A year before the Stonewall riots in New York, the world’s first church group for LGBTQ people was formed. The beginnings of what would become the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) were humble: 12 people gathered in Rev. Troy Perry’s living room in California on October 6, 1968. The goal was to create a space for LGBTQ people like Rev. Perry who had been unwelcome in other denominations to worship and learn about God.
Since then, MCC has exploded into a global denomination with a presence in over20 countries.
The events of 1968 — namely, the Civil Rights Movement and assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy — motivated MCC to be a church focused on social justice. That legacy continues here in Georgia at MCC of Our Redeemer (MCCOOR) in Augusta.
“In addition to [being] a place of worship and safe space, MCC has been, at its core, a social justice juggernaut,” MCCOOR’s senior pastor, Rev. Marc Trimm, told Georgia Voice. “Part of our heart to this day is to be involved locally in our government and our communities and striving for social justice wherever it’s needed. Unfortunately, we’re still fighting some of those battles that they were in 1968. That’s part of the heart of any MCC church, is that they’re involved locally to seek out social justice and be part of the solutions to see equality and love spread wherever we’re planted.”
With its foundation in 1987, MCCOOR has its roots in providing a safe space for the LGBTQ community during the height of the AIDS crisis. Rev. Trimm joined the church in 2013 as the director of music and was immediately “inundated with hugs and love.” He has served as a pastor of MCCOOR since 2017.
Growing up in the church, Rev. Trimm knew from a young age that he wanted to be the best person he could be by living by the gospel. He also knew that he was gay.
“There was a constant conflict inside me about that, obviously,” he said. “… I had gone through conversion therapy. I went through that nightmare. It’s very detrimental. Conversion therapy is based in nothing that I feel is ethical.”
As Rev. Trimm grew up and pursued his calling as a minster of the gospel, this conflict deepened as he heard how his colleagues would speak about people like him.
“It’s really a puzzlement to me from the standpoint of why people would read Scripture, take the Bible, read what Jesus taught, and think that the method of excluding people would drive people towards fellowship with God and harmony with each other,” he said. “… I didn’t believe [being gay] was sin, and I didn’t believe God hated us. But my peers did. They said, ‘Well we hate the sin but love the sinner.’ But you’re driving the ‘sinner’ away through hate. It was so self-righteous.”
He prayed on the issue, asking God how he could pursue a calling of ministry while being himself. The answer he found is the core of MCC’s vision.
“The only thing I could ever come to was that God loved me, no matter what,” he said. “The scripture is clear with that. None of that changed [throughout the Bible], it only reinforced the message of Jesus. I knew that no matter who I was and what I’ve done or would do, that I would be loved by God.”
MCCOOR spreads the love of God to the local LGBTQ community with organizations like Augusta Pride and the Progressive Religious Coalition. Along with hosting Pride events during June, MCCOOR also teaches classes on the scriptures people commonly use against the LGBTQ community, does a service for National Coming Out Day, hosts a weekend once or twice a year dedicated to “our transgender friends,” and, above all else, preaches the message of God’s love.
“We present that affirming message of God’s love every service,” Rev. Trimm said. “… The first thing you’ll see coming in the [sanctuary] is our communion table, and on the front of our communion table it specifically says, ‘All are welcome, and all are celebrated.’ We’re all God’s children, who are we to push away someone who God would embrace? … When you release that compassion, that desire for peace, and that message of love, it truly draws all different walks of life to you.”
Learn more about MCC at mccchurch.org and MCCOOR at mccoor.com.