United Church of Christ Formed
The United Church of Christ (UCC) was formed on June 25, 1957, through the union of two significant denominational bodies: the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. This merger aimed to promote a more unified expression of faith among its members and enhance their collective witness in the world. Each of these churches has a rich historical background marked by earlier mergers and diverse traditions rooted in the Reformation. The Evangelical and Reformed Church itself was established in 1934 from the Evangelical Synod of North America and the Reformed Church in the United States, both of which trace their origins to European Protestant reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther. Conversely, the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches emerged in 1931, uniting various Congregational and Christian denominations with ancestry linked to the Reformation movements in England. The UCC thus embodies a tapestry of historical influences and theological perspectives, reflecting a commitment to inclusivity and a shared mission in the Christian faith.
United Church of Christ Formed
United Church of Christ Formed
The first union in the United States of churches with differing forms of church government and divergent historical backgrounds took place on June 25, 1957, when the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church came together to form the United Church of Christ. The purpose of the union, in the words of a church representative, was “to express more fully the oneness in Christ of the churches composing it, to make more effective their common witness in Him, and to serve His kingdom in the world.”
Each of the uniting bodies was itself the result of earlier mergers. One of the uniting denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed Church, had come into being with the union in 1934 of the Evangelical Synod of North America and the Reformed Church in the United States. Brought to this country by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland, both groups had their roots in the Reformation movement in Europe, tracing their lineage to John Calvin, Martin Luther, Phillip Melanchthon, and Huldrych Zwingli. In America the Evangelical Synod had its origins in Missouri in 1840, whereas the Reformed Church had begun in Pennsylvania in 1725.
The other uniting denomination, the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches, was formed in 1931 when the Congregational and Christian Churches, each resulting from several previous unions and each tracing its ancestry largely to Reformation movements in England, came together. Congregationalism had been brought to the New World by the Pilgrims who founded the colony at Plymouth and by the Puritans who settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In this country the Congregationalists were joined by the Congregational Methodists in 1892, by the Evangelical Protestants in 1923, and by the German Congregationalists in 1925. The Christian Church had brought together Methodists from North Carolina, Baptists from Vermont, and Presbyterians from Kentucky in 1820.