WHAT We BELIEVE
Mission
In faithful response to God’s love, we nurture our souls, stretch our minds, and work for justice and peace. We seek to build an inclusive Christian community to develop our faith, and put faith into action, based on the belief that God is still speaking.
KCUCC is a Peace With Justice congregation, because we believe peace and justice are at the heart of Jesus’ teachings. We promote interdependence through economic, political and social justice. We seek to love life in all its diversity. We work for a sustainable earth and try to answer resentment and anger with the equitable distribution of the earth’s resources.
We believe that all persons are welcome within our church. Discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, physical or mental ability, veteran status, military obligations, or marital status, will not be allowed.
KCUCC was a proud and early adopter of the Open and Affirming Designation of the UCC, voting in 1999 to welcome and celebrate LGBTQIA+ people in and out of our congregation.
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Communion
On the first Sunday of each month, KCUCC includes the sacrament of Holy Communion as a part of its worship. We practice open communion, so all are welcome to the table. Jesus didn’t turn people away, and neither do we!
We use bread, optionally dipped into grape juice (known as intinction), as a symbol of Jesus' sacrificial love for us rather than the literal body and blood of Christ.
While communion is considered a sacrament in the UCC, we don't believe that partaking is a requirement in order to receive God's love.
Comma
You may see comma imagery on our website and other materials about our church. The comma is the logo used by our denomination, the United Church of Christ, to express the idea that God is Still Speaking.
The comma comes from American performer Gracie Allen, who said, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.”
We believe that phrase represents our efforts to discern between human interpretations of the Bible, which create oppressive church dogma, and the voice of God, that calls humanity to celebrate our differences and care for one another.
Our Sunday messages grow out of the word of the “Still Speaking God.” We believe “God is Still Speaking” today through science and technology and through working for the rights of ethnic minorities, women, our LGBTQ friends, those living in poverty, and in fact, all people. We do not believe that we have to oppress our sisters and brothers just because Christians have done so in the past.
We believe God still speaks to us today and helps us to see how religion has been used to hurt God’s children so that we can be a community of faith that loves and welcomes all people.
UCC Statement of Faith
We believe in the UCC Statement of Faith:
We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify:
God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.
God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.
God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.
In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.
God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.
God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.
God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.