselves we, the members and friends of MCC San José, commit to creating, implementing and sustaining a culture of love, appreciation, trusting relationships and shared responsibility.  Therefore, we covenant to uphold the following behaviors in all our relationships.

We agree to seek and consider the input of others before taking action.
Recognizing that the actions we take will always affect others in our congregation and community, before making any decision, we will consider the input gathered from those who may be affected by our actions.  All decisions will be made in alignment with this covenant of relational interaction and the vision, values and ministry plan statements of our church.  At all times, decisions will be made because they will enable us to build and sustain loving relationships.

We will support and encourage each other in the discovery, development and implementation of our individual and shared ministries.
Recognizing that everyone is called by God to a ministry according to their individual passions, gifts and skills, we will help each other find and fulfill our individual and shared callings inside and outside our church.  We will each be responsible for doing our own ministry as well as encouraging, training and empowering each other to fulfill our callings.

We presume the good intent of others without blame or judgment.
We value all persons as Christ values us.  We trust that everyone acts with good intentions.  We agree not to blame or pass judgment.  We also agree to help each other understand other individuals’ experiences and beliefs.  We will work together to create and implement positive solutions that are of mutual benefit.

We will respect and consider each other’s differences, viewpoints and ideas.
In order to deepen and strengthen our relationships, we will listen to the ideas and experiences of others.  We will honor people by not interrupting them when they are sharing their ideas.  We will respect and consider what others have to say even if it seems odd to us or it goes against our way of thinking or conventional wisdom.

We will address conflict as an opportunity for positive resolution.
We recognize that no set of rules for dealing with conflict will allow us to perfectly handle every situation.  We will be sensitive to and address conflict as it arises.  Respectful disagreement is appropriate, however, we will find what we can agree on and move on from there.  We will not attack each other or demean ideas or feelings.  We will not debate each person’s right to their own ideas and feelings.  We will treat each other with patience, love, respect, open-mindedness and a willingness to work together.

We will be faithful to our agreements.
We will exemplify the servant-leadership style Jesus lived.  In serving our church and community, our leaders, members and friends agree to make decisions based on our guiding documents and will be able to show how each decision they make is made in alignment with our guiding documents.

We will treat our slips from this covenant as learning opportunities.
In our journey, if we slip into commanding, controlling or blaming behaviors, we will stop our conversation, acknowledge that a slip has occurred, ask forgiveness as necessary and shift back to dealing with the situation in alignment with our culture of love and appreciation, trusting relationships and shared responsibility.

Church Documents

Our Mission Statement

Our mission is to celebrate our individual wholeness and together create a nurturing atmosphere that fosters forgiveness, healing, and joyous living.

Our Vision Statement

The Metropolitan Community Church of San José is the house where the revolutionary Jesus lives, and it is safe for everyone to be here.  MCCSJ is built on a foundation of faith, love, and unconditional acceptance.

Our church will continue to be a leader in the work of securing equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.  Our experience in this area will help us work for justice around the issues of racism, sexism, and all the ways of thinking that lead people away from God’s intention that we love one another.  The transformational community that results will attract and welcome people from across conventional divisions of race, class, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, including people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual.

Our church will embrace the unique gifts, talents, and faiths of all individuals. Our church will enrich lives by helping heal old spiritual wounds, nurturing the strength to transcend individual limitations, and transforming suffering into joy. Our church will minister from an aesthetically pleasing, accessible facility with beautiful acoustics, parking, kitchen, social hall, and all the amenities required to sustain our community. Our church will fulfill the spiritual longing of all who are open to share inspired message, joyful music, and serene moments for peaceful contemplation of the divine.  Our church will have a global impact, using technology to reach far more people than most would expect from our size.  Our church will honor the history and traditions of its past, and also look to its future with hearts open to new ideas, beliefs and perspectives.