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Pastoral Letter
from Rev. R. David Smith
Dear Members and Friends of MCC Baltimore,
It has been my sincere pleasure and privilege to be pastor and spiritual leader of this people for the past 15 years. You have been very good to Mike and to me and given us many opportunities for ministry and it has been our joy to watch you grow. At this juncture however I feel that it is in the best interests of myself and of MCC Baltimore for me to resign as your pastor effective June 30 when my current contract expires.
I have been aware of the need for renewed leadership and vision for the congregation for some time and now that we have completed the refinancing of our mortgage I believe we are in the best financial position to go through a transition. I cannot deny the changes we have been going through and the ministries and leaders that we have lost over the past two years as well as the decline in giving and attendance. I honestly believe that you have the best opportunity for thriving in the future with new leadership and that you currently have a strong Board of Directors to facilitate this transition. I also believe I have been released from my call with you and I am ready for a new challenge.
I pray that my 15 years at MCC Baltimore will represent a kind of legacy. There are three aspects of the legacy that I hope to have left behind that I would like to highlight for you:
First, I pray that you will always be a congregation that values and celebrates your diversity. As far as I can tell even from the earliest years MCC Baltimore has been a diverse people embracing races, classes, genders, and education levels as well as worship styles. We are the only congregation in UFMCC I am aware of that has had three African American female pastoral leaders and an almost equal number of women and men as pastors and leaders. Our worship style has swung from Pentecostal to high liturgy and back several times and now represents a wide range between our two worship experiences. Though the diversity of Baltimore City itself has changed in my 15 years here I pray that MCC Baltimore continues to be a place that in Christ you celebrate the joy of diversity.
Second, I pray that you continue to live generously out of a sense of abundance. One of the first changes I insisted on at MCC Baltimore was turning our PRIDE booth from a money making enterprise to an opportunity to give away cookies and juice, something that most other churches have followed MCCb and are doing today. We have always seen the facilities that God has given us as a community center to be shared and we are known for our generous spirits. I pray that you will continue to know that you are blessed to be a blessing.
Finally, I pray that you will always be a place with a "low threshold of ministry" where everyone is encouraged to experiment with and use the gifts that God has given them. I believe that each person who enters the doors of MCC Baltimore is (continued on page 2)
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