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Getting to Know our Ecumenical Partners:
The
United Church of Christ
by Rocky Piro, Commission on Ecumenical
Relations Chair
Over the past several months, The Spirit has had a series of
articles on church bodies with which the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) has entered into full communion. This
month we focus on the United Church of Christ (UCC), one of three
Protestant churches from the Reformed tradition that the ELCA
established full communion with in 1997 – the other two church
bodies being the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Reformed
Church in America.
The United Church of Christ came into being in 1957 with the
union of two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical and
Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches.
Each of these bodies was, in turn, the result of previous unions
of other traditions.
The Congregational Churches – Organized
when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation (1620) and the Puritans
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629) acknowledged their
essential unity in the Cambridge Platform of 1648.
The Christian Churches – Sprang
up in the late 1700s and early 1800s in reaction to the
theological and organizational rigidity of the Methodist,
Presbyterian and Baptist churches of the time.
The Evangelical Synod of North
America – Traced its beginnings to an association of
German Evangelical pastors in Missouri. This association,
founded in 1841, reflected the 1817 union of Lutheran and
Reformed churches in Germany.
The Reformed Church in the United States –
Traced its beginnings to congregations of German settlers
in Pennsylvania founded from 1725 on. Later, its ranks
were swelled by Reformed immigrants from Switzerland,
Hungary and other countries.
Through the years, other groups such as Native-Americans,
African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, Volga
Germans, Armenians, and Hispanic-Americans have joined with the
four earlier groups. In recent years, Christians from other
traditions have found a home in the United Church of Christ. Thus
the denomination celebrates and continues a broad variety of
traditions in its common life.
The characteristics of the United Church of Christ can be
summarized in part by the key words in the names that formed its
union: Christian, Reformed, Congregational,
and Evangelical.
Christian – By its very name, the United Church
of Christ declare itself to be part of the Body of Christ
– the Christian church. The denomination is committed to
continuing the witness of the early disciples to the
reality and power of the crucified and risen Christ.
Reformed – All four predecessor denominations
arose from the tradition of the Protestant Reformers. The
United Church of Christ affirms the primacy of the
scriptures, the doctrine of justification by faith, the
priesthood of all believers, and the principle of
Christian freedom. Two sacraments are celebrated: Baptism
and the Lord's Supper.
Congregational – The basic unit of the United
Church of Christ is the congregation. Members of each
congregation covenant with one another and with God as
empowered by the Holy Spirit. These congregations, in
turn, exist in covenantal relationships with one another
to form larger structures for more effective work.
Associations of churches, conferences, the General Synod
and the churchwide "covenanted ministries" of
the United Church of Christ are free to act in their
particular spheres of responsibility. Yet all live in a
covenantal relationship with one another and with local
churches to manifest the unity of the body of Christ and
carry out God's mission in the world more effectively.
Evangelical – The primary task of the church is
the proclamation of the Gospel (evangelion in
Greek). The Gospel is proclaimed by word and deed to
individual persons and to society. This proclamation is
the heart of daily and Sunday worship.
Working with a perspective that faith can be expressed in many
different ways, the United Church of Christ has no formula that is
a test of faith. However, historic statements, such as the Apostles'
Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism,
the Evangelical Catechism, the Augsburg Confession,
the Cambridge Platform and the Kansas City Statement of
Faith are valued as authentic testimonies of faith.
In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all
things charity. For the United Church of Christ, the unity
that Christians seek requires neither an uncritical acceptance of
any point of view, nor rigid formulation of doctrine. It does
require mutual understanding and agreement as to which aspects of
the Christian faith and life are essential. The denomination’s
motto – That they may all be one. [John 17:21] –
reflects the spirit of unity on which it is based and points
toward future efforts to heal the divisions in the body of Christ.
The United Church of Christ sees itself as a "uniting
church." as well as a "united church."
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