Cross Denominational Mission
The
United Church of Christ (UCC) is a Protestant denomination whose
presence is principally in the United States, within the Reformed
tradition, and formed in 1957 by the union of two denominations, the
Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian
Churches.The United Church of Christ has approximately 1.2 million
members of approximately 5,600 local congregations. Although similar in
name, the UCC denomination is theologically, historically, and
culturally distinct from the Churches of Christ, a loose affiliation of
conservative congregations that arose primarily from the Restoration
Movement taking place in the Southeastern United States in the 19th
century. There have been difficulties of identity with confusion as to
which church is which and both groups have endeavoured to enhance their
own identity.
Component denominations of the United Church of Christ
The Evangelical and Reformed Church
itself was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the
United States and the Evangelical Synod of North America:
The
Reformed Church in the United States carried out the tradition of the
German version of the Reformed/Calvinist movement, which some
commentators have characterized as less rationalistically doctrinal
than its Dutch and British Isles counterparts. The German Reformed
Church employed the Heidelberg Catechism as its primary, if not sole,
confession. Its roots trace mostly to 18th-century immigrants hailing
primarily from areas near the Rhine River in Germany, but also from
certain parts of Switzerland. The denomination had strong
concentrations in Pennsylvania, northern Maryland, and eastern Ohio,
but was also present in more scattered patterns in states to the west
and south.
The Evangelical Synod of North America traced its roots
to later waves of 19th- and early 20th-century German immigration,
which settled primarily in the Midwest (especially Missouri, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan). Members of this group largely came
from the Evangelical Church of the Union, which formed in 1817 as a
union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia. The group often
identified as primarily Lutheran (usually depending upon a local
pastor's preference and/or background), but held a mixture of both
Lutheran and Reformed beliefs and practices - so much so as to prevent
this group from merging with other Lutheran bodies. Evangelicals looked
to both the Reformed Heidelberg Catechism and Luther's Small Catechism
as their confessions (and eventually developed their own "Evangelical
Catechism" for confirmation training of youth, which merged views of
both).
The Congregational Christian Churches
were primarily Reformed/Calvinist Congregational churches, whose
congregational structure separated them from the then-theologically
similar Presbyterians. This denomination was centered in New England
(being the state churches of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and
Connecticut from colonial times until into the early 19th century). The
church spread wherever New Englanders migrated, including significant
numbers in the Great Lakes region of the Midwest (states like Ohio,
Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc.).
The Congregational churches traced their origins to two colonial-era English
dissenting Protestant groups: the separatist Pilgrims, who established
Plymouth Colony in 1620; and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, who landed in 1629 and 1630 and settled Boston. At the time of
the 1957 formation of the UCC, several hundred Congregational churches
declined to join. Most of those congregations joined either one of two
alternative bodies: the National Association of Congregational
Christian Churches and the Conservative Congregational Christian
Conference. The latter body came into being as a result of the
fundamentalist movement in the early 20th century.
A portion of
the American frontier Restoration Movement known as the Christian
Churches, which evolved from separate but related movements in North
Carolina and Virginia, and New England, at the turn of the 19th
century. This loose group comprised a number of frontier movements that
broke away from the established Anglo-Saxon denominations (i.e.
Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist) because they required less rigid
doctrine, church governance and organization. Adherents declared the
Bible (especially the New Testament) as the sole doctrinal guide and
claimed "no creed but Christ." The Christian Church movement is part of
the family of similar movements that generated the mainline Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ) denomination, the conservative independent
Christian Churches, and the sectarian Churches of Christ. As mentioned
above, confusion of the UCC with the Churches of Christ has caused
substantial identity problems for the denomination in some parts of the
United States.
Doctrine and beliefs
The
UCC uses four words to describe itself: "Christian, Reformed,
Congregational and Evangelical." The church's diversity and adherence
to covenantal governance (rather than government by regional elders or
bishops) give individual congregations great freedom in worship,
congregational life, and doctrine.
The motto of the United Church of
Christ comes from John 17:21: "That they may all be one." The
denomination's official literature uses broad doctrinal parameters,
honoring creeds and confessions as "testimonies of faith" rather than
"tests of faith," and emphasizes freedom of individual conscience and
local church autonomy. The relationship between local congregations and
the denomination's national headquarters is covenantal rather than
hierarchical: local churches have complete control of their
finances, clergy and staff appointments, and theological and
political position.
In the United Church of Christ, creeds,
confessions, and affirmations of faith serve as "testimonies to faith"
around which the church gathers rather than as "tests of faith" that
rigidly describe required doctrinal belief. As expressed on the United
Church of Christ constitution: The United Church of Christ acknowledges
as its sole Head, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior. It acknowledges
as kindred in Christ all who share in this confession. It looks to the
Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the
Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world.
It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the
ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant
Reformers. It affirms the responsibility of the Church in each
generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty
of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God. It
recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper or Holy
Communion.
The denomination, therefore, looks to a number of
historic confessions as expressing the common faith around which the
church gathers, including:
the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed,
the Heidelberg Catechism (inherited from both the German Reformed and
German Evangelical heritages), Luther's Small Catechism (inherited from
the German Evangelical heritage), the Kansas City Statement of Faith (a
1913 statement in the Congregationalist tradition), the Evangelical
Catechism (a 1927 catechism in the German Evangelical tradition), and
the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ (written at the
founding of the denomination).
While not functioning as creedal or
dogmatic tests of faith, these confessions and testimonies of faith
place the United Church of Christ within the family of Reformation
churches.
The Living
Theological Heritage of the United Church of Christ a 7-volume book
which spans the first century through the 20th century is included because
they had impacted the shaping the UCC's theological identity.
Organizational structure
The
United Church of Christ organization is considered "covenantal" and the
structure of UCC organization is a mixture of the congregational and
presbyterian policies of its predecessor denominations. With ultimate
authority on most matters given to the local church, many see the
United Church of Christ as closer to congregationalism; however, with
ordination and pastoral oversight conducted by Associations, and
General Synod representation given to Conferences instead of
congregational delegates, certain presbyterian similarities are also
present. Quoting the
United Church of Christ Constitution, "The basic unit of the life and
organization of the United Church of Christ is the local church" and an
interdependence with local autonomy characterizes the organization of
the UCC. Each "setting" of the United Church of Christ relates
covenantally with other settings, their actions speaking "to, but not
for" each other.
Local churches
The
basic unit of the United Church of Christ is the local church (also
often called the congregation). Local churches have the freedom to
govern themselves, establishing their own internal organizational
structures and theological positions. Thus, local church governance
varies widely throughout the denomination; some congregations, mainly
of Congregational origin, have numerous relatively-independent "boards"
that oversee different aspects of church life, while others have one
central "church council" or "consistory" (especially in former
Evangelical and Reformed parishes) that handles most or all affairs,
while still others have structures incorporating aspects of both, or
other alternative organizational structures entirely.
Local churches
have the freedom to hire and dismiss their own pastors and other
leadership. However, unlike purely congregational groups, the
association has the main authority to ordain clergy and grant standing
to clergy coming to a church from another association or another
denomination (this authority is exercised "in cooperation with" the
person being ordained/called and the local church that is calling
them). Local churches are aided in searching for and calling ordained
clergy through a denominationally-coordinated "search-and-call" system,
usually facilitated by staff at the conference level.
Links:
United Church of Christ website