Does Anyone Know Anything About "The United Church of Christ" Denom???

[The_Truthinator]

I was reading online about Near-Death Experiences (don’t ask), and I found a link to a certain pastor, which led to a certain link about his church. It was the “United Church of Christ” denom(ucc.org/) and its Catholicity caught me off-guard, as I was expecting such a clearly new faction to be highly anti-traditional (it is in many ways); instead, I found them proclaiming “sacraments,” if only two, both efficacious signs of grace, and in particular their view on the Eucharist (they even list this as an acceptible title) is very in line with the Holy Mother Church’s: It is a re-presentation of the Resurrected and Crucified Christ. Fascinating! I mean, Lutherans don’t even go that far… (Oh yes! Mention of a “Lectionary” and “Church Calender” caught my attention, too.)

The unorthodoxy comes in with what might be perceived as political correctness: For example, "[T]he Book of Worship encourages the use of language recognized in most Christian churches: ‘I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ Feminine images for God may surround these words to enrich understandings and offer balance."

How does a church of this sort (with such strong ties to Catholicism, if only superficial, and yet such political correctness) come into existence?

Anyway, are there any thoughts?

 

[lak611]

UCC is a very liberal denomination. There is a church in my neighbourhood that advertises welcoming gays and lesbians. They were originally from the Reformed tradition. They are actually a relatively new denomination, formed in 1957. See this article. They are not at all similar to the Catholic Church.

 

[mainusch]

UCC is a very liberal denomination. There is a church in my neighbourhood that advertises welcoming gays and lesbians. They were originally from the Reformed tradition. They are actually a relatively new denomination, formed in 1957. See this article. They are not at all similar to the Catholic Church.

While the UCC was formed in '57, it was the combination of other preexisting denominations. Primarily the congregationalists, who have been around for a few centuries. They were the ones who helped the slaves from the Amistad, for example.

And they are among the most liberal of churches. Their recognition of the sacraments is essentially in name only. They use the terminology, but see it as purely symbolic. Nothing more.

I was raised in the UCC.

 

[mozart-250]

Former organist in a United Church of Christ church (a gazillion or so years back).

Yes, they are formerly the Congregationalist Church. Up here there are churches that are still called Congregationalist that are really United Church of Christ.

And yes, they are probably the most liberal Protestant denomination outside of Unitarian/Universalist (which really is not Christian in any sense).

I feel I have much more in common with y’all than with these guys.

 

[Contarini]

I was reading online about Near-Death Experiences (don’t ask), and I found a link to a certain pastor, which led to a certain link about his church. It was the “United Church of Christ” denom(ucc.org/) and its Catholicity caught me off-guard, as I was expecting such a clearly new faction to be highly anti-traditional (it is in many ways); instead, I found them proclaiming “sacraments,” if only two, both efficacious signs of grace, and in particular their view on the Eucharist (they even list this as an acceptible title) is very in line with the Holy Mother Church’s: It is a re-presentation of the Resurrected and Crucified Christ. Fascinating! I mean, Lutherans don’t even go that far… (Oh yes! Mention of a “Lectionary” and “Church Calender” caught my attention, too.)

It’s not a “new faction”–it’s a merger of several existing denominations, principally the Congregationalists (who go back to the late 16th/early 17th centuries) and the German Reformed (one of the original Protestant groups). If you are used to fundamentalists and evangelicals, I can see why their language would seem Catholic. Generally, liberal Protestants today accept the ecumenical liturgical movement, which has brought all of us closer to the early Church on matters of liturgy and sacraments–this is the same movement that traditionalist Catholics accuse of “Protestantizing” Catholicism. There is a broad consensus about what the early Church thought about these matters, and this is widely accepted among moderates and liberals on both sides of the fence.

Edwin