Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 2010 - Cokesbury
Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 2010 - Cokesbury
Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches 2010 - Cokesbury
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Officers<br />
Presiding Elder, Elder John W. Graybill<br />
Conf. Sec., Mr. Lee Wenger, 1625 Thompson<br />
Ave., Annville, PA 17003<br />
Conf. Moderator, Elder Gerald Brinser, 2360<br />
Horseshoe Pike, Annville, PA 17003<br />
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS<br />
Mission Board, Pres., Elder John Graybill, 35 Oakwood<br />
Drive, Palmyra, PA 17078 Email: graybilly@aol.com;<br />
Sec., Elder David Heagy, 4129<br />
Oak St., Lebanon, PA 17042; Treas., Mr. Robert<br />
Morgan, 1413 Harding Ave., Hershey, PA 17033<br />
United Church <strong>of</strong> Christ*<br />
The United Church <strong>of</strong> Christ was constituted on<br />
June 25, 1957 by representatives <strong>of</strong> the Congregational<br />
Christian <strong>Churches</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> the Evangelical<br />
<strong>and</strong> Reformed Church, in Clevel<strong>and</strong>, Ohio.<br />
The Preamble to the Constitution states, “The<br />
United Church <strong>of</strong> Christ acknowledges as its sole<br />
head, Jesus Christ . . . It acknowledges as kindred<br />
in Christ all who share in this confession. It looks<br />
to the Word <strong>of</strong> God in the Scriptures, <strong>and</strong> to the<br />
presence <strong>and</strong> power <strong>of</strong> the Holy Spirit . . . It claims<br />
. . . the faith <strong>of</strong> the historic Church expressed in the<br />
ancient creeds <strong>and</strong> reclaimed in the basic insights<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Protestant Reformers. It affirms the responsibility<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Church in each generation to make<br />
this faith its own in . . . worship, in honesty <strong>of</strong><br />
thought <strong>and</strong> expression, <strong>and</strong> in purity <strong>of</strong> heart<br />
before God . . . it recognizes two sacraments,<br />
Baptism <strong>and</strong> the Lord’s Supper.”<br />
The creation <strong>of</strong> the United Church <strong>of</strong> Christ<br />
brought together four unique traditions-<br />
(1) Groundwork for the Congregational Way<br />
was laid by Calvinist Puritans <strong>and</strong> Separatists during<br />
the late 16th-early 17th centuries, then<br />
achieved prominence among English Protestants<br />
during the civil war <strong>of</strong> the 1640s. Opposition to<br />
state control prompted followers to emigrate to the<br />
United States, where they helped colonize New<br />
Engl<strong>and</strong> in the 17th century. Congregationalists<br />
have been self-consciously a denomination from<br />
the mid-19th century.<br />
(2) The Christian <strong>Churches</strong>, an 18th-century<br />
<strong>American</strong> restorationist movement emphasized<br />
Christ as the only head <strong>of</strong> the church, the New<br />
Testament as their only rule <strong>of</strong> faith, <strong>and</strong> “Christian”<br />
as their sole name. This loosely organized denomination<br />
found in the Congregational <strong>Churches</strong> a like<br />
disposition. In 1931, the two bodies formally united<br />
as the Congregational Christian <strong>Churches</strong>.<br />
(3) The German Reformed Church comprised<br />
an irenic aspect <strong>of</strong> the Protestant Reformation, as a<br />
second generation <strong>of</strong> Reformers drew on the<br />
insights <strong>of</strong> Zwingli, Luther <strong>and</strong> Calvin to formulate<br />
the Heidelberg Catechism <strong>of</strong> 1563. People <strong>of</strong> the<br />
German Reformed Church began immigrating to<br />
the New World early in the 18th century, the heaviest<br />
concentration in Pennsylvania. Formal organization<br />
<strong>of</strong> the <strong>American</strong> denomination was completed<br />
in 1793. The church spread across the country.<br />
In the Mercersburg Movement, a strong<br />
emphasis on evangelical catholicity <strong>and</strong> Christian<br />
unity was developed.<br />
(4) In 19th-century Germany, Enlightenment<br />
criticism <strong>and</strong> Pietist inwardness decreased longst<strong>and</strong>ing<br />
conflicts between religious groups. In<br />
Prussia, a royal proclamation merged Lutheran <strong>and</strong><br />
Reformed people into one United Evangelical<br />
Church (1817). Members <strong>of</strong> this new church way<br />
migrated to America. The Evangelicals settled in<br />
large numbers in Missouri <strong>and</strong> Illinois, emphasizing<br />
pietistic devotion <strong>and</strong> unionism; in 1840 they<br />
formed the German Evangelical Church Society in<br />
the West. After union with other Evangelical<br />
church associations, in 1877 it took the name <strong>of</strong> the<br />
German Evangelical Synod <strong>of</strong> North America.<br />
On June 25, 1934, this Synod <strong>and</strong> the Reformed<br />
Church in the U.S. (formerly the German<br />
Reformed Church) united to form the Evangelical<br />
<strong>and</strong> Reformed Church. They blended the<br />
Reformed tradition’s passion for the unity <strong>of</strong> the<br />
church <strong>and</strong> the Evangelical tradition’s commitment<br />
to the liberty <strong>of</strong> conscience inherent in the gospel.<br />
Headquarters<br />
700 Prospect Avenue, Clevel<strong>and</strong>, OH 44115, Tel.<br />
(216)736-2100 Fax (216)736-2103 Toll-free<br />
866-822-8224 (866-UCC-UCC4)<br />
Media Contact, Rev. J. Bennett Guess, 700<br />
Prospect Ave., Clevel<strong>and</strong>, OH 44115, Tel.<br />
(216)736-2177 Fax (216)736-2223<br />
Email: kellys@ucc.org<br />
Website: www.ucc.org<br />
Officers<br />
Gen. Minister <strong>and</strong> Pres., Rev. Ge<strong>of</strong>frey A. Black<br />
Assoc. Gen. Minister, Ms. Edith A. Guffey<br />
Exec. Minister, Wider Church Ministries, Rev.<br />
Cally Rogers-Witte<br />
Exec. Minister, Justice <strong>and</strong> Witness Ministries,<br />
Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo<br />
Exec. Minister, Local Church Ministries, Rev.<br />
Stephen L. Sterner<br />
ORGANIZATIONS<br />
Office <strong>of</strong> General Ministries, National Office,<br />
700 Prospect Avenue, Clevel<strong>and</strong>, Ohio 44115.,<br />
Tel. (216)736-2100 Fax (216)736-2103,<br />
General Minister <strong>and</strong> President, Rev. John H.<br />
Thomas; Associate General Minister, Ms.<br />
Edith A. Guffey<br />
Justice <strong>and</strong> Witness Ministries, National Offices (as<br />
above), Tel. (216)736-3700 Fax (216)736-3703,<br />
Franklinton Center at Bricks, P.O. Box 220,<br />
Whitakers, NC 27891, Tel. (252)437-1723 Fax<br />
(252)437-1278, Washington Office, 100 Maryl<strong>and</strong><br />
Avenue North East, Suite 330, Washington,<br />
DC. 20002 Tel. (202)543-1517 Fax (202)543-<br />
5994, Centro Romero, 173 W. Hall Ave., San<br />
Ysidro, CA 92173, Tel. (619)428-8700 Fax (619)<br />
428-8705, Executive Minister, Rev. M. Linda<br />
Jaramillo Local Church Ministries, National<br />
Offices, Tel. (216)736-3800 Fax (216)736-3803.<br />
Executive Minister, Rev. Stephen L. Sterner<br />
US RELIGIOUS BODIES<br />
163