Our Denomination
Our Denomination - Congregational
The United Church of Christ: www.ucc.org
We are members of the United Church of Christ. The UCC is a denomination of over 5600 local congregations and 1.2 million members throughout the United States, which was created in 1957 from a merger of the Congregational Christian Churches, and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The Church-in-the-Gardens was a member of the original Congregational Christian Churches, but did not decide to join the newly forming United Church until May 2012.
The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches shared a strong commitment under Christ to the freedom of religious expression. Both denominations found their authority in the Bible and were more concerned with what unites Christians than with what divides them. A tradition that maintained important aspects of European Protestantism (Evangelical and Reformed) was broadened by one that, in mutual covenant with Christ, embraced diversity and freedom (Congregational Christian). The United Church of Christ today is knows that “God is still speaking.” It affirms that human institutions and the Christian church should not “place a period” in considering the issues of the day, as if they are decided once and for all time, where God has only put a comma. Each generation must continue to ask, “How is God speaking to us today?” as it decides what justice, love, mercy, and faithfully following Jesus Christ, demand.
Here is what The United Church of Christ says about its beliefs:
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 faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of 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. In accordance of the teachings of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical Christians, it recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion. (from the Preamble to the Constitution of the United Church of Christ)
