This weekend, June 30-July 2, delegates and visitors to General Synod 34 will gather in Indianapolis, IN to do the business of the United Church of Christ and to look toward the future.
Greenbelt Community Church is a member of the Protestant denomination known as The United Church of Christ (UCC). We are a congregational based church in covenant with the various organizational sections of the wider denomination. Here is some information to help you sort through this in case it is not familiar.
The United Church of Christ was founded June 25, 1957 with the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. The roots of each of those denominations stretch back through American history. The Pilgrims and Puritans eventually organized under the Congregational Churches. German immigrants of the 17th century came to America and brought with them their faith and church affiliation in the Reformed Church. The Christian Churches began in the series of revivals in America known as the Second Great Awakening. The Synod of Evangelical Churches came to America with immigrants from Germany in the middle 1800s.
We are congregationally based. That means the members of a local church make the decisions concerning their church. They also hold the deeds and property of the church. And they have significant voice in who will be called to be their settled pastor. When the time comes, this congregation will vote whether to accept or reject the candidate presented by the Search and Call Committee (which will have done the work, in consultation with you, about the qualities you want in a minister). We are also in covenant with the other churches of the United Church of Christ. That means we value one another and seek to work together for the good of the Gospel. The Local Church is one of the units of the governance in the UCC.
Greenbelt Community Church, United Church of Christ is a member of the Potomac Association. The Association is another of the governing units in the UCC. The churches of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia that are nearest Washington DC make up the Potomac Association. The Rev. Marvin Silver is assigned as Associate Conference Minister for the Potomac Association. The most critical thing done under the banner of an Association is the work of the Church and Ministry Committee where candidates for ordination are vetted, supported, and eventually granted ordination.
The Potomac Association is one of five Associations of the Central Atlantic Conference. The Conference is another of those governing units in the UCC. The geographic area of the Central Atlantic Conference extends from the New Jersey shore across from New York City, to Delaware and Southern Maryland, over to a few churches in West Virginia, down to Blacksburg, Virginia and across to the James River area of Richmond. The Rev. Freeman Palmer is our Conference Minister.
The Central Atlantic Conference is one unit of the National Setting – General Synod. The churches of the UCC, through delegates, meet periodically (it has been every two years but that will change this year) to do the business of the denomination and look to the future. One of the significant items of this year’s General Synod will be the election of a new General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. The person selected is the Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson. When elected, she will become the first woman to hold this position and the first woman of color.
You may follow events and business items on the website ucc.org. Please keep our delegates in prayer as they meet in General Synod 34.
Rev. Clara
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