The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States, formed in 1957 by the merger of two denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches.

The Congregational churches trace their origins to the separatist "Pilgrims" who established Plymouth Colony in 1620, and to the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who landed in 1629 and 1630 and settled Boston, whose organizing principle is Congregationalism, and to two waves of German Protestantism: the Reformed Church and the Evangelical Synod , which itself was the American expression of a uniting Prussian church. The UCC therefore unites one of the earliest Protestant denominations in the United States with various other Reformed traditions that sprang up in the United States in the 1700s and 1800s.

The UCC uses four words to describe itself: Christian, Reformed, Congregational, and Evangelical. This gives individual congregations a great deal of freedom in the areas of 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 UCC uses broad doctrinal parameters, emphasizing instead freedom of individual conscience and local church autonomy. As a whole it is considered a liberal Christian denomination in the United States, although some individual UCC congregations can be very conservative. Since the mid-1990s, the Church has been headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Previously, its headquarters were in New York, New York.

Ecumenical relations

The United Church of Christ is in partnership with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and in a continuing dialogue with the Alliance of Baptists. It is also a founding member of Churches Uniting in Christ.

The Church is in a relationship of full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Reformed Church in America, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) through a formal declaration known as the Formula of Agreement .

It is a member of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) and the World Council of Churches.

Current issues in the UCC

Branding Campaign

In 2004, the UCC became one of the first US churches to use paid commercial advertising to reach potential members. The "God is Still Speaking," branding initiative featured "the comma, " the colors red and black, and a quote by Gracie Allen warning "Never place a period where God has placed a comma." In keeping with their congregational roots, individual congregations were allowed to opt in or out of this initiative.

In December 2004 several US TV networks, including NBC and CBS, refused to air an advertisement by UCC deeming it too controversial. The "Bouncers" advertisement showed bouncers accepting a white, well-dressed family into the church building but rejecting a number of other people, including two men holding hands, a member of a racial minority, and a disabled person. The text dispayed on the screen says: "Jesus didn't turn people away, neither do we." While the UCC claims the commercial was meant to communicate that UCC welcomes all persons, critics denounced the perceived insinuation that other churches/denominations might turn people away or that Jesus would have condoned homosexuality. [1]

External links

• United Church of Christ website