{{short description|British nurse and pastor}} {{other people}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{multiple issues| {{Notability|Biographies|date=September 2011}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2009}} }} thumb|Logo for Metropolitan Community Church '''Jean White''' (1941 – 8 November 2010)<ref name=inourownwords>{{cite web|url=http://www.inourownwordsmcc.org/index.php/2010/11/08/in-memory-rev-elder-jean-white|title=In memory Rev Elder Jean White|accessdate=2010-11-14|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125001621/http://www.inourownwordsmcc.org/index.php/2010/11/08/in-memory-rev-elder-jean-white/|archivedate=2010-11-25}}</ref> was the founding pastor within the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in London. She was a nurse, midwife, missionary, pastor, counselor, and campaigner for the LGBTQ community and their inclusion in the Church.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://jeanwhite.org.uk/biography|title=The Life and Ministry of Jean White|last=Smail|first=Mary|date=|website=Jean White Archive of worship and pastoral resources|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240303192130/https://jeanwhite.org.uk/biography|archive-date=3 March 2024|access-date=|url-status=dead}}</ref>
She received her training as a State Registered Nurse at the London Teaching Hospital, Whitechapel, London. Later she received training as a Midwife in Bristol and at the Elsie Ingles School of Midwifery in Edinburgh, and undertook a course in Tropical Diseases at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Liverpool.<ref name=inourownwordsmcc/> In 1963–64, White studied at the International Bible Training Institute in Burgess Hill, Sussex, and in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1964 she went as a medical missionary to Macao. 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 Macao and the mainland of China, during the Red Guard uprising.<ref name=inourownwordsmcc>[http://www.inourownwordsmcc.org/index.php/2010/11/08/in-memory-rev-elder-jean-white/ Profile, ibid.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125001621/http://www.inourownwordsmcc.org/index.php/2010/11/08/in-memory-rev-elder-jean-white/ |date=2010-11-25 }}</ref> While in China White 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 LGBTQ people.<ref name=":0" />
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.
Her long-time partner was Mary Smail, a church musician and MCC lay leader.{{Cn|date=September 2024}} White died on 8 November 2010, aged 69, following a battle with pancreatic cancer.<ref name="mccslondon">{{cite web|url=http://www.mccsouthlondon.co.uk|title=MCC South London|accessdate=2007-06-24|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904225619/http://www.mccsouthlondon.co.uk/|archive-date=2012-09-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.jeanwhite.org.uk Jean White Archive]
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Jean}} Category:1941 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Nurses from London Category:Congregationalist missionaries in China Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in England Category:LGBTQ Protestant clergy Category:English LGBTQ rights activists Category:English lesbians Category:Metropolitan Community Church clergy Category:Female Christian missionaries Category:English midwives Category:English Congregationalist missionaries Category:British missionaries in China Category:Christian missionaries in Macau Category:Christian medical missionaries Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people Category:21st-century English LGBTQ people Category:British medical missionaries Category:British women civil rights activists