The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition, in "historical continuation of the Congregational churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism." The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC. These two denominations, which were themselves the result of earlier unions, had their roots in Congregational, Evangelical, and Reformed denominations. The UCC's 5,287 congregations claim 1,080,198 members, primarily in the United States.
The UCC maintains full communion with other mainline Protestant denominations. Many of its congregations choose to practice open communion. The denomination places high emphasis on participation in worldwide interfaith and ecumenical efforts. The national settings of the UCC have historically favored liberal views on social issues, such as civil rights, gay rights, women's rights and abortion rights. However, United Church of Christ congregations are independent in matters of doctrine and ministry and may not necessarily support the national body's theological or moral stances. It is self-described as "an extremely pluralistic and diverse denomination".
Read more about United Church Of Christ: History, Beliefs, Structure, Criticism, Barack Obama and The UCC, Membership, List of Prominent UCC Churches, List of Famous UCC Members
Famous quotes containing the words united, church and/or christ:
“Fortunately, the time has long passed when people liked to regard the United States as some kind of melting pot, taking men and women from every part of the world and converting them into standardized, homogenized Americans. We are, I think, much more mature and wise today. Just as we welcome a world of diversity, so we glory in an America of diversity—an America all the richer for the many different and distinctive strands of which it is woven.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“The form of act or thought mattered nothing. The hymns of David, the plays of Shakespeare, the metaphysics of Descartes, the crimes of Borgia, the virtues of Antonine, the atheism of yesterday and the materialism of to-day, were all emanation of divine thought, doing their appointed work. It was the duty of the church to deal with them all, not as though they existed through a power hostile to the deity, but as instruments of the deity to work out his unrevealed ends.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)