Who Are We ?

The United Church of Christ: A Family of Faith for a Global Community

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." [Micah 6:8]

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." [Matthew 23: 37-39]

Two words are often used to describe the United Church of Christ: freedom and responsibility. We have been described as "a church that is independent and subject to no temporal authority; but equally a church that is the servant of all and minister to everyone."

In today's world, where many voices compete for attention, it is difficult separate wheat from the chaff, to discern essential truth from passing fancy. Such discernment is a daily challenge for members of the United Church of Christ. The basis for addressing that challenge is clearly stated in the Constitution of the UCC:

 

FLORIDA UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST WOMEN

 

Women's ministry in the national setting of the United Church of Christ celebrates women in all their diversity. We cherish and work to be advocates on behalf of all women, lay and clergy, the young and the not as young! We see our task as a sharing one: sharing the incredible strengths and resources found in United Church of Christ women so that we may better be about carrying out God's ministry and mission in the world.

We give thanks that women's ministries is a partnership with each of you. Part of the partnership is hearing from you, through e-mail, regular mail or your responses to our focus inquiry questionnaire. Women are wonderfully creative and we are certain that a great deal is happening in your Conferences, Associations and local churches that would be of interest to other women and we invite you to share that information with us.

What is the United Church of Christ?

 

The United Church of Christ came into being in 1957 with the union of two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. Each of these was, in turn, the result of a union of two earlier traditions. The Congregational Churches were organized when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation (1620) and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629) acknowledged their essential unity in the Cambridge Platform of 1648. The Reformed Church in the United States traced its beginnings to congregations of German settlers in Pennsylvania founded from 1725 on. Later, its ranks were swelled by Reformed immigrants from Switzerland, Hungary and other countries. The Christian Churches sprang up in the late 1700s and early 1800s in reaction to the theological and organizational rigidity of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist churches of the time. The Evangelical Synod of North America traced its beginnings to an association of German Evangelical pastors in Missouri. This association, founded in 1841, reflected the 1817 union of Lutheran and Reformed churches in Germany.
Through the years, other groups such as American Indians, Afro-Christians, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Volga Germans, Armenians, and Hispanic Americans have joined with the four earlier groups. In recent years, Christians from other traditions, including the Roman Catholic Church, have found a home in the UCC, and so have gay and lesbian Christians who have not been welcome in other churches. Thus the United Church of Christ celebrates and continues a broad variety of traditions in its common life.

 

Vital Worship in this Generation

 

Living God, reveal your light and truth to this generation in vital worship. We thank you. We praise you. We worship you. We long for the fullness of your reign of love and justice. In the holy name of Jesus Christ, Light and Truth. Amen.

Listen to a selection from the Worshiping Into God's Future Waiting For You

The Worship Page is your center for forming worship that deeply touches this generation of UCC churches. It includes resources for liturgy, sacraments, prayer, and preaching.

SAMUEL/Sermon Seeds (Scripture and Mission: A United Church of Christ Electronic Library) includes readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, "Sermon Seeds" helps for preaching and study, a focus scripture coordinated with "Seasons of the Spirit", and mission information from the back of Sunday UCC bulletins.

Worship Ways offers liturgies, prayers, and worship suggestions for the current season of the Church Year and UCC calendar days. It also includes a large archive of past resources for days found in the UCC Desk Calendar.