The United Church of Canada
see a summary page about the UCC at www.united-church.ca/ucc/
The United Church of Christ (U.S.A.)
- Principles of the
Christian Church, 19th century
"The "Christian Church" is the name shared by several
branches of an early 19th-century movement for Christian unity on the American frontier.
The oldest of these branches united in 1931 with the Congregational Churches to form the
Congregational Christian Churchesnow a part of the United Church of Christ. Among
other descendants of this movement are the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the
independent Churches of Christ."
- Kansas City Statement of
Faith (1913)
- Evangelical Catechism
(1929)
- Basis of Union
(1943)
"The Basis of Union, 1943, was an early agreement between the
Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. It was
formulated during World War II, a time like our own when churches believed it was God's
call to witness to unity as a sign of reconciliation in a divided and despairing world.
The agreement set the stage for the 1957 union of the two communions into the United
Church of Christ."
- Preamble to the UCC Constitution
(1957)
"Adopted at the uniting General Synod of 1957, the Preamble of the Constitution of the United Church of Christ represents the core of the theological consensus that brought the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches together in covenant."
- UCC Statement of Faith
(1959)
- UCC Statement of Mission
(1987)
- Toward the 21st Century:
A Statement of Commitment (1993)
"In 1993, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ
adopted this "Statement of Commitment" as the starting point for four
"seasons" of churchwide theological reflection on the future of our community of
faith as we enter the 21st century. The statement underscores that the UCC seeks to be a
church where all people -- including those historically excluded by the Christian
community -- can find a home."
- Presbyterian Catechism
(1998)
"This Study Catechism was authorized in 1998 by the 210th General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). It has been read and studied widely in the
United Church of Christ as a contemporary faith testimony by a partner church that shares
with us the tradition of Reformed Christianity."
- The
Relationship Between the United Church of Christ and the Jewish Community
Other united & uniting documents
- Barmen Declaration
(1934)
"The Barmen Declaration, 1934, was a call to resistance against
the theological claims of the Nazi state. Almost immediately after Hitler's seizure of
power in 1933, Protestant Christians faced pressure to "aryanize" the Church,
expel Jewish Christians from the ordained ministry and adopt the Nazi "Führer
Principle" as the organizing principle of church government. In general, the churches
succumbed to these pressures, and some Christians embraced them willingly. The pro-Nazi
"German Christian" movement became a force in the church. They glorified Adolf
Hitler as a "German prophet" and preached that racial consciousness was a source
of revelation alongside the Bible. But many Christians in Germanyincluding Lutheran
and Reformed, liberal and neo-orthodoxopposed the encroachment of Nazi ideology on
the Church's proclamation. At Barmen, this emerging "Confessing Church" adopted
a declaration drafted by Reformed theologian Karl Barth and Lutheran theologian Hans
Asmussen, which expressly repudiated the claim that other powers apart from Christ could
be sources of God's revelation. Not all Christians courageously resisted the regime, but
many who didlike the Protestant pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Roman Catholic
priest Bernhard Lichtenbergwere arrested and executed in concentration camps."
[from the website of the United Church of
Christ]
- Built
Together: The Present Vocation of United and Uniting Churches (Eph. 2:22) The
report of an international conference of United and Uniting churches, held under the
auspices of the World Council of Church Faith and Order Commission. The
United and Uniting churches do not have a "world communion", although many of
the belong to one or other of the existing communions. This conference is a method that
has developed to allow them an opportunity to reflect on their experience as churches
witnessing to the experience of organic unity.