The United Church of Christ is a very unique denomination in that it brings together in one body, the beliefs, and traditions of most major Christian Faiths in the United States.  Through our Evangelical and Reformed churches, we are linked directly to the Lutheran and Reformed strands of the Reformation and of the early European immigration and our nation’s frontier ministries. Through the Congregational Church, we can trace our beginnings to the English Reformation, the Puritan movement, and the arrival of the Pilgrim’s on Plymouth Rock. The Christian Church (Congregational Christians) brought the traditions of Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists into the mix. Since the merger in 1957, we have received people and churches and traditions from a very wide variety of Christian experiences, and it’s been a very heady and varied mix of theological and cultural understandings. That makes for some very interesting discussions.

The churches of the United Church of Christ are made up of congregations across the full spectrum of faith and belief, from liberal to conservative and everything in between. There is no one “theology” or “belief system” to describe us. Our Statement of Faith is exactly that, a common statement held by our members It is not intended to be either a creed or doctrine, and it is certainly never to be used as a test of one’s faith. It is important to remember that the United Church of Christ is made up of thousands of churches just like ours, and that every one of them is filled with good and caring Christians who take their faith seriously. But we do cover a wide and diverse range of theological perspectives. And yet, there must be an essential core of beliefs that are necessary in order for us to call ourselves “Christian.” To discover who we are as a United Church of Christ, it is important to look at the foundational documents of our faith. The first of these, always, is the Bible. We are, always have been, and always will be a Biblically inspired church. Add to this, our centeredness in Christ, our history and traditions, and the faithful men and women, pastors and laity, who work to make the faith an important part of our world today, and you begin to know the depth of faith that we claim as our own.