Make your 2014 financial commitment to Westminster this Sunday, November 17.

This coming weekend, as you consider how you will support Westminster with your talents and financial resources, please also consider why you are doing so. If you have not read or received your "Pursuing Fruitfulness" Newsletter, please  download it here in pdf.  In this Stewardship publication you will read the stories of members and friends of Westminster who have been transformed by the ministry of this community of faith.  

As a Stewardship Committee we are convinced that by enthusiastically and generously accepting the invitation to contribute to Westminster you too will experience the transformation expressed in these stories. You will do so knowing that in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, you will make a difference in the year to come.  

"Commitment Sunday" is this Sunday, November 17^th.  We invite you to bring your completed pledge card with you to church and place it in the offering plate. If you cannot attend worship on Sunday, please return your pledge card by mail in the envelope provided through the mailing.

Sincerely,

Bill Weiss, Caryl Slater, Shelley Peterson, and Dries Coetzee

You are invited to join Westminster as we welcome Alex McNeill, Executive Director of More Light Presbyterians, on Thursday, November 21st at 7pm for a conversation in The Lounge of Westminster Presbyterian Church House. Alex is an openly transgender man, and a nationally known educator and advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Christians. As executive director, he helps MLP chart a new strategic direction to help empower individuals to become advocates for LGBTQ inclusion and equality in their own congregations and communities.

More Light Presbyterians is an organization dedicated to promoting acceptance and inclusion of LGBTQ people in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and wider society. McNeill is the first transgender person to lead a mainline Protestant faith-based organization. A transgender person is someone whose sex at birth is opposite from who they know they are on the inside. Many transgender people are prescribed hormones by their doctors to change their bodies. Some undergo surgery as well.

"I'm honored to join More Light, which has always been on the forefront of the Christian tradition of fostering acceptance for the most vulnerable among us. I look forward to building on this proud tradition to create a fully welcoming church," said Alex McNeill.

McNeill has personally trained hundreds of Christians to become community leaders through the Institute for Welcoming Resources and the Reconciling Ministries Network. He has also led departments, managed programs, and raised funds at Equality Maryland and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. He also played a key role organizing faith communities for the passage of Amendment 10A in the PC(USA) and of marriage equality legislation in Maryland.

McNeill has also campaigned for ballot measures and legislation to promote LGBTQ rights. He helped win ordination equality for LGBTQ Presbyterians in 2011, and celebrated that success by becoming the first openly transgender ministry candidate from his home presbytery in Western North Carolina. His journey to ordination is currently being chronicled in the documentary, Out of Order.

Leadership training will be the cornerstone of McNeill's work with MLP. "The more we encourage our supporters to share their knowledge, skills and calling, the more our denomination and community will look like God's kin-dom," he said.   Alex holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, and a Bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. He currently resides just outside of Washington, DC with his wife and three dogs.