The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a diverse denomination with a unique blend of theological traditions. There are people who regard themselves as "conservative," "evangelical," "orthodox," or "traditional," believers in virtually every church in the UCC. In some congregations, such Christians are a majority.

These Christians have been steadily trickling out of the denomination for years, protesting the theological, moral, and political drift of our denomination. There was a surge of departures in the early 90's as a consequence of the breakdown of negotiations between Biblical Witness Fellowship and the national office. More recently in the early 2000's over thirty black churches in the East North Carolina Association voted to leave.

Another surge of departures started as a consequence of General Synod 25. Over 200 congregations have voted out since July of 2005; several more are considering this step.

In our Kansas-Oklahoma Conference, six churches have departed--Federated Church in Dover, KS; Federated Church in Whitewater, KS; Trinity UCC in Hudson, KS; Peace UCC in Hudson, KS; and St. John's UCC in Hardtner; and First Congregational Church in Tonganoxie, KS.

Some conferences have been particularly hard-hit since July, 2005: Ohio (19), Pennsylvania-Central (14), and the Virginia-North Carolina's Southern Conference (32). Even an entire Puerto Rican conference--consisting of 65 churches-left in the UCC in the summer of 2006.

Faithful and Welcoming Churches exists to restore the founding vision of the United Church of Christ and give local churches a reason to stay in the denomination.

The president of this movement, Rev. Dr. Bob Thompson, is a UCC pastor of Corinth Reformed Church UCC in Hickory, North Carolina.

Visit the Faithful & Welcoming website here.