Headline

While the United Church of Christ is descended from four churches that go back several centuries, we’re also celebrating our 50th anniversary as a denomination this year, making us both old and new at the same time.  But in all times, our church has strived to be true to the gospel call to love, compassion, and justice.   

In the United Church of Christ, our General Synod speaks “to” our local congregations and their members, not “for” them.  One of its first pronouncements was the 1959 “Call to Christian Action in Society” – “an attempt to discover what the Lord requires of us today.”  Nearly 50 years later, it still speaks to the culture in which we live.  “In the midst of…abundance, we are beset by much that is trivial, dehumanizing, and vulgar,” it reads.  “We are tempted to love things and use people, when we should love people and use things.”  How reminiscent this is of the prophet Micah’s words, reminding the people of ancient Israel, and us today, of God’s expectation that we “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.”  

The Call is part of the history of our church – preserved in volume seven of Living Theological Heritage, a memory bank of UCC traditions old and recent, published by The Pilgrim Press, our denominational printing house, which is also historic.  When the Pilgrims came to these shores, they carried the first printing press, and we publish today in a direct line from that fine tradition.   

The United Church of Christ General Synod and the Pilgrim Press (of Local Church Ministries) are both supported by your faithful generosity to Our Church’s Wider Mission.