First Central Congregational Church of Christ

First Central is a part of the United Church of Christ - a community of faith that seeks to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed. The UCC was founded in 1957 as the union of several different Christian traditions; from the beginning of our history, we were a church that affirmed the ideal that Christians did not always have to agree to live together in communion. Our motto - "that they may all be one" - is Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church. The UCC is one of the most diverse Christian denominations in the United States. Intelligent dialogue and a strong independent streak sometimes cause the United Church of Christ and its 1.2 million members to be called a "heady and exasperating mix." The UCC tends to be a mostly progressive denomination that unabashedly engages heart and mind. And yet, the UCC somehow manages to balance congregational autonomy with a strong commitment to unity among its nearly 5,600 congregations - despite wide differences among many local congregations on a variety of issues.