From the Hartford Courant:

When more than 10,000 clergy and parishioners from the United Church of Christ converge on Hartford this week for their General Synod, at least half of the dozen resolutions they'll consider will deal with issues of social justice - a more humane immigration policy, a worldwide ban on depleted uranium weapons, support of physician-assisted suicide.

In other words, bread and butter issues for a mainline denomination, known by most as the Congregational Church, that has come to be associated with its progressive - some would say liberal - stance on controversial topics like gay marriage and abortion rights.

But sandwiched between those resolutions is an almost equal number of proposals that illustrate the cost the UCC has paid for its strong social justice component.

These resolutions, which come from conferences in the Midwest and South, range from calls to "vehemently affirm" that marriage is a God-ordained relationship between a man and a woman to more measured proposals suggesting ways to keep conservative congregations from leaving the UCC.

Since the last General Synod, in 2005, when more than 80 percent of delegates voted to endorse gay marriage, at least 220 churches have left the denomination, according to Faithful and Welcoming Churches of the United Church of Christ, an organization whose stated goal is keeping estranged churches from bailing out of the UCC.

The UCC disputes these numbers, and said only 160 churches have left the denomination since 2005, and only 90 of those specifically cited the marriage resolution as their reason for leaving.

Whatever the number, it doesn't change the underlying truth that the UCC, much like the Episcopal Church of America, is struggling to keep its family intact as it grapples with questions about its own identity.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches

1. DonGander wrote: The Congregational Church has had theological problems for over 100 years. The route they have taken is an expected route. No surprises. DonGander June 17, 7:45 pm | [comment link]

2. Peter in Fairfax wrote: I like Mollie’s take at GetReligion.org, talking about “the church’s precipitous decline from mainline powerhouse to struggling social-justice outlier.” True for more than one denomination. June 17, 7:49 pm | [comment link]

3. MattJP wrote: whoa…I didn’t even know that there were any conservatives left in the UCC. That’s good to hear. June 17, 9:01 pm | [comment link]

4. Chris Taylor wrote: “God is still speaking,” but the question is whether anyone at the UCC, and other “mainline” denominations, like TEC, are still listening.  As a point of information, where are these departing UCC congregations going?  Is there a UCC Network? June 17, 10:19 pm | [comment link]

5. MargaretG wrote: only 160 - a small and insignificant minority!!! June 17, 10:26 pm | [comment link]

6. Eugene wrote: Chris Taylor asked: Is there a UCC Network? yes:  http://faithfulandwelcoming.org/content By the way : there are faithful believers in all Trinitarian denominations.  Let us not have the “Elijah complex” (I Kings 18:22) Eugene June 18, 5:08 am | [comment link]

7. Franz wrote: I was a member of a UCC congregation for several years (and my grandparents were life-long New England Congregationalists).  So when the UCC unveiled its “God is still speaking . . . ” slogan, I was interested, but couldn’t help but wonder, “Yes, but what is he saying?” I suspect that God is still speaking, but saying something like, “Knock it off!  Rembember Scripture, Tradition and Reason.  That’s where I’m speaking to you, and not through the social concerns of a self-styled “progressive” elite.” Just a thought.  June 18, 6:28 am | [comment link]

8. Albeit wrote: For quite some time now, the UCC has been hand-in-hand with the World Council of Churches in striving to create one huge and singular Protestant Church. They have spent a good deal of time encouraging mergers with (read: “assimilating”) other denominations. When you consider what each denomination has to sacrifice in polity, theology and confession to achieve this, one can only conclude that the end result could be nothing better than “The Church of the Lowest Common Denominator.” June 18, 8:04 am | [comment link]

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