Church of the Holy Spirit MCC

Church of the Holy Spirit is one of more than 300 churches worldwide that make up the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.  Our Fellowship spreads over 16 countries including the United States.  Our Denomination began in 1968 in Los Angeles, as a direct response to the homophobia in many traditional churches.

Church of the Holy Spirit is located in Des Moines, Iowa. We worship at 10:30 AM (Central Time) at First Christian Church, 2nd floor chapel. First Christian is located at 2500 University Ave.

Our Ministerial Team:
Senior Pastor:  Rev. Peg Esperanza 
Minister: Rev. Sharon Sloat
Pastoral Care Team Leader:  Jane P

Clergy in Residence:
Gail Morse – Universal Life Church
Melissa Keeton – Universal Life Church

Statement of Faith

Our "Statement of Faith" declares: "Christianity is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and is the religion set forth in the Scriptures. Jesus Christ is foretold in the Old Testament, presented in the New Testament, and proclaimed by the Christian Church in every age and in every land." " Founded in the interest of offering a home to ALL who confess and believe, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches moves in the mainstream of Christianity." "Our faith is based upon the principles outlined in the historic creeds: Apostles and Nicene."

We Believe: 1. In one triune God, omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, of one substance and three persons: God - our Parent, Creator; Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, God in flesh, human; and the Holy Spirit - God as our Sustainer. 2. The Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, showing forth God to every person through the law and the prophets, and finally, completely and ultimately on earth in the being of Jesus. 3. Jesus...the Christ... historically recorded as living some 2.000 years before this writing, is God incarnate, of human birth, fully God and fully human, and by being one with God, Jesus has demonstrated once and forever that all people are likewise children of God, being spiritually man in God's image. 4. The Holy Spirit is God making known God's love and interest to all people. The Holy Spirit is God, available to and working through, all who are willing to place their welfare in God's keeping. 5. Every person is justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 6. We are saved from loneliness, despair and degradation through God's gift of grace, as was declared b our Savior. Such grace is not earned, but is a pure gift from a God of pure love. We further commend the community of the faithful to a life of prayer, to seek genuine forgiveness for unkind, thoughtless and unloving acts, and to a committed life of Christian service. 7. The Church serves to bring all people to God through Christ. To this end, it shall arrange for regular services of worship, prayer, interpretation of the Scriptures, and edification through the teaching and preaching of the Word.

Other details of the faith are up to the individual believer and are between the believer and God. This statement of beliefs is general enough to embrace a wide diversity of historic and evolving Christian belief.

Historically , the Christian Church has been torn apart by theological controversies. Individual MCC members are free to believe any of the many other beliefs of Christian thought, so long as they are consistent with and not in contradiction to UFMCC's basic statement of faith and doctrine. Issues such as the importance of the Virign Birth and the interpretation of the Communion table (transubstantiation versus consubstantiation) are left up to the individual believer.

MCC draws its members from many religious, liturgical and philosophical backgrounds. As such there will be a wide variety of beliefs within the context of the basis Christian doctrines. It is our hope that in MCC there is room for ALL Christians. See the UFMCC website for more information.