UCC Loses 97 Members Since Affirming Gay Unions
The United Church of Christ has lost nearly 100 member churches since it became the first mainline denomination to sanction homosexual marriages last July.
The United Church of Christ has lost nearly 100 member churches since it became the first mainline denomination to sanction homosexual marriages last July.
According to the latest figures released by Faithful and Welcoming Churches of the United Church of Christ, an evangelical renewal organization that offers and alternative to withdrawal, some 97 local parishes have already severed their financial and membership ties to the liberal denomination.
Speaking to a group in Andover Congregational Church in New Hampshire this week, the Rev. Dr. Bob Thompson, head of Faithful and Welcoming Churches, said the UCC has a "crisis of lost churches, lost funds and lost unity brought about by the actions of our national leadership," according to the Union Leader news agency.
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"It is wrong, unbiblical, and at best, divisive ...," Thompson said of the non-binding resolution adopted by 80 percent of the 884-member General Synod. The resolution calls for member churches to consider wedding policies "that do not discriminate against couples based on gender" and to work against laws banning gay marriage.
The United Church of Christ was formed in 1957 with 2.1 million members and 7,000 congregations. The denomination has since lost nearly half its members and now has only about 5,600 congregations with less than 1.2 million members.
The first actively gay minister in the UCC was ordained in 1972, and by 1985 the church adopted an “open and affirming” position toward homosexuals. However, according to Thompson, less than 10 percent of the congregations adopted that policy.
Thompson is among those who disagree with the church’s policies, but wishes to stay within the historic denomination. According to its website, Faithful and Welcoming’s primary reason is so a local church can distance itself from the “controversial resolution and marketing of the national and regional settings of the church” while providing an alternative to withdrawal from the UCC.
Therefore, Thompson explained that the reason his group publishes the list of churches that withdrew from the UCC is not to encourage others to follow suit, but rather to sound the alarm about the current crisis in the denomination.
"We are for churches that want to stay," Thompson said. "Give us time to increase activity in the association, change your church bylaws ... we do not suggest churches withhold funds, but if it is the only option to withdrawal, that is better and gives you more time to work through this."
Unlike most other denominations, congregations in the UCC can vote to leave the larger church without fear of losing their property.
