Jean White (1941 – 8 November 2010) was the founding

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

within the

Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. There are 222 member congregations in 37 ...

(MCC) in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She was a nurse, midwife, missionary, pastor, counselor, and campaigner for LGBTQ community and their inclusion in the Church. She received her training as a State Registered Nurse at the London Teaching Hospital, Whitechapel, London. Later she received training as a

Midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and at the Elsie Ingles School of Midwifery in

Edinburgh, Scotland Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and undertook a course in

Tropical Diseases Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forci ...

at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Liverpool. In 1963–64, White studied at the International Bible Training Institute in

Burgess Hill Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town, Chichester. It ...

, Sussex, and in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

. In 1964 she went as a medical missionary to

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

. She served as a missionary in Asia from 1964–70. Three of those years were spent under “compound arrest” in the “no-man’s area”, between

and the mainland of China, during the Red Guard uprising.Profile, ibid.
While in China (Asia) Jean became aware she needed to be honest about her sexuality and when she returned to London she came out as a lesbian and joined a group called Fellowship of Christ the Liberator, which was a prayer group for the LGBTQ. As founding pastor of the MCC, White served on the denomination's Board of Elders and served the original Metropolitan Community Church of London for many years. She worked as director of World Church Extension of the denomination. She was pastor of MCC, South London, at the time of her death on 8 November 2010, aged 69, following a battle with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

. She is survived by her long-time partner, Mary Smail, an accomplished church musician and MCC lay leader.

References

External links

Jean White Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jean 1941 births 2010 deaths Nurses from London Congregationalist missionaries in China Deaths from pancreatic cancer in England LGBT Protestant clergy English LGBT rights activists English lesbians Metropolitan Community Church clergy Female Christian missionaries English midwives English Congregationalist missionaries British expatriates in China Christian missionaries in Macau Christian medical missionaries 20th-century English LGBT people 21st-century English LGBT people