We Are a People

of Covenant

...a United and Uniting Church

All are welcome into a special relationship with God, especially you.

What Matters to You?

What relationships matter to you that involve a promise?

How is God involved in the relationship?

How do promises, covenants, help hold things together in tough times?

What Matters to Us

“What is it that holds people together even in the midst of all kinds of differences?  When folk in the United Church of Christ talk about how they relate—to God, to each other, other churches, other religions, even creation—they often use the word “covenant.”  It’s God’s good glue that keeps us together. Covenant is a holy promise of devotion that is shared.  When that glue sticks, God forms a bond of unity that is pliable and dynamic, not rigid or unresponsive. Unity is a result of a covenantal way of life and an amazing gift of God.

Both covenant and unity have been in our UCC heart since we formed in 1957 and they run through our blood because of our historical foreparents.

United Church of Christ came into being in 1957 when four historic American churches merged: The Congregational Churches with roots in the beginnings of New England; The Christian Church which was an offshoot of Methodist and Presbyterian churches in the American South; The German Reformed Church in America, which, like Presbyterianism traces back to John Calvin; and, The Evangelical Synod of North America, a direct descendant of the Lutheran Church of Germany. 

In the Bible, God is a covenanting God. It is so central to us that Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17, “that they may be one,” is the prayer inscribed on our logo. In our Statement of Faith, covenant is a gift of the Holy Spirit binding all faithful people together. We celebrate this covenant every time there is a baptism or we gather for Holy Communion.  The first word when we utter our name, “United Church of Christ,” expresses our yearning for covenant. “United!”

Covenant is how we relate to one another within local churches, and it is much more than that. Yet, because of covenant, we bind our selves to one another beyond the local church—to associations, conferences, the national setting, and General Synod.  And, guess what? Those settings are called to covenant with our local church.  The constitution puts it this way: "Each expression of the church listens, hears, and carefully considers the advice, counsel, and requests of others.  In this covenant, the various expressions of the United Church of Christ walk together in all God’s ways." 

The Holy Spirit binds in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

Or, make your selection below...

•    We are people of God’s extravagant welcome
•    We belong to Christ
•    We are a people of covenant, a united and uniting church
•    We are one at Baptism and the Table
•    We thank God by working for a just and loving world
•    We listen for the still-speaking God