United Congregational Christian Church was born when two local congregations (First Congregational Church, established 1859 and First Christian Church , established 1887) joined together in 2012. After cooperating for many years, we chose to become one united congregation affiliated with both the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
As members of the United Church of Christ, we trace our heritage back to the pilgrims seeking religious freedom in the New World.
Congregationalists founded Yale University and were prominent in our nation’s history, including such well-known figures as Sam Adams and John Hancock, and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe.
We proudly celebrate our identity as the first denomination to ordain women, and the first to ordain lesbians and gay men.
The present-day UCC came into being in 1957 with the union of two denominations: The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches.
As Disciples, our story begins on the American frontier in the 1800s. Seeking a broader unity and more freedom in faith and practice than was possible in most churches of the day, a movement was born. One group was known simply as “Disciples”. A similar group called themselves “Christians” and in 1832 they joined forces, using both names.
The practice of appointing local leaders to serve communion every Sunday to all believers, rather than waiting for traveling preachers or fully educated and ordained pastors from back East, made these churches popular during the nation’s westward expansion.
In 1968 The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) became an official denomination, adopting the communion chalice as their symbol. Today UCCs and Disciples share ministry globally and locally.