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Resolutions of the United Church of Christ
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The United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

 is a Christian denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...

. Periodically, bodies within the United Church of Christ issue resolutions
Resolution (law)
A resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. For long or important motions, though, it is often better to have them written out so that discussion is easier or so that it can be...

 for various reasons. These statements may or may not be representative of the United Church of Christ. This article documents notable resolutions from the various formal bodies of the United Church of Christ.

David Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research who has studied the United Church of Christ, said surveys show the national church's pronouncements are often more liberal than the views in the pews but that its governing structure is set up to allow such disagreements. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061105/NEWS01/611050403/1008/NEWS01

Resolutions about denominational statements

The 2001 "Mutual respect within the faith community " http://www.ucc.org/synod/resolutions/res11.htm resolution passed by General Synod XXIII "calls upon all levels of the United church of Christ, the national covenanted ministries,conferences, associations, and individual congregations of the denomination to be sensitive to the needs and concerns of a church with such a diverse population and difference of theological beliefs and to identify representatives or groups issuing statements to indicate that they speak only on behalf of themselves or their groups and not on behalf of or for the entire 1.4 million members of the United Church of Christ."

A proposed resolution being submitted by the Faithful and Welcoming Renewal group to General Synod XXVI http://www.faithfulandwelcoming.org/faw/content/show.asp?mne=gs26-resolution "seeks to "address the concerns of congregations that may be considering withdrawal from the United Church of Christ by reaffirming our classical and centrist theological heritage and by explicitly including in our extravagant welcome those members and churches considering themselves to be evangelical, conservative, orthodox, or traditional in theological outlook" This resolution "acknowledges the existence of a broad spectrum of thought on contemporary issues of theology and ethics, and advocates fair representation of ECOT and centrist points of view alongside liberal and progressive points of view in all settings of the United Church of Christ, including official gatherings and publications" and "calls upon all settings of the church to consider prayerfully its policies and statements in terms of their impact on the unity and future of local churches, associations, and conferences in the UCC."

General Synod Resolution Overview

The denomination's churchwide deliberative body is the General Synod
General Synod
-Church of England:In the Church of England, the General Synod, which was established in 1970 , is the legislative body of the Church.-Episcopal Church of the United States:...

, which meets every two years. The General Synod is composed of delegates elected from the Conferences (distributed proportionally by conference size) together with the boards of directors of each of the four covenanted ministries (see below, under National Offices).

While General Synod provides the most visible voice of the "stance of the denomination" on any particular issue, the covenantal polity of the denomination means that General Synod speaks to local churches, associations, and conferences, but not for them. Thus, the other settings of the church are always allowed to hold differing views and practices on all non-constitutional matters.

General Synod considers three kinds of resolutions:
  • Pronouncements: A Pronouncement is a statement of Christian conviction on a matter of moral or social principle and has been adopted by a two-thirds vote of a General Synod.
  • Proposals for Action: A Proposal for Action is a recommendation for specific directional statements and goals implementing a Pronouncement. A Proposal for Action normally accompanies a Pronouncement. (See link above regarding Pronouncements.)
  • Resolutions and Other Formal Motions Which may consist of the following three types:
    • Resolutions of Witness: A Resolution of Witness is an expression of the General Synod concerning a moral, ethical, or religious matter confronting the church, the nation, or the world, adopted for the guidance of the officers, Associated, or Affiliated Ministries, or other bodies as defined in Article VI of the Bylaws of the United Church of Christ; the consideration of local churches, Associations, Conferences, and other bodies related to the United Church of Christ; and for a Christian witness to the world. It represents agreement by at least two-thirds of the delegates voting that the view expressed is based on Christian conviction and is a part of their witness to Jesus Christ.
    • Prudential Resolutions: A Prudential Resolution establishes policy, institutes or revises structure or procedures, authorizes programs, approves directions, or requests actions by a majority vote.
    • Other Formal Motions

2005 - Twenty-fifth General Synod XXV held in Atlanta Georgia

General Synod 25 Minutes http://www.ucc.org/synod/pdfs/gs25minutes.pdf

Note: The numbered links to resolutions, are to resolutions as proposed. The links to "Minutes" are the links to the official GS 25 Minutes, which document reports the resolutions as passed. Direct links to pages within the GS 25 minutes file do not work with some combinations of versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Adobe Reader.

2003 - Twenty-fourth General Synod XXIV held in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...


2001 - General Synod 23 held in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 

Minutes

1999 - Twenty-second General Synod XXII held in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...


1997 - Twenty-first General Synod XXI held in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...


It was recommended that the Office for Church Life and Leadership along with Conference and Association Church and Ministry Committees;
1. emphasize that the call to Ordained Ministry includes a call to teach as well as to pastor and
2. develop clearer guidelines on how this calling to teach informs expectations in the training and
standing of Pastors;

Essentially, this was not accomplished.

1995 - Twentieth General Synod XX

  • Resolution “on the need for educating members of the United Church of Christ about the principle of separation of church and state”
  • "Ethical Guidelines for Labor Relations for United Church of Christ Organizations and Related Organizations " http://www.cmaucc.org/WorkerJustice.html
  • "United Church of Christ Response to "Churches in Covenant Communion" and Proposed Recommended Action." (Churches in Covenant Communion is a proposal for the nine member churches of the Consultation on Church Union
    Consultation on Church Union
    The Consultation on Church Union was an effort towards church unity in the United States, that began in 1962 and in 2002 became the Churches Uniting in Christ...

     to share their common life as The Church of Christ Uniting.) http://www.ucc.org/ecumenical/95-uccresponse-covenant.pdf

1993 - Nineteenth General Synod XIX


1991 - Eighteenth General Synod XVIII held in Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

  • Reaffirming Universal Health Care Y2K

http://www.ucc.org/justice/health/uhc_resolution.htm

1989 - Seventeenth General Synod XVII

  • Pronouncement and Proposal for Action: “The Church and Genetic Engineering”
  • “Challenging the Resurgence of Racism in the United States of America”

1987 - Sixteenth General Synod XVI


1983 - Fourteenth General Synod

  • Concern about the Moral and Ethical Implications of Genetic Engineering

1981 - Thirteenth General Synod

  • RESOLUTION: TOWARD A COVENANT IN MISSION AND FAITH: THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST AND THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH OF THE UNION, GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
    German Democratic Republic
    The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

     AND FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY (Kirchengemeinschaft ) http://www.ucc.org/ecumenical/81-eku.pdf
  • Resolution on Racial Justice

1977 - Eleventh General Synod

  • “The Right to Earn a Living”,
  • “Civil Liberties Without Discrimination Based on Affectional or Sexual Preference
  • RECOMMENDATIONS IN REGARD TO THE HUMAN SEXUALITY STUDY (Reception of the Human Sexuality Task Force Report http://www.ucc.org/lgbt/pdfs/1977%20-%20RECOMMENDATIONS%20IN%20REGARD%20TO%20THE%20HUMAN%20SEXUALITY%20STUDY.pdf -- this vote (490 Yes; 210 No) spurred the formation of the United Church People for Biblical Witness, later to become the Biblical Witness Fellowship
    Biblical Witness Fellowship
    Biblical Witness Fellowship is an evangelical renewal movement composed of members of the United Church of Christ. Founded in 1978 as the United Church People for Biblical Witness, the movement reorganized as the Biblical Witness Fellowship at a national convocation in Byfield, Massachusetts in...

    .

1975 - Tenth General Synod


1973 - Ninth General Synod held in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 

  • "Ecumenical Stance of the United Church of Christ" (conciliar movement) http://www.ucc.org/ecumenical/73-theostatement.pdf
  • 73-GS-36 VOTED: The General Synod adopts as amended the statement on “The Rights and Responsibilities of Christians Regarding Human Death.”

pp. 42-43 of minutes

1971 - Eighth General Synod

  • declaration of commitment to improving the criminal justice system so that prisons become primarily institutions or training and rehabilitation of the inmates, 1971.

1967 - Sixth General Synod held in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

 http://google.com/search?q=cache:I2C1ClI3a8AJ:www.mrsej.org/beginning.html+CAIM,+MRSJ,+UBC,+PAAM&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3


1963 - Fourth General Synod

In 1963, the 4th General Synod called upon the United Church of Christ to be "radically committed" to "uproot intolerance, bigotry, and prejudice within our own living and to replace them with goodwill and the determination to strike down immediately the barriers which divide [people] on account of race. http://www.ucc.org/justice/mrmc/synod.htm

1961 - Third General Synod

The Constitution of the United Church of Christ was declared in force by the Third General Synod on July 4, 1961 http://www.ucc.org/aboutus/constitution.htm. The Bylaws were also adopted by the Third General Synod
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