United Church Of Christ Protestant Christian Denomination
 The United Church of Christ is a Protestant Christian denomination primarily active in the United States. It belongs to the tradition of Reformed churches and is mainline in orientation. This implies that the Church follows a policy of moderation in theology and subscribes to the Historical-critical method.
The United Church of Christ or the UCC owes its origin to the merger of two denominations, the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church which took place in 1957. These separate church denominations all followed the Reformist tradition in varying degrees but were united in subscribing to the Calvinist doctrine which emphasized the supremacy of the rule of God and believed in predestination. The 2006 yearbook of UCC states that the Church has around 1.2 million followers and includes over 5633 local congregations.
The doctrine of United Church of Christ includes broad parameters which stress the freedom of individual conscience and believe that various creeds and confessions mark testimonies of faith instead of tests of faith. Some of the ancient confessions that this Church holds important are the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Heidelberg Catechism and Luthers Small Catechism. Among the later confessions of this Church are its own Statement of Faith, the Kansas City Statement as well as the Evangelical Catechism.
The organizational structure of the United Church of Christ takes the local church as its basic unit. The local church of this denomination enjoys a significant degree of autonomy in its congregational life and different areas of worship. It has freedom of recruitment of clergy and staff as well as full control of its finances. Local churches are grouped into Associations which are further grouped into Conferences. The highest deliberative authority of the denomination is the General Synod.
The General Synod of the United Church of Christ meets once in two years. Its work is implemented through four covenanted ministries, a single associated ministry and one affiliated ministry. Among the institutions officially related to this Church are seven seminaries as well as nineteen colleges and universities in the United States. Other than these there are several historically related educational institutions.
One of the long-time members of the United Church of Christ is current US Presidential candidate Barak Obama who was invited to speak at the UCCs 2007 Iowa Conference as well as the General Synod 26 at Hartford in Connecticut. One of the most visible initiatives undertaken by the UCC in the past was the God is still speaking campaign which was promoted in a variety of media and led to several controversial television advertisements. The focus of these media campaigns was to present an inclusive and progressive image of the UCC. United Church of Christ
United Church Of Christ Protestant Christian Denomination was written on February 17, 2008 posted in Religion & Faith and tag Religion & Faith. Wiki Pages on February 17, 2008. Tagged
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