Who We Are
We strive to be a Christian community of people who come from many different religious (and non-religious) backgrounds, cultures, and lifestyles. We want to provide a forum where people can seek the deeper meaning of life and investigate spirituality. We are connected as brothers and sisters through our common belief in the God of the Bible and His son, Jesus Christ. No matter where you are at in your spiritual journey, you are welcome here, as a friend and fellow seeker.
The Mission of Providence United Christian Church
The Mission of the church is to create community, to nurture spiritual growth, and to act on our values in the broader world, guided by reason and compassion. We serve each other in this mission by being present as witness to each other’s lives; seeing each other and being seen, listening to each other and being listened to; agreeing to be open to the differences of belief and values that we hold individually; learning to build ever-deepening connections with individuals and the community; and inviting each other’s potential into the light, in an atmosphere of encouragement and love.
Our Guiding Principles
We Are Christian.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, and proclaim him Lord and Savior. We believe that no one is excluded from the love of God through Jesus Christ. Our mission is founded on the expression of the Good News. All of us are called to return to God’s embrace and to recognize God’s unconditional love. We seek to preach and practice God’s words of love and grace for all.
We believe in one God, the Father of all, in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit.
For most Christians, these three are understood as a Trinity, three distinct persons with one divine essence. While the majority of the UCCA affirms the doctrine of the Trinity, we do not set specific creedal requirements. Ultimately, God is beyond human explanation or doctrine. We believe in the oneness of all Christians, and we welcome free interpretation of Scripture, theological diversity, and embrace those on the margins or outside the margins of orthodoxy.
We Believe In The Bible.
We believe in the Bible as the primary source for matters concerning faith and practice. We believe in the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and New Testament, and we respect the Old Testament Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical Books.
In addition to Scripture, we affirm tradition, reason, and experience as essential sources for doctrine and practice in the Christian Church.
Scripture: We affirm Holy Scripture as an expression of God’s unconditional love for us and we recognize that these teachings are spiritual bread for our journeys with God and one another.
Tradition: We affirm a history of relationship with God expressed through sacraments, liturgy, revelation, and communal experience.
Reason: We affirm God-given reason and the wisdom that can be expressed when the Holy Spirit allows us to review scripture, tradition and our experiences to find answers and to seek a fuller consciousness.
Experience: We affirm the Christian’s experience of God, the church, the forgiveness of sins, the reality of God’s love, and the witness of the Spirit.
We Believe In The Sacraments.
As Christians, we are gradually being transformed into the likeness of our Lord. Part of this transformation is the way we live our lives as agents of God’s providence among the people of the world, and part of it takes place in the rites and ceremonies of the church. All of these rites and ceremonies reveal truth to us that was once obscure, so they are often referred to as mysteries. The UCCA recognizes four principal rites of the church:
Baptism: Baptism is the sacrament that marks a Christian’s new life in Christ. In the Christian Church, there are a variety of baptismal traditions. The United Christian Church values and respects the variety of approaches to baptism in the church. Ultimately, baptism is not a matter of washing by water, but a renewing of the mind in Christ.
Eucharist: Also known as the Lord’s Supper or Communion, the Eucharist is a rite that was instituted by Jesus Christ during the last supper. It is a remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, an expression of Christian community, and an expression of God’s grace. The United Christian Church offers the Eucharist openly, to all Christians.
Holy Orders: Since Christ first called his disciples, the Christian gospel has been shared and administered by those who were called by the Holy Spirit to perform certain functions, or express certain gifts. Common ordained orders are bishops/elders and deacons.
Marriage: Marriage is the sacrament in which two persons are united together under God. It is a covenant. It is an expression of God’s teaching that “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner” (Genesis 2:18). God calls us to community, companionship, and mutual support. The church is one expression of this, and marriage is another.
We Maintain A Focus On Peace And Justice.
We believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to minister to the last, the lost, the least, and the left-behind of society, as well as to love and care for others. Christ, his apostles, and the prophets of the Old Testament speak extensively about caring for the poor, the hungry and the marginalized in society, recognizing them all as God’s creation. Christ and his apostles also spoke extensively on loving our enemies and practicing forgiveness. Unfortunately much of this focus has been lost in the institutional church as it has become more and more concerned with maintaining its own identity and growth. As a result, the rights of many of God’s own children are widely ignored by those that profess to worship God. We embrace those on the margins of society, as Christ himself taught.
We Respect Theological Diversity.
Christian unity does not grow from agreement but instead from respect for our differences. Faith is not about concrete answers, Christian absolutes, or dogma. Faith is about the search for understanding, the raising of important questions, the open honesty of having doubt, and the realization that no one has it all completely right nor does any human hold all the answers. Therefore, we recognize and affirm those whose faith systems differ from our own; recognizing that many streams flow from the same source. Furthermore, we recognize that truth and understanding often are nurtured by the open exchange of thoughts and ideas from diverse sources. We embrace those around us; those on the margins of tradition or practice. We affirm that God’s creation story expresses and reveals a rich tapestry of differences and beauty. We recognize that by embracing diversity we encounter a fuller expression of God.
We Affirm The Dignity Of All God’s Children And Welcome All To Take Their Rightful Place At God’s Table.
We affirm a re-emerging scriptural tradition that instructs us that God’s table must be open to all the People of God. We practice inclusion of all expressions of God’s creation: race, sex, gender identity, age, culture, sexual orientation and faith journey. We recognize that in Christ there is no gender, no orientation, no nation or race (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11). We are all heirs to the kingdom. Often, the institutional church has sought to exclude those of different race, gender or orientation from participating fully in the life of the church. We find these practices anathematic to the teachings of Christ, therefore we readily and heartily welcome all to their rightful place at the table that God has prepared.
We Strive To Be Inclusive.
We affirm an unconditional welcome for all of the People of God, and we seek to create sacred places for the People of God and within the People of God. We celebrate and honor God’s love for all of creation. We have a vision for reaching out to the least, the lost, the left behind, and those for whom religion has become irrelevant. We see this position to be very much in line with the teachings of Jesus, teachings that have sadly fallen into neglect. The Church has often become such an institution that it spends more time and resources maintaining itself than reaching into the world beyond itself. As a result we have seen more and more people pushed to the margins and even outside the doors of the church. We strive to embrace all and welcome all: those pushed to the margins or outside the margins. In so doing, we have our own identity, a church on the margins for those on the margins.
adapted from the Progressive Christian Alliance
Statement of Belief
We are not alone, we live in God's world.
We believe in God: who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by His Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church: to celebrate God's presence, to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
adopted from the United Church of Canada
Our Covenant
As a member of the United Christian Church in America, we covenant to gather in safe and compassionate community, seeking our spiritual truths. We affirm our interdependence, and celebrate our differences. Through the practice of the principles of our faith, we promote social, economic, and environmental justice and continue our legacy of respect and acceptance. We covenant together in a spirit of love and freedom.
