Who We Are

Our Mission

Reflection MCC seeks to reflect the heart of God by providing a safe space for healing and wholeness and by creating opportunity for the expression and experience of the holy through music, spoken word and community. Our desire is to spread the love and grace of God to every individual, as we inspire a sense of hope and purpose.

Our vision

To create community that promotes wholeness and healing, challenges and honors faith, actively pursues justice, and seeks to faithfully live the mission and teachings of Jesus.

Our Core Values

Reflection MCC is a place of believing and a place of belonging. Rather than an expectation of assimilation, we hope that you are comfortable to be you in authenticity. We welcome your stories and your faith. Our core values are focused on the intersections of emerging faith and radical hospitality.

Community

One of the most sacred things we do, is gather around the table. We gather at the altar of communion, but we also gather at the alter of food and community, and games. The table is sacred because at the table God is lifted up in community. We are driven to offer a safe, compassionate, and welcoming community for people to worship, seek, learn, and grow. We live in the spirit of Ubuntu, a South African phrase that reminds us that we are all bound together. We achieve our best selves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.

Inclusion

Because we firmly believe that all people are God’s beloved, we recognize the imperative to resist exclusion and reject social constructs that seek to marginalize and exclude others. Reflection MCC seeks to provide a community where everyone is welcome and every person willing to respect the diversity of people in our congregation is encouraged to share their faith. This means that people of all races, generations, socio-economic statuses, sexual orientations, genders and gender expressions will receive warmth, welcome and encouragement in Reflection MCC.

Justice

We believe Jesus led the way with a mission of justice. Our mission to do justice is exemplified by Teresa of Avila’s impetus, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which God looks to see compassion on the world; Yours are the feet with which Christ is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses humanity,” With this mission we will actively work to end systems that subjugate, degrade, devalue, or oppress individuals, groups of people or the earth.

Spiritual Transformation

Faith is not an end point it is a journey. Because people are diverse, we support individuals on their personal and unique journey to connect with God. We invite people to experience God and others through the life and teachings of Jesus. We do not tell you what to believe, nor do we assess what is right and wrong. We hope to create a space for you to seek and find truth, and we believe these truths can be known as we seek.

Our Leadership

We are led by a faithful group of individuals who give considerable time, talent and effort to keep
Reflection MCC living into its strategic planning

Senior/Founding Pastor

Rev. Sharon Henry

"Pastor Sharon" earned her MDiv from Pacific School of Religion along with a Ministry Certificate of Sexuality and Religion. She was ordained by the Metropolitan Community Churches in May of 2016. She is the founding pastor of Reflection MCC, and prior to her service there she served several churches in pastoral leadership. She spent fifteen years as the worship leader and minister of music at Reflection MCC in Stockton, CA.

She also works at Sutter Roseville Medical Center as a staff chaplain and CPE educator candidate.

Sharon's deepest joy is spending time with her family. has two sons, two daughter-in-laws, four grandchildren and one on the way.

Volunteer Clergy

Rev. Ellen Tanoye

Ellen Tanouye is a former PC(USA) pastor who came out of the closet, as a lesbian, in 2011. She is now married to her best friend who encouraged and supported her through the life transition of coming out.

Ellen graduated from SFTS in 1995, served in two Japanese American churches (Sycamore Congregational Church in El Cerrito and Calvary Presbyterian Church in Stockton); worked at the Presbytery and at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in the early 2000’s. She was a member of Many Journeys MCC in San Mateo and now a board member, piano player on the praise team, and volunteer clergy at Reflection MCC church in Folsom CA. Ellen has a talent for leading retreats and has planned conferences in many capacities (National Asian Presbyterian Women; National Asian Presbyterian Youth Network on Religion and Justice, and Tadaima, a Japanese American LGBTQ Northern California group. She loves to write and has written chapters with Dave Ng (San Frnacisco Theological Seminary) (People on the Way), Parenting curriculum, Church school curriculum for youth on Sexuality and Gender and has written devotionals for many years. She was trained to do day camp from a former Cameron House leader (Rev Mariko Yanagihara) and has led many a day-camp at many a church She was also trained to form and lead small groups in St Louis MO from her church in Lodi (St Paul Lutheran Church). In Portland, OR, Ellen was trained to plant churches (from the Covenant denomination). One of her greatest passions is to preach and teach and lead in worship.