My name is Ed, and I am 42 years old. I live in Newark in Nottinghamshire.

ON EASTER SUNDAY, April 5th 2026, I was brought into membership at the Metropolitan Community Church in East London, I’m delighted to be part of such a wonderful family, we are very friendly towards the LGBTQ PLUS COMMUNITY. I am also the unofficial, Volunteer Assistant Vice Moderator, the role should be made official in due course. This new and exciting role is a perfect fit with all my other roles and volunteering duties, fabulous, I do the vast majority of this role and attend services online.

I would like to thank Stacey Ingrassia, who is the pastor of metropolitan community Church in East London and all the members were welcome in me into the family.

I have Cerebral Palsy and am a full-time electric wheelchair user. I went to Coventry University and graduated in 2007 with a 2:2 in Communication, Culture and Media, which I’m very proud of, I came out as gay at the age of 13 and have not looked back since.

Best Wishes,

Ed

We are now able to receive 5% of the value of your Amazon orders if you sign up to Amazon Smile and choose “The Metropolitan Community Church in East London” – an easy way is to follow this link: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1014043-0 – there is no extra cost to you. This is a good way to support the church as we exit lockdown.

MCCEL invites you to our Christmas Service on Sunday 22nd December at 17:30. Please come and join us. We will be having a food bank collection as well as an extra collection to be able to buy more spaces for Crisis at Christmas

This coming Tuesday, 27 August, we are meeting at Maryland station then going to Sufi Turkish Restaurant at 35 Leytonstone Road E15 1JA. We will meet in the station ticket hall for 7:30 pm and then proceed to the restaurant. This is our regular social gathering – we look forward to seeing you.

We are starting Saturday discussion meetings this month. The first will be on 24 August, at Stepney Meeting House. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. for an 11:00 start. There will be a video to watch, followed by a bring-and-share lunch and discussion. (If you are coming, feel free to bring some food that can be served cold, or heated in a microwave oven.)

This Saturday we are having an envisioning day. We are meeting at church on Saturday at 11. We are having a bring and share lunch. This is an opportunity to listen to everyone’s ideas on ways to take the church forward. You do not need to be a member of the church to come. Everyone will have the opportunity to give their ideas and join the discussions. We will finish at 2. Please come along and join us.

In our Lenten season we will be collecting for the food bank again. There will be a box left at church please add to it as you are able to.
The collection will be kept until Easter Sunday when it will be taken to the food bank.
Please see the list of items below for what they urgently need or don’t need.

As we start to prepare for Lent we will be having pancakes on Shrove Tuesday followed by a short Ash Wednesday service at the end of the evening.
Our evening will start from 6 onwards but will promptly finish at 9.
Join us if you can – send a message for more information.

It’s MMM time again, this Tuesday (29 January). We will be going to Mexican Grille, 194 Mile End Road, E1 4LJ, about 100 yards from Stepney Green station (District, Hammersmith & City). We will meet at the station for 7:30 pm – if you are late, it’s on the opposite side of the road, towards Whitechapel. All welcome.

This year as a church we are doing a reverse advent calendar and each week (if you can) we are going to choose one item from the list below and bring it to church. We are going to do this all through advent and at Christmas the pastor will take them home and donate them to the local food bank for people in need.

The advice is to get long life items with a long expiration date so the food does not get wasted.

Thank you all in advance

URGENTLY NEED

• FRUIT JUICE (UHT/LONG-LIFE ONLY)
• TINNED MEAT (PORK & NON-PORK)
• RICE PUDDING
• WASHING UP LIQUID
• WASHING (POWDER) TABLETS
• COOKING OIL (500ML)
• COFFEE (100G)
• CEREALS
• TINNED FRUIT
• MILK (UHT/CARTON)
• TOILETRIES (REGULAR SIZED SHOWER GEL, SHAMPOO, TOOTHPASTE, TOOTHBRUSHES)
• WASHING POWDER
• JAM
• COOKING SAUCES/PASTA SAUCE

They DO NOT NEED
• FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS
• CUPPA SOUP
• INSTANT NOODLES
• BEANS
• NAPPIES
• BABY WIPES