United Church of Christ - Wikipedia

United Church of Christ - Wikipedia



United Church of Christ
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


This article is about the United States denomination known as "United Church of Christ". For other merged denominations, see United and uniting churches. For other churches that have the words "Church" and "Christ" in their name, see Church of Christ (disambiguation).
United Church of Christ

Classification Protestant
Orientation Reformed
Polity Covenantal
Associations Churches Uniting In Christ
National Council of Churches
World Communion of Reformed Churches
World Council of Churches
Region United States
Headquarters Cleveland, Ohio
Origin 1957
Merger of Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches
Congregations 5,116
Members 914,871 members in 5,032 congregations (2015)[1]
Official website www.ucc.org
Logo


The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, with historical confessional roots in the Reformed, Congregational and Evangelical Protestant traditions, and "with over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members".[2][3] The United Church of Christ is a historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism.[4]The Evangelical and Reformed Churchand the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churchesunited in 1957 to form the UCC. These two denominations, which were themselves the result of earlier unions, had their roots in Congregational, Christian, Evangelical, and Reformed denominations. At the end of 2014, the UCC's 5,116 congregations claimed 979,239 members, primarily in the United States.[5] In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 0.4 percent, or 1 million adult adherents, of the U.S population self-identify with the United Church of Christ.[6]

The UCC maintains full communion with other mainline Protestant denominations. Many of its congregations choose to practice open communion.[7] The denomination places high emphasis on participation in worldwide interfaith and ecumenical efforts.[8][9] The national settings of the UCC have historically favored liberal views on social issues, such as civil rights, LGBT rights, women's rights, and abortion. 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".[10]