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JUNE 13, 2008
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Pastor Debuts with Pride
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Nathan Meckley starts as new MCC Portland pastor
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by Stephen Marc Beaudoin
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Meckley says this expansion of mission, includ
e just didn’t believe in encyclopedias.
ing a tighter lens on issues of social justice, will
So instead of going door to door
hawking $400 Britannica sets, as he
be part of his Herculean task of boosting MCC
did in his early 20s, Nathan Meckley is
Portland: He points to examples like the church’s
now selling something he “believes in
“People’s Pantry” mission, which last year donated
500 bags of groceries to poor families.
more strongly”—organized religion.
He’ll have a lot of selling to do. The Pennsylva
But right now Meckley is focused on Pride
nia-born Meckley just arrived in the Rose City as
Weekend, which marks his MCC Portland debut
the newly appointed head pastor of Portland’s Met
at the 9 a.m. June 15 service. The topic of his ser
ropolitan Community Church, a tiny 150-member
mon: pride, of course.
gay Christian congregation struggling to boost its
Just Out sat down with Meckley to talk about
membership and find its financial footing after sev his vision for the church, its role in the greater
eral years of leadership turnover and operating in
Portland community and how MCC might be at
the red for three out of the past four years.
the vanguard of the fight for marriage equality.
Meckley, who comes
to Portland from recent
Size Matters
pastoral posts in Florida
Among other religions founded in the 20th century, Metropoli
and California, knows
tan Community Church ranks as one of the smallest denominations.
he has his work cut out
Here are the number of worldwide church members for several re
for him. The congrega
cently founded religions, according to available figures:
tion, which owns a 6,100-
• Seventh Day Adventist: Approximately 15 million (est. 1925)
square-foot church and
• Jehovah’s Witnesses: Approximately 7 million (est. 1931)
• Church of Wicca: 800,000 (est. 1954)
administration facility at
• Church of Christ, Scientist: 400,000 (est. 1879)
2400 N.E. Broadway, is
• Metropolitan Community Church: 43,000 (est. 1968)
paying off a second mort
gage, and church bulletins
routinely remind members of their precipitous
Stephen Marc Beaudoin: When were you
financial state: A recent newsletter’s “Financial
introduced to MCC?
Report” announced, “This week we have $26,447
The Rev. Nathan Meckley: I actually went
in bills to be paid with $1,104 cash in hand,” and
there not to go to church, but as a class project.
reminded members, twice, “We are a generous
I had started coming out as a gay man, and I was
congregation.”
taking a class on church and the contemporary
“Everybody is thinking about that right now,”
world, and I decided I was going to do a paper on
says MCC Portland board member Hyla Richey
homosexuality and Christianity, and so I went.
about the congregation’s financial health. “We
I had heard of MCC beforehand, and I thought,
would like our contributions to increase and our
“Oh, that can’t possibly be a real church.” The
membership to increase. If we do our jobs well,
only way to describe it is it felt like I had gone to
then we will have all those things.”
church for the first time in my life.
The church, founded in 1968 by gay activist and
former Baptist preacher the Rev. Troy Perry, has
SMB: How do you define MCC to those not
struggled in recent years to stay relevant, especially as
in the church?
more Christian churches welcome sexual minorities
NM: MCC is not the church of your child
through their doors. “That’s a mold we need to break
hood. People still generally come to MCC from
out of,” Richey says. “We’re not just a gay church.”
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