The Encyclopedia of World Religions

United Church of Christ S 459

The Evangelical and Reformed Church united two churches with different backgrounds. One was the Reformed Church in the United States. Immigrants from Germany and Switzerland had established it in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1793. As Reformed Christians, they accepted a statement of faith known as the Heidelberg Con fession. The second group was the Evangelical Synod of North America. Immigrants from Ger many, including both Reformed and Lutheran ( see L UTHERANISM ) Christians, founded it in 1840 near St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to the Hei delberg Confession, they accepted important Lutheran documents: Luther’s Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. In 1934 these two groups merged to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The United Church of Christ brought all of these churches together into a single denomina tion. It continues the tradition of the Evangelical and Reformed Church by having a Statement of Faith, but it also continues the tradition of the Congregational Churches by not forcing individual congregations to follow that statement. In other words, the UCC does not insist on a unity created by excluding those who disagree with a particu lar vision of Christianity. Instead, it seeks unity by celebrating different Christian visions. It takes as its motto the words of Jesus: “That they may all be one.” The UCC is perhaps best known for its com mitment to social justice. The traditions it inher ited in 1957 include the movement to abolish slav ery and a movement known as the social gospel to help people impoverished by industrialization. It has continued these traditions, among other ways, by emphasizing inclusiveness. Through Andrew Young (b. 1932), a UCC minister, it contributed a prominent voice to the civil rights movement. It ordained the first openly gay minister in the his tory of Christianity in 1972. In 1976 it became the first church body in the United States to have an African-American president. And in 1995 it issued a hymnal that referred to God as female as well as male. Because these steps characterize a very lib eral Protestantism, it is important to recognize that

to form the American Unitarian Universalist Association. Further reading: John A. Buehrens, Our Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism (Boston: Beacon Press, 1989); Earl Morse Wilbur, Our Unitarian Heritage: An Introduction to the History of the Unitarian Movement (Boston: Beacon Press, 1956); Conrad Wright, ed., A Stream of Light; A Sesquicentennial History of American Unitarianism (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 1975). United Church of Christ A mainline Protestant denomination in the United States. The United Church of Christ (UCC) came into existence 1957. It brought together two groups: the General Coun cil of Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church ( see C ON GREGATIONALISM and P RESBYTERIAN AND R EFORMED C HURCHES ). The history of these groups shows just how complicated Christian life in the United States has been. Their union into a single body defines the character of the UCC: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity.” The roots of the General Council of Congrega tional Christian Churches extend back to the found ing of New England. Both the Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth in 1620 and the Puritans who settled at Massachusetts Bay in 1630 were Congregation alists. They believed that individual congregations or local Christian groups should be free to make their own decisions. This belief contrasts with the hierarchical model of R OMAN C ATHOLICISM , in which the Pope and the bishops oversee all Catholic par ishes. For many years Congregational churches in North America remained separate, but in 1871 they formed the National Council of Congregational Churches. At the same time, several churches that had broken away from the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians formed a second group known as the General Convention of the Christian Church ( see B APTIST C HURCHES and M ETHODISM ). In 1931 the National Council and the General Convention merged to form the General Council.