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 Who Are We?by Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast The United Church of Christ, USA, is a Christian denomination made up of about 6000 congregations. Historically, we originated with the Pilgrims who sought safe haven for religious freedom in North America, and with the Reformation in Germany.
Denominations. What are they? What good do they do? The word itself, "denomination," comes from the Latin "denominare"—"to name." "Denomination" is related to "denominator," in the non-mathematical sense of "a shared characteristic. All the way through to the tips of its congregational roots The United Church of Christ as a denomination has been marked by certain shared characteristics, foremost among which are a seeking, questing, Biblically-based, soaring-into-unexplored-mysteries kind of faith, and a commitment to radical inclusivity. We really are convinced of the truth recorded in Genesis that all people are created in the image and likeness of God and that somehow our calling is to live into that Spirit-infused reality. So, over the years, our denomination has established institutions of higher learning, beginning with Harvard. In Northern California the history includes involvement in the founding of the University of California at Berkeley, as well as the Pacific School of Religion. Strung across the country are numerous UCC-related colleges and seminaries, including the grouping of historically African-American colleges in the South—Talladega, Tuskegee, and so on.
We don’t all agree on every issue. We unite in one Conference, as in one denomination, so that we can do together what we could not accomplish individually. So that we can reach beyond ourselves and what we can know personally to be a network of grace across the globe. So that we can be companions to one another, enhancing our "shared characteristics" and rejoicing in our very real diversity.
About our denomination - the United Church of Christ* |
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Most people, though, when they join a church, join THAT CHURCH, not a denomination. 
Our denomination’s
apprehending of Genesis 1:27 has impelled us to be there in the abolition movement,
to be there as a partner denomination with the United Congregational Churches of
Southern Africa in the struggle against apartheid and the subsequent movement toward
democracy, to be there in the United Church of Christ of the Philippines during the
repression under Ferdinand Marcos. That was the spirit that led to the first ordination of
a woman into the Protestant ministry, in a Congregational Church in New York State in
1853. That spirit led our denomination nationally, and as the Northern California Nevada
Conference, to declare that we are not only open to, but affirming of the presence and
ministry of persons of all sexual orientations. That same spirit inspired members of First
Congregational Church, Berkeley and The United Church of Christ of Cloverdale to be
there in the 1940’s when Japanese-American members and friends were taken to
interment camps, and inspires commitment in our congregations today to the many ministries
of compassion and justice undertaken daily.
The Northern California
Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ is made up of the 120 or so UCC
congregations from Porterville to the Oregon border, and slipping over into Reno, and
about 200 authorized ministers. Our worship styles range from formal to free-flowing to
Pentecostal. English, Samoan, Tagalog, or Mandarin might be the spoken language in a
particular congregation.
Although
each congregation in the UCC is autonomous—free to determine its own approach to God,
its own style of operation—we are connected by covenant, by having a
"common" denominator, or maybe more aptly, a denomination "in common."
