Chicago's oldest LGBT church, Good Shepherd Parish MCC, will close its doors after holding its final service July 8.
Good Shepherd Parish MCC has served the LGBT community for 37 years. Founded in 1970 by the Rev. Arthur Green, Good Shepherd was the fourth Metropolitan Community Church ( MCC ) worldwide, and the first established outside of California. Since its first service was held in Green's apartment in May 1970, Good Shepherd has had many homes and touched many lives. From its all-inclusive language, worship and programs, holding of commitment ceremonies and Holy Unions, to its 24-hour help line to serve the community and ministry at Illinois Masonic Hospital during the AIDS crisis, Good Shepherd Parish MCC has touched countless people in the LGBT community and beyond.
Longtime member David Owen is a charter member, and has been a part of Good Shepherd since around July 1970, once Good Shepherd moved from Rev. Green's apartment to Broadway Methodist Church in Lakeview. Although at first, the parishioners were all male, once the move took place, women started joining as members and board members. Then, there were around 35 members, and attendance was growing.
'It was hard at first to get folks out there because of homophobia and a lot of fear,' Owen said. 'We were the first in the community that was not a bar. A lot of people were very—even religious, gay people—suspicious of a church that claimed to be for them, or open to them, because they thought it would just be a bunch of queens playing church or something like that. A lot of people were hesitant to attend, not only because they were afraid to be seen, … but there was a lot of suspicion that it wasn't genuine or wouldn't last.'
Owen said that also many people had been turned off from the idea of religion because they had either been personally or institutionally discriminated against. For example, he said, he had a partner that was physically thrown down the steps of his church.
Having been a part of the community for nearly four decades, Good Shepherd Parish has seen many changes. For example, in the mid-'70s, Good Shepherd membership boomed to about 250 members in the aftermath of the Anita Bryant's highly publicized campaign to repeal a Florida ordinance that prohibited sexual orientation discrimination. By then, Good Shepherd Parish was located at the Wellington United Church of Christ, which it called home for about 26 years.
'They hadn't had that many people in that church for probably 50 years,' Owen said, laughing. 'A lot of people were so angry with her, it didn't force them to come out of the closet, but it gave them the courage to do so. It certainly swelled our ranks, and interest in the church, and other MCC-related churches across the country.'
Then came the AIDS crisis in the '80s. For over 15 years, every Sunday, Good Shepherd held a service in the AIDS ward of Illinois Masonic Hospital. 'For as long as that AIDS ward existed, we were there every Sunday with Communion. …It was quite an act of dedication and commitment on the part of our pastoral staff and our deacons,' Owen said.
After 20 years at Wellington United Church of Christ, Good Shepherd started holding a morning service at Howard Brown Health Center until moving the morning service to Summerdale Community Church in Andersonville. Within a few months, Good Shepherd moved to Light of Christ Lutheran on the Far North Side, where it stayed a few years before moving to Edgewater Presbyterian in February 2006.
Over the years, Good Shepherd had been incredibly welcoming to the entire LGBT community. 'From our early days at Broadway Methodist, it's been racially, linguistically and ethnically and gender-wise very diverse,' Owen said. 'Outside of bars and so-forth, we were probably one of the first places where transgender people…felt comfortable to go.'
In the mid-'90s, Rev. Kevin Downer became a member of the Good Shepherd. 'Until then, I had struggled personally with the question of sexuality and spirituality,' Downer said. 'It was initially where I found that safe haven, and was able to reconcile my sexuality and spirituality.' As he got more involved in the community, he prepared to become a deacon. After becoming a deacon, he worked with LGBT elderly, and became reengaged in the church.
'A long time ago, I had thought about becoming a minister, but because of the church I had grown up in, I didn't think that was something I could do and still be in the closet or still be gay.' Eventually, he became comfortable with that idea, and became a minister in Texas after attending seminary. 'I was able to put the pieces back together again, in a way that made sense, and it called to me to do something more with my life in terms of serving the community,' he said.
In recent years, membership has dwindled, and there is only one member under the age of 40, according to Owen. Good Shepherd's 24-hour hotline, however, will continue even though its doors are closing. The hotline is mostly used for information about welcoming churches in the area, but back in the day, it was one of the only lines LGBT people could call for any information.
'The phone rang literally, every 30 or 40 minutes, all night,' when the hotline first began, Owen recalls. As other organizations came into being in the community, those 'desperations calls'—calls when a person has been arrested or kicked out of their home, have ended.
Good Shepherd has touched the lives of many over the years. 'It has provided me with an alternative family, when not all members of my blood family were very eager to get close to me,' said Owen. 'It's been extremely important to me in a familial way, and of course, a social way.'
But the closing of Good Shepherd's doors is a time of celebration, not sadness, said Downer, who decided to return to Chicago after ministering in Texas. After all, the community can celebrate the beginning of a new chapter for Good Shepherd. Downer is the founding pastor of a church 4 me ( www.achurch4me.org ) , an MCC that will be based at the new Center on Halsted, with services beginning mid-July. The mission behind a church 4 me is similar to Good Shepherd—it will be all-inclusive and welcoming. However, a church 4 me will also focus on tapping into those who have been turned off from church, for whatever reasons.
After talking to people in the community and doing studies, Downer and others realized it was time to do something completely different in Chicago. 'To reach out to people that are really hungry for spirituality—that's the anchor of this new church,' Downer said. 'It's really focused on helping people to grow spiritually within community, and worship as well. But the real issue is to address the deep needs people have to grow spirituality.'
Downer said that everything will occur very organically, and reflect the people that are coming to worship. 'The people who have started to gather together are very, very diverse,' he added. 'As we are growing, the people that are attracted to this cut across many, many, many different kinds of categories of people, and that's a beautiful thing. It's going to be a very different kind of community, and a very different kind of church.'
According to Owen, although some members don't understand why the denomination chose to fund a new church instead of rejuvenating Good Shepherd, most of the congregation will go to the new church, or at least check it out.
Good Shepherd Parish's final service will be held on July 8 at 5 p.m., at the second floor chapel in the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr. See goodshepherdparishmcc.com/lastservice.aspx for more information.
