The Authority of the Church in the World: 
A United Church of Christ Perspective
 

Rev. Dr. Susan E. Davies
Co-chair, Faith and Order Commission (2000-07) 

This piece offers an initial assay of “authority,” “church,” and “world” from one United Church of Christ perspective.  It then moves to more direct responses to the three questions set for our Study Group. 

Introduction

The United Church of Christ is a child of the twentieth century ecumenical movement.  Its founding document, a Constitution and Bylaws, reflects its social and historical location.  Paragraph 1 of the Preamble makes clear this combination of faith and ecclesiology:  “The United Church of Christ [was] formed June 25, 1957 ... in order to express more fully the oneness in Christ of the churches composing it, to make more effective their common witness in Him, and to serve His kingdom in the world ….”  Oneness in Christ, effective common witness, and service to Christ’s dominion in the world:  these are the central purposes and intents of the United Church of Christ. 

Paragraph 2 once again combines ecclesiology and theology: “The United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole Head, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour.”  In claiming Christ as the sole head of the church, the UCC undercuts the possibility of any individual or group claiming absolute authority within the life of the church.  Moreover, the Preamble clearly sets forth the ultimate accountability of individual church members, as well as the church’s constituent parts, to Christ alone rather than to any particular body within the church.  This claim of Christ as the sole head centers the United Church of Christ christologically while also maintaining the freedom of individual conscience and both the theological and ecclesiastical freedom of gathered bodies of believers.  The United Church of Christ’s founding document puts the question of authority at the heart of the church, at the same time leaving immense freedom for individuals and the constituent bodies of the church.   

The “basic unit of the life and organization of the United Church of Christ is the Local Church.”[1]  The local churches, the Associations and Conferences (geographical units, many of which pre-existed the United Church of Christ) and the General Synod (a biennial gathering of delegates and officers, both clergy and lay) are given distinct responsibilities within the life of the church as a whole.  The relationships between the various parts of the church are understood covenantally.  That is, they are reciprocal relationships between bodies with different functions (parity covenants), bound through the power of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant in Christ.   These relationships are formed out of the conviction that “at the heart of who we are as the United Church of Christ is the passionate prayer of Jesus Christ ‘that they may all be one.’  … We are people called by God to realize, enjoy, proclaim and make more manifest the community and unity already given in Jesus Christ to the church and all of creation.  Unity and community are at the core of our identity and mission."[2]   

Authority for Witness

The United Church of Christ claims as its authority for witness in the world the great Matthean Commission.  It looks to Jesus’ life, teaching, healing, witness, and consistent challenge to the established order of his day as a model for its corporate life. It “looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world.  It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers.”[3] 

Witness

The various parts of the church undertake this witness in different forms.  Perhaps the normative form, given the Reformed heritage of the United Church of Christ, is the sermon offered as part of the gathered community at worship.  While preaching remains largely in the hands of authorized leadership, whether commissioned or ordained, the rights and responsibilities of laity to preach are fully recognized and upheld.  “The United Church of Christ recognizes that God calls the whole Church and every member to participate in and extend the ministry of Jesus Christ by witnessing to the Gospel in church and society.” [4]

The witness expected of local church members is largely one of personal and social service, although significant numbers are also called to ministries of justice and social change.  Such ameliorative and restorative witness is regarded as incumbent on all members of the church inasmuch as they are part of the body of Christ.  Associations, Conferences, and national agencies also engage in ministries of service and witness through their national and regional bodies, and through pronouncements regarding a variety of social, theological and ecclesiastical issues.   

Authority for Witness

With what authority does the United Church of Christ understand itself, in its various settings, to speak to the world?  In the words of The Nature and Mission of the Church (NMC),  

Mission belongs to the very being of the Church.  As persons who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, Christians are called to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed. … In exercising its mission, the Church cannot be the Church without giving witness (martyria) to God’s will for the salvation and transformation of the world.  … The Church is called and empowered to share the suffering of all by advocacy and care for the poor, needy and marginalised.  It does this by critically analysing and exposing unjust structures and by working for their transformation. (IB: 27, 29, 32) 

At its best, in all its settings, the United Church of Christ seeks to give witness to the faith it holds through the power of the Spirit under the sole headship of Jesus Christ.  In its lived reality, however, the various authorizations to speak to and for the church in the world are highly contested.  As is the case in most formerly mainline denominations, the United Church of Christ finds itself at present divided in several ways.  While we seek to be “a church alive with diverse people and viewpoints unified in Jesus Christ … an inclusive, multiracial, multicultural church,”[5] in almost every setting of the church the right of congregations, Associations, Conferences or General Synod to speak, particularly on divisive social issues, is challenged.  The list of authorized groups granted voice without vote at General Synods shows up the divides: The Biblical Witness Fellowship, Focus Renewal Ministries, United Friends for Life, and the Confessing Christ Movement, Christians for Justice Action, Ministers for Racial, Social, and Economic Justice, the UCC Coalition for Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender Concerns, the UCC Fellowship of Reconciliation, UCC Parents of Lesbians and Gays, and United Black Christians.  In the national setting these groups are most conspicuous at General Synods, but they work in various ways in regional and local contexts as well.   

The question of authority haunting the debates among and between the groups is not new, either in the UCC or in the church as a whole.  Whose interpretation of Scripture and Tradition is authentic?  Which tradition best embodies Tradition?  Whose voice speaks with authority when the “church” speaks?  If the authorized voice, the pastor of a congregation or the Conference Minister or the General Minister and President, speaks to and for the church in its witness to the world, by what authority have they spoken?   How do they derive that authority, if other than through their official status within the structures of the church?  And what authority, if any, are they given by the world to which they speak?   

They have, of course, the authority of their office, duly screened by the appropriate bodies, elected by the appropriate individuals or groups, and ordained and/or installed in their particular position.  But when they speak or act, what authority do they cite?  In most cases, the biblical witness is the central reference point, followed by the Reformed stream of the church’s Tradition. The United Church of Christ is centered in the Nicene tradition as explicated by the Augsburg Confession, the Heidelburg Catechism, the Westminster Confession, and other great confessions of the church.  If the speaking or acting is done by an officer of the church in the national setting or by the General Synod, reference will be made as well to pronouncements or actions of previous General Synods.   

The 1977 Faith and Order document, “How Does the Church Teach Authoritatively Today,” recognized the challenges to inherited structures of authority and styles of teaching within the churches.  The authors point out four aspects of authoritative teaching that need particular attention in what we now call a post-modern world: change, pluralism, participation, and reception.[6]  The United Church of Christ has taken change, pluralism and participation very seriously in its development of authority, both within its own structures and in its relationship to the world.  Its structures themselves have more difficulty with reception because each setting of the church is relatively free to define itself along side or even over against the life of other settings.  This looseness exists de facto in other communions, even those which are highly centralized or hierarchical in their internal life.  Nevertheless, as the Faith and Order document notes, “To the degree in which teaching has been arrived at through the participation of the entire body of Christ, reception will be facilitated.”[7]  Such is the goal and purpose of most of the structures within the United Church of Christ. 

Church

When I was in seminary the first time, I spent considerable time studying the question of where and how “churchness” inheres in the church.  In describing the various embodiments of church in its box entitled “Local Church,” NMC begins with a description of the UCC understanding of the Local Church as “the local congregation of believers gathered in one place to hear the Word and celebrate the sacraments.”  The UCC adds to this description “for the furtherance of Christian fellowship, and for the ongoing work of Christian witness,” since fellowship and witness are regarded in our tradition as essential elements of “churchness.”[8]   

Yet that same Constitution describes the United Church of Christ as “composed of Local Churches, Associations, Conferences and the General Synod.”[9]  Indeed, the other three settings (the current term used by the UCC for those parts of “church” that are not  local congregations) are essential for the United Church of Christ.  When we say that “the church” says or does X, we may mean any of these four venues.  “[A]ll settings of the church are interdependent, and each is a valued expression of the living church of Jesus Christ, proclaiming the gospel in word and deed and seeking to live in covenant and faithful witness to the wholeness of the Body of Christ and the whole creation.”[10]  

The four highest elected offices in the church are the Moderators of General Synod and the Chair and Vice Chair of the Executive Council.  The highest-ranking employees of the church are the Officers, who form a collegium of which the General Minister and President is the presider.  When any of these speak, particularly the General Minister and President, they are regarded as speaking for the church to both the church and the world.  Similarly, on a regional basis Conference Ministers have the capacity to speak for the church but relatively less authority.   

Matters become even more delicate when it is a local pastor, whose authority to speak for the congregation to the world in most matters is quite limited.  Unless the congregation has taken a public position on a particular matter, such as becoming an Open and Affirming Congregation (of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people), or unless the pastor is citing actions or positions taken by the Conference or General Synod, generally the pastor is careful to speak only for him or herself and not in the name of the congregation presently being served.  However, the pastor may speak to “the world” for “the church,” if not claiming to speak for a particular congregation.  In such cases, usually references to scripture, to some part of the tradition, and to actions or pronouncements of regional or national bodies will constitute the authorization.   

Pastors and lay people, regional judicatory leaders and national officers of the United Church of Christ feel impelled to give witness to the faith they hold because, 

The church exists for mission.  The church is called by God to be engaged in God’s mission.  While we are a human organization, we have a divine calling and a unique character.  We do not exist for our own purposes, but for God’s mission as revealed in Jesus Christ.  We respond to God’s call to us with our commitment to Jesus Christ and by remaining open to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we work to bring about God’s will for the whole creation.  (Structure Report, 1) 

The World

The United Church of Christ is a union of four strands within the Reformed church, the Congregational Churches, the Christian Church, the Evangelical Church, and the Reformed Church.  In the case of two of its forebears, the Congregational Churches and the Evangelical Church, their social position was that of the dominant class in their respective regions.  They understood themselves, through their theologies and their memberships, to be not only the church but also the world.  They were Christendom.  When they spoke to “the world,” they were speaking to themselves in their social roles outside the life of the congregation, as well as to the unchurched multitudes who were expected to receive their wisdom and admonitions as authoritative.  They were the “mainline.”  Their members or their friends in the other mainline churches ran the banks, the factories, and the mayor’s office, the State and the Congress and the Presidency.  When they spoke to “the world,” they understood themselves to be speaking with authority to “their own,” as well as to those who remained outside the church.  They were almost entirely white, almost entirely middle and upper middle class, relatively well educated, and until the last 50 years, their ordained clergy were among the best educated members of any community.   

At the same time that they held up the pillars of the community, many individuals, congregations, Associations, and Conferences of the UCC’s predecessor bodies were active in both ameliorative and restorative social service.   They were among the leaders working for freedom, education and health care to slaves and post-war freed women and men.  They were among those deeply involved in the Social Gospel movement, setting up large networks of hospitals, educational institutions, and social service agencies.  As they worked, however, they understood themselves largely to be bringing service to those who were in need of what they themselves already had, rather than in alliance with others who had their own power.   

Since the United Church of Christ was created in 1957, “the world” has changed.  Perhaps more accurately, the world of which many members of the United Church of Christ are aware has expanded rapidly in the last 50 years.  Today, “the world” to which the United Church of Christ speaks includes especially those who are marginalized, whether socially, economically, religion, or race/ethnicity, because of perceived physical or mental handicaps, because of marital status, sexual identity, or age.  The United Church of Christ, particularly in its national setting but also in its regional and congregational settings, understands itself as called to speak truth to power in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets.  As will be noted below, even its Book of Worship and new hymnal were designed to address this newly discovered but always existing “world.”   

 How does my tradition identify/articulate the shape of our witness to the gospel in the world?

1.     Pronouncements

As indicated above, the various settings of the United Church of Christ identify and articulate our witness in a variety of ways.  Pronouncements, to which we seem addicted in both the Conference and General Synod settings, are generated by local congregations, Associations, and Conferences.  Boards of the national ministries (which are elective bodies) may generate pronouncements, but employees at any level may not generate them.  These statements must have a prescribed number of signatures or supporting bodies, as well as accompanying theological and biblical rationales, in order to be considered by their respective bodies.  Much energy, often too much energy, has been spent on the writing, supporting, debating, and passing or defeating such pronouncements.  Their generation and approval is one of the major ways in which the United Church of Christ carries on its internal political and theological battles.   

The pronouncements, at whatever level, have no binding authority on local churches.  When adopted by a regional body of the church, pronouncements have status as policy which that body then follows within its own life.  Similarly, the biennial meetings of the General Synod produce many pronouncements which serve as policy for the national setting of the church but do not have binding authority on the life of conferences, associations or local congregations.  Such General Synod pronouncements do affect the life of the other settings indirectly by changing the types of resources (human, financial and material) which are available to those parts of the body.  The reverse is also true: General Synod Pronouncements often affect the financial resources forwarded from congregations to the regional and national settings.   

2.     Publications

The United Church of Christ has a theological journal, Prism, in which lay and clergy members in all settings of the church engage in theological discussion.  Prism is widely read by those in theological education, those involved in regional and national settings of the church, and by many parish clergy, although relatively few lay people are aware of its existence.  It is a forum for debate, for new interpretations of the Tradition and the Reformed tradition, and for fine-tuning the various perspectives contained within the United Church of Christ. 

The United Church of Christ has a Book of Worship (BOW) and a relatively new hymnal, The New Century Hymnal (NCH).  Published in the 80s and 90s of the last century, respectively, each occasioned much debate upon their appearance.  The English usage in both is intentionally inclusive of all human beings, and is very careful of male language for God.  Thomas E. Dipko describes The New Century Hymnal as “boldly committed to a spirit of inclusiveness.  It welcomes and celebrates the diversity of all the people of God as surely as it confesses the mystery of diversity within God the Holy Trinity.”[11]  In her introductory remarks, Ansley Coe Throckmorton says, 

Believers know that images of Christ have always preceded Christology, and that those images of Christ lie behind the confessions and creeds of the church.  This book retains not only the images of other periods of history – images of shepherd, sovereign, healer, teacher, liberator, and so on – but it also contains the images of poets, prophets, and saints of our time who sing of the changeless Jesus Christ in images of our own age and for the new century now upon us. (NCH, viii) 

The hymnal includes Spanish, Swahili, Japanese, Hawaiian, and French among other languages, and stretches the rhythms and harmonies far beyond those found in the earlier Pilgrim Hymnal which shaped many generations of Congregationalists.  It changes the language for human beings from “men” and “brothers” to more inclusive alternatives; it changes images where dark or black was used negatively; it uses “Lord,” “King,” and other dominical titles sparingly for Jesus; it changes language even in “memory bank” hymns and Christmas carols.  Its worship resources draw from Reformed churches around the world.   

In creating such a hymnal, the United Church of Christ in its national setting was intentionally reshaping our witness to the gospel in the world.  Such a reshaping has been gladly received in many quarters and roundly condemned in many others. 

The earlier (1985) Book of Worship understands Christian worship as a 

Pentecostal proclamation.  It both announces the good news of God’s love for all the world and invites all people to share God’s saving embrace.  This active response would not be possible without the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit who endows the community of faith and individual Christians with the gifts that are necessary for God’s service.  All that Christians are and do, corporately and individually, is worship, liturgy, the work of praise and thanksgiving.  The words and acts commonly called worship cannot rightly be separated from Christians’ faithful response to God in words and acts of love and justice for all people.  That is the transparent meaning of Jesus’ liberating command: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (BOW, 1-2) 

It too is intentionally inclusive in its language and imagery, and offers the following description of such inclusivity: 

Inclusive language is far more than a matter of male and female imagery.  Behind the aesthetic dimension of human words towers the prophetic issue of social justice.  It is obvious to people of goodwill that words have the power to exploit and disfranchise as well as to affirm and liberate those to whom they refer.  Language that is truly inclusive affirms not only human sexuality but also racial and ethnic background and diverse stages of maturity from infancy to old age.  It shows respect for people with handicapping conditions, people who do not live in the traditional nuclear family, people who suffer addictions, and others who intentionally identify themselves by some particular need or characteristic.  If people do not find themselves in the language of worship or find themselves there in derogatory images, it should not be surprising if they absent themselves from the worshipping community. (BOW, 8) 

The Book of Worship draws upon the “’treasures of the historic and universal church’” and is “’offered as a guide and help in public worship’ in order ‘to preserve unity of spirit within diversity of forms’ in the proclamation of the word of God and the celebration of the sacraments.  Its only authority is its intrinsic worth as an imperfect human resource for those who seek to worship God in the beauty and duty of holiness.”[12]  

Through the Book of Worship and the New Century Hymnal, the United Church of Christ has articulated the shape of its witness to the gospel in the world as intentionally inclusive of all the peoples of the earth, and of the earth itself.   

What is the actual shape of that witness?  (How is it actually done and to whom are you speaking?) 

The United Church of Christ witnesses to the gospel through its worship, fellowship and service to the world.  Through its parent churches and during the 50 years of its current life, the UCC has created thousands of internal and external structures through which it seeks to preach and teach the good news both directly and indirectly.  In its work for social justice, now embodied in the Justice and Witness Ministries at the national setting, it includes economic justice, human rights, justice for women, criminal justice, children, families, sexuality, multiracial and multicultural transformation, communications, justice and peace, legislative and policy action, racial justice, environmental justice, anti-racism and conflict resolution, youth and young adult empowerment.  Embedded in the creation of the UCC Book of Worship is the strong concern for justice indicated by the citation above.   

The United Church of Christ understands itself to be speaking to an increasingly unchurched and dechurched world.  We understand ourselves to be “part of the universal Body of Christ and a partner in God’s mission with other Christian communions.”[13]  We are also in dialogue with people of other faiths.  When we speak or act, we intend to do so in a fashion which takes seriously our historic relationships with other Christian communions as well as the rapidly changing world in which we live.   

In our local and regional settings, our constituency varies greatly.  In some locations, such as Maine, we are largely monocultural, monoracial and monolingual.  In other locations, we are more the multiracial, inclusive, multicultural church our national publications and pronouncements envision for us.  Those variations are true for most of the churches in the United States, and reflect the varied populations of the country.   

How do our churches bear that witness?  (How well do we do it?)

The United Church of Christ is very good, nationally, at speaking and acting on issues of social justice.  It is often creative in its worship, provides excellent global education and advocacy, and has a strong representation among the health and human service ministries begun by the Evangelical and Reformed side of the union.  Many schools, colleges and seminaries founded by both sides of the union have lost their primary identity either as Christian schools and colleges, or as schools of what is now the United Church of Christ.  Almost all of the seven seminaries of the UCC are struggling economically, with shrinking enrollments and endowments.  At the same time, they have taken on a variety of justice and service commitments, such as the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, and the Center for Leadership Development and Study of Pacific and Asian North American Religion at the Pacific School of Religion.  Other UCC seminaries require study abroad and global perspectives in their curriculum, emphasize rural and urban ministries, and maintain such justice-based study as the Interreligious Center on Public Life of Andover Newton, the Mission and Peace Studies Center of Eden Theological Seminary and the Center for Jewish/Christian/Islamic Studies of Chicago Theological Seminary.   

Local congregations vary widely in their witness to the world.  Most provide some services to the larger community, commonly food cupboards and free use of building space for community organizations.  The active witness of evangelism toward conversion has been a difficult area for most UCC congregations.  For many UCC congregations, mission means either service abroad or eleemosynary efforts within the town or city.   When faced with unsafe housing conditions for migrant blueberry rakers, the closing of factories because of economic globalization, the loss of family farms to corporate farming, or the increasing use of drugs in the local schools, most pastors and congregations seek to bind up the wounds of those in the church and community, while others also seek to understand, challenge, and change the structures which are wreaking such devastation.   

In line with their sister congregations in other communions, many UCC congregations had been invested in maintaining their own shrinking membership and finances, rather than in seeking to renew a convenantal relationship with God in their corporate and individual lives.  The recent “God is Still Speaking” advertising campaign has allowed many in the UCC to experience the movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives and their congregations.  The Still Speaking refrain, “No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here,” has given courage and new understanding to many long-time and new members.  Faithful witness in difficult times challenges all of us at every level and in every setting of the church.  We bear faithful witness best when we recognize the challenges and seek once again to discern the leading of the Spirit into a future as yet unknown.  All the settings of the United Church of Christ seek to live into the words of The Nature and Mission of the Church: “the solidarity of Christians with the joys and sorrows of their neighbours, their engagement in the struggle for the dignity of all who suffer, the excluded, the poor, belongs to their baptismal vocation.”[14]