Vision of Hope MCC -
A Work in Progress
October 12, 1980
The first meeting was held on a Sunday afternoon. 8 men attended. Recollections from that meeting include singing around the piano with Arthur Runyan showing that he loved to sing! Arthur was a seminary student, working a full time job, and trying to start a new church. As on outreach project of MCC of Philadelphia, this group became known as the Lancaster Parish Extension.
The church met in various homes for worship before the church became established for service at the Unitarian church. At the grassroots stage, worship was held monthly slowly progressing to services every other Sunday at Arthur and Al’s home. Our “founding fathers”’ would go to Philadelphia and Washington for special services. That’s where most of our “founding fathers” first heard Rev. Troy Perry and Rev. Freda Smith. Their messages profoundly impacted the core group. Women were scarce in that core group.
November 1981
The core group of the beginning Harrisburg church became a “study group” (equivalent to mission status in our old structure). We became a Parish Extension of MCC of Harrisburg. This bonded the Lancaster and Harrisburg groups closer together.
December 20, 1981
We held our first worship service for the Lancaster community at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 538 W Chestnut St. , Lancaster. This Christmas service was advertised in the newspaper, through invitations, and distributed flyers. Worship went from 1x/ month to 2x/month with potlucks held.
April 1982
The monthly “Freedom” newsletter was born.
June 1982
“Founding Fathers” formulated three purposes for a church in Lancaster:
** To proclaim the Good News that all are part of God’s dominion.
** To live and proclaim our faith.
** To provide a place for worship and fellowship.
October 1982
We were ready to petition the District for Study Group status. 11 people signed the petition. Then we began worship. The petition was approved and MCC Lancaster was then used for the church’s name.
November 1982
We made the papers for the first time. Arthur Runyan was interviewed. Pickets showed up that Sunday. (The only time that has happened.) The uproar caused by this article helped to define the mission for the core group and nothing would ever be the same again!
1983
Rev. Troy Perry visits Harrisburg
1984
Arthur and Al move to Richmond, VA. The search begins to find someone to come to Lancaster to replace Arthur.
December 4, 1984
Earl Custer and Bob Life were elected as Co-Worship Coordinators until a new pastor for the church could be found. Allyson Green, an active church friend, was also elected to serve with Earl and Bob in an advisory capacity. The pulpit was filled weekly by community pastors from United Methodist, Brethren, and UCC, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches. The community’s support for our church was encouraging.
April 21, 1984
Pastoral Search committee presents the Rev. Bucky Williams Hooker to the congregation.
May 6, 1984
Bucky was called by the congregation, and 6 new members were added giving a total of 19 members.
July 1984
Bucky and Joe move to Lancaster. This period was full of growth, strength, testing, and change. 48 people attended the installation service for Bucky…the most people to attend any service.
December 24, 1984
MCC Lancaster holds its first Christmas Eve Service.
Easter 1985
The first Sunrise Service was held in Lancaster County Central Park.The first offering for the building fund was taken.
Spring 1985
At the congregational meeting, the church named changed to Vision of Hope MCC of Lancaster. The name was chosen with the prayer that persons in our community, who felt their lives were without hope, would seek out the church to discover our vision of hope and enable us to share God’s love with them.
Summer 1985
Vision of Hope MCC prepared to host the District Conference in Lancaster.
1983
A Property Search Committee was established.
February 1986
Bucky announced he was leaving. The Advisory Board prepared an application for church status.
May 1986
Bucky left. The Church was denied commission status; assigned Mission status. Earl C. was appointed Lay Pastor. A Pastoral Search process began.
June 1987
Rev. Mary Merriman was elected as the 2nd clergy pastor of VOH MCC. VOH was a mission church at the time and the process called for an affirmation of the District Committee’s selection. 11 people were present for the vote. Pastor Mary was a foster mother in Florida’s 1st home for children with AIDS. There were no other homes for the babies. Hence, it required 3 months to come to Lancaster with her spouse Jan and two foster children Tammy and Shelly. This was Lancaster’s 1st openly gay foster placement as it was in Florida.
August 1987
Pastor Mary arrives with her family in Lancaster and is installed as Pastor.
January 1988
The congregation was growing and the Pastor was counseling in the church office which was located under the basement steps of her home. The VOH Advisory Board agreed to rent the VOH Ministry Center on Plum St. Activities held in the Ministry Center included committee meetings, Seders, community meetings (1st meeting of the Lancaster AIDS project), Bible studies, dances (see Valentine’s pictures), and a full time Pastor’s office. Worship continued at the Unitarian church.
May 1988
The District Committee voted to approve VOH MCC’s application for commission status. The first VOH Board of Directors was elected by the congregation which was then about 40 people. Earl Custer was also elected as VOH’s first Lay Delegate.
July 1988
Pastor Mary was ordained at General Conference.
November 1988
VOH rented a full time ministry home with the Lancaster Metaphysical Chapel. All activities moved to the Metaphysical Chapel. The first service held there was on December 4, with a dedication service for the sanctuary on December 11.
1991
Lancaster City/County Human Relations Commission requests authorization of enforcement powers from the Lancaster City Council The City Council takes an opportunity to seek an amendment to the Human Relations Code, adding sexual orientation and familial status as protected classes. Linda Martin and Pastor Mary were invited to speak to the need for the additions and a movement was begun. In addition to the Pastor, many members of the congregation spoke at city council and walked the streets offering escort service outside of the Tally Ho where numerous people in community were begin physically assaulted. The Pink Triangle Coalition was formed to enhance VOH community involvement with the community. Enormous coalition building was done with other organizations in Lancaster and throughout the region. Lancaster’s first openly gay bookstore opened and eventually closed after being bombed. The Ku Klux Klan marched in Lancaster in August of 1991. The Human Relations Ordinance was amended but the Lancaster County Commissioners severed the historic relationship of the Lancaster City County Human Relations Commission. The newly formed Lancaster County Human Relations Commission did not add the protected classes to the ordinance. Eventually, Lancaster City formed its own Human Relations Commission in 2004 with the protected classes in the city’s ordinance.
The Lancaster Metaphysical Chapel was threatened with a bomb when Rita Addessa came to address issues related to the above ordinance. VOH MCC was asked to move to another facility. The Quaker’s provided the next church home where services and activities were held for the next two years.
1993
At the end of two years, the Quakers felt it was time for VOH to move on. Numerous locations were considered including a burned out frat house near F & M, a former candy factory on Queen St., a house on Queen St. a church on Roherstown Rd. and a number of rental locations. Churches throughout Lancaster were again contacted but nothing appeared available.
The Mountville property was posted for sale and the congregation agreed to purchase the property 9after numerous congregational meetings). In approximately 6 - 8 months, $20,000 was raised in cash and $160,000 in bonds were sold. In addition, some of the residents and the borough council members indicated that they would find a way to keep VOH out of Mountville. The borough requested every legal document of the UFMCC and VOH MCC and every request was met until the borough ultimately conceded that we were a legal body which had the right to worship.
The pastor of the Mountville Church of the Brethren, Dean Brubaker, identified a number of Mountville residents from their letters to the editor opposing VOH and asked for the opportunity to facilitate dialogue groups between the protestors and the VOH pastor and congregants. In these dialogues, questions were answered and people in Mountville began to understand the mission of VOH MCC and the conviction of our faith, Finally, the newspaper headlines read that some of the residents who had opposed VOH were no longer objecting as they had their concerns addressed.
Additionally, while chaos seemed to reign in Lancaster in 1991 during the amending of the human relations ordinance, immediately following the first press release announcing the agreement to purchase the property, the local police contacted Pastor Mary. They indicated that local and state police were coordinating with federal authorities in the Justice Department to assure our safe entry into the church property.
The PA Human Relations Commission provided countless hours of support at meetings and gatherings documenting comments of people who appeared to be threatening VOH MCC. Lastly, the congregation demonstrated that they were empowered by God’s spirit to support one another and walk over their fears and provide the necessary resources to make the purchase happen. The first opening worship on August 22, 1993 had an attendance of 175 people from the congregation, community and officials throughout the county and state. (So did sisters who worked for Brinks security which shadowed the pastor throughout the worship service and stood watch on the property as the opening day drew near).
March 1994
The church continued to grow requiring enormous energy and perseverance of leadership. In March, Pastor Mary had a heart attack following yet one more early morning meeting with a coalition of agencies serving people with AIDS. Pastor Mary was on leave for about six weeks to recuperate and was strong in her return to VOH MCC. However, the same arteries reblocked in October 1994 and Pastor Mary resigned for the good of the congregation. The membership was now at about 90 as was attendance and Pastor Mary felt she needed the time to really heal and could not stay focused on the needs of the church at the same time. Pastor Mary resigned February 1, 1995.
March 1995
Rev. Ron Helms was Interim Pastor.
January 1996
Christen Chew arrived in Lancaster, PA from Lancaster, CA. Her first official duty as Pastor of Vision of Hope was to cancel services because a blizzard had dumped 3 feet of snow.
March 9, 1996
Christen was officially installed as Pastor of Vision of Hope MCC.
April 1996
One of Christen's sermons was published in the religion pages of the Lancaster Intel.
June 1996
Christen and VOH MCC joined the InterFaith Working Group, based in Philadelphia, PA.
October 1996
A bus trip was organized to travel to Washington, DC to view the Aids Quilt. The quilt contained the names of over 70,000 people on 38,000 panels.
Early in 1997
Christen and VOH were accepted as a members of the Mountville Ministerium. As a result, VOH was included as a part of the annual community-wide Thanksgiving service.
Easter 1997
Christen created and directed her first Easter musical at VOH. Christmas and Easter were special times for Christen to share her creative and musical gifts.
August 22, 1997
Rev. Christen K. Chew was officially ordained as a Metropolitan Community Church pastor with Rev Delores P. Berry officiating.
Sept 10, 1997
Rev. Elder Troy Perry visited VOH MCC as a part of a campaign to raise funds for the headquarters building in West Hollywood, CA.
A connection was established between VOH and the Lancaster Theological Seminary. Once a year students would visit VOH for a tour and to ask questions of Rev Chew concerning homosexuality and the scriptures.
1998
Rev Christen Met Rabbi Jack Pascoff at a panel discussion of homosexuality in the church at Grace UCC. They became friends and Rabbi Pascoff invited Rev Christen to be a part of the Lancaster Ministerium group.
During Rev Christen's ministry various MCC musicians, evangelists and Pastors visited VOH MCC, including Rev Elder Darlene Garner, Rev Mel White, Rev Elder Gerri Ann Harvey, Marsha Stevens, Cadash Ministries, and Delores P. Berry.
1999
Rev. Christen formed a Praise Band with some of the talented singers and musicians at VOH. Christen had a gift for bringing people out of their comfort zones and into their gifts and ministries.
May 2000
Rev Christen Chew resigned as Pastor of VOH MCC.
June 2000
Rev. Debbie Coggin was appointed as Interim Pastor.
March 2002
Rev. Debbie Coggin was elected as Senior Pastor with a 95% vote.
The Future...
God is working mightily at Vision of Hope.
We are:
“Led by Christ, Empowered to Rock the World"