About Us 2

Are you ready for a new year? Ready or not 2025 is here! What will this new year bring? And how will we navigate our way through it? I want to remind you (and me) that our loving God will lead us, now as always. Just as God did in the Exodus. Just as God did for the magi, who were led by a light by the star of Bethlehem to the place where the new king was born.

So, God will do this for us. But not always in quite so literal and tangible a way. More often, God shows us the way by sending us different kinds of light bulb moments or epiphanies. We may find clarity through scripture or worship maybe in prayer or through other people. It is Christ the light of the world who shows us the way!

When we lose our way in life, as we all do from time to time, we can turn to our faith to help guide us. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously put it, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” We can take the first step, trusting that God will continue to shine a light on our path, and show us the way.

What will this new year bring for you and me, for our church? We cannot absolutely know but we are eager to see how God will guide us. And for that I am forever grateful. May the light of our loving God bless you this year and lead us all along the way.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that come together as one church to join faith and action. With over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members across the U.S., the UCC serves God in the co-creation of a just and sustainable world. The UCC is a church of firsts, a church of extravagant welcome, and a church where "…they may all be one" (John 17:21).

The Church of Firsts

Since 1957, the United Church of Christ has been the church of firsts, weaving God’s message of hope and extravagant welcome with action for justice and peace. Together, we live out our faith in ways that effect change in our communities. The UCC's many "firsts" mean that we have inherited a tradition of acting upon the demands of our faith. When we read in Galatians: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus"—a demand is made upon us. And so we were the first historically white denomination to ordain an African-American, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first Christian church to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry. We were in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement. Our response to the demands of our faith is woven into the history of our country.

A Church of Extravagant Welcome

Today, we continue to change lives throughout the world. We work alongside more than 200 mission partners. We labor ceaselessly to fight injustice, in the United States and abroad. We instill our vision into our youth and young adults, forging leaders who will imagine new dreams. And we sustain and develop church leaders, pastors, and our local churches to live their faith in exciting new ways. We believe in a God that is still speaking, a God that is all-loving and inclusive. We are a church that welcomes and accepts everyone as they are, where your mind is nourished as much as your soul.

We are a church where Jesus the healer meets Jesus the revolutionary, and where together, we grow a just and peaceful world.