Our Denomination History

 

In 1931 the Congregationalist and Christian Churches merged to form the Congregational Christian Churches. In 1934 the Reformed Church and the Evangelical Church joined together to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. In 1957 the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined together to form the United Church of Christ (UCC).

The United Church of Christ and it’s preceding denominations have helped change the face our country in many ways.

  • 1818 – Attempt to halt the relocation of Cherokee Indians.
  • 1830 – Spoke out against slavery.
  • 1852 – Isaac Scott was first African-American ordained minister.
  • 1853 – First theologically educated woman ordained.
  • 1867 – Melissa Terrell first formally ordained woman.
  • 1962 – Andrew Young works for the UCC with Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • 1963 – Committee for Racial Justice Now is formed.
  • 1967 – Joseph Evans becomes the first African-American to serve as an officer in the UCC.
  • 1971 – General Synod affirms freedom of choice concerning abortion.
  • 1971 – Council for American Indian Ministry is created.
  • 1972 – William R Johnson becomes the firstly openly gay person to be ordained.
  • 1975 – General Synod urges the church to work for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
  • 1975 – General Synod calls upon all levels of government to recognize Native American treaty rights.
  • 1982 – Anne Holmes becomes first openly lesbian woman ordained.
  • 1983 – General Synod declares compassionate concern for support of all victims of AIDS and calls on the US to expand victim assistance and appropriations for research.
  • 1985 – General Synod calls on churches to become accessible to all with disabilities.
  • 1985 – General Synod votes to adopt the Open & Affirming Church Program.
  • 1987 – General Synod creates Hispanic Ministries Implementation Team.
  • 1993 – UCC apologizes on behalf of the church for the complicity of missionaries in the 1893 overthrow of Hawaii’s sovereign government.
  • 2003 – The God is Still Speaking initiative is launched.
  • 2004 – The UCC airs the “Bouncer” TV ad and the UCC website received over 7 million hits.
  • 2005 – General Synod votes overwhelmingly to affirm marriage equality.