National Association of Congregational Christian Churches
Encyclopedia
The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) is an association of about 400 churches providing fellowship for and services to churches from the Congregational tradition. The Association maintains its national office in Oak Creek, Wisconsin
, a suburb of Milwaukee. The body was founded in 1955 by former clergy and laypeople of the Congregational Christian Churches
in response to that denomination's pending merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church
to form the United Church of Christ
in 1957.
The NACCC has congregations in 39 states, with strong concentrations in California
, Connecticut
, Illinois
, Maine
, Massachusetts
, Michigan
, and Wisconsin
.
when talks between the national entities of the two merging denominations reached the point of preliminary organization planning, to persuade local Congregational Christian churches to refuse their support to this movement. These clergy and laypeople first organized at a meeting in Evanston, Illinois
, in 1947 to express their concerns about not only the possible loss of autonomy on behalf of individual churches, but also their contentions that the General Council of the CC Churches possessed no authority to enter its churches into any legal union with another denomination. Other related issues were control over missionary funds and a possible diversion of some of them into ministerial pension annuities; fears of imposition of creeds, confessions, and neo-orthodox theology onto their ministers (who generally favored a 19th-century liberal
, tolerant outlook); and ownership of church property in cases of congregations withdrawing from the proposed UCC.
When the CC national General Council adopted a "Basis of Union" with the E&R Church in 1948, the dissenters organized into two groups: the Committee for the Continuation of Congregational Christian Churches, formed by the pastor of Los Angeles
' Congregational Church of the Messiah, Harry R. Butman; and the League to Uphold Congregational Principles, led by a Hartford, Connecticut
pastor, Henry Gray. These two groups conducted an extensive pamphlet and church-meeting campaign to forestall the merger process, despite the General Council's and the E&R General Synod's revision of the Basis in favor of explicit congregational autonomy. Their counterpart on the pro-UCC side of the denominational merger debate was the then-current CC general minister and president, Douglas Horton
.
When these efforts only produced a small minority of sympathizers, some "continuing" clergy and laypeople in a Brooklyn
congregation decided to take legal action, suing CC moderator Helen Kenyon in 1949, in order to place a legal restraint on the process. Some years later, after appellate courts reversed the lower court's finding in favor of the merger opponents, the activists turned instead to forming a new fellowship, with no legal claims to any portion of the assets of the majority; all Congregational-heritage colleges but one (Piedmont College
in Georgia
) approved the UCC merger as well, which finally took place in 1957 (Piedmont finally joined the UCC in the early 2000s while keeping its NACCC affiliation).
The NACCC's commitment to local church autonomy is so pronounced, that it has adopted a highly unusual measure in its national legislative process. Congregations taking exception to measures passed by the NACCC's annual meeting may seek a referendum vote in order to have the legislation vetoed. This appears to be a unique practice not found in any other American Protestant denomination.
In terms of the ministry, the NACCC, again, respects local autonomy to the point of refusing to keep a membership list for those clergy serving its churches, although the denomination's annual yearbook provides a list of known pastors for convenient reference. Ordination by a local church is sufficient for recognition by this tradition; clergy from other congregations may participate in the ordination service at their discretion, but their presence conveys no special authority over the procedure, as is the case with an association and/or conference in the UCC.
Regional associations in the NACCC are strictly for the purpose of fellowship and mutual edification; like the national entity, they have no authority whatsoever over their member congregations. Also, unlike the UCC, there is no necessary relationship between a regional association and the NACCC. In fact, a congregation can belong to the NACCC without simultaneously belonging to a regional group. By contrast, in the UCC, a church must hold membership in the association covering its geographic territory before participating in the affairs of its conference and the General Synod. Further, unlike the UCC where congregations have no direct representation in the General Synod, each NACCC congregation may send its clergy and delegate to the national annual meeting.
, came into being not primarily because of church governance disputes, but because of decades-long opposition to the dominant liberal
theological orientation in the main part of American Congregationalism. Founded in 1948, the CCCC (or "4C's", colloquially) had no relation to the "continuing" movement per se, although some congregations may belong to both bodies simultaneously. The body requires its member churches to subscribe to, as its name implies, a standard evangelical
statement of faith; neither the NACCC nor the UCC requires its congregations to adhere to any specific doctrinal position.
In fact, some NACCC congregations have actually retained nominal ties to the UCC, via the latter's listing of special "schedule" categories of membership. Resulting from the submission of the UCC Constitution and Bylaws to each individual Congregational Christian church for approval (a condition of membership to all UCC associations and conferences), those congregations who did not vote at all or voted disapproval but who did not take action to withdraw from their associations (or conferences, in the absence of associations) remained listed in that denomination's yearbook. As of 2011, 95 churches continue to hold this status in the UCC, although not all of them are NACCC members. Some NACCC churches, though, are simultaneously full members of the UCC.
Oak Creek, Wisconsin
Oak Creek is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 28,456 at the 2000 census. In 2009, its population was estimated at 33,946.-History:...
, a suburb of Milwaukee. The body was founded in 1955 by former clergy and laypeople of the Congregational Christian Churches
Congregational Christian Churches
The Congregational Christian Churches were a Protestant Christian denomination that operated in the U.S. from 1931 through 1957. On the latter date, most of its churches joined the Evangelical and Reformed Church in a merger to become the United Church of Christ. Others created the National...
in response to that denomination's pending merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church
Evangelical and Reformed Church
The Evangelical and Reformed Church was a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. It was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States with the Evangelical Synod of North America . After the 1934 merger, a minority within the RCUS seceded in order to...
to form 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...
in 1957.
The NACCC has congregations in 39 states, with strong concentrations in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
History
Central to their opposition was the belief that the merger would create unwieldy bureaucracies that might impinge upon the historic freedom of the local congregation, one of the few ideas that have united this otherwise theologically diverse fellowship. These concerns drove activists, beginning after World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when talks between the national entities of the two merging denominations reached the point of preliminary organization planning, to persuade local Congregational Christian churches to refuse their support to this movement. These clergy and laypeople first organized at a meeting in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, in 1947 to express their concerns about not only the possible loss of autonomy on behalf of individual churches, but also their contentions that the General Council of the CC Churches possessed no authority to enter its churches into any legal union with another denomination. Other related issues were control over missionary funds and a possible diversion of some of them into ministerial pension annuities; fears of imposition of creeds, confessions, and neo-orthodox theology onto their ministers (who generally favored a 19th-century liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, tolerant outlook); and ownership of church property in cases of congregations withdrawing from the proposed UCC.
When the CC national General Council adopted a "Basis of Union" with the E&R Church in 1948, the dissenters organized into two groups: the Committee for the Continuation of Congregational Christian Churches, formed by the pastor of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
' Congregational Church of the Messiah, Harry R. Butman; and the League to Uphold Congregational Principles, led by a Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
pastor, Henry Gray. These two groups conducted an extensive pamphlet and church-meeting campaign to forestall the merger process, despite the General Council's and the E&R General Synod's revision of the Basis in favor of explicit congregational autonomy. Their counterpart on the pro-UCC side of the denominational merger debate was the then-current CC general minister and president, Douglas Horton
Douglas Horton (clergyman)
Douglas Horton was an American Protestant clergyman and academic leader who was noted for his work in ecumenical relations among major Protestant bodies of his day...
.
When these efforts only produced a small minority of sympathizers, some "continuing" clergy and laypeople in a Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
congregation decided to take legal action, suing CC moderator Helen Kenyon in 1949, in order to place a legal restraint on the process. Some years later, after appellate courts reversed the lower court's finding in favor of the merger opponents, the activists turned instead to forming a new fellowship, with no legal claims to any portion of the assets of the majority; all Congregational-heritage colleges but one (Piedmont College
Piedmont College
Piedmont College is a private liberal arts institution founded in 1897 to serve residents of the Appalachian area of northeast Georgia, USA. When the college was first founded, it was established as the J.S. Green Collegiate Institute named after a local banker. In 1899, the name was shortened to...
in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
) approved the UCC merger as well, which finally took place in 1957 (Piedmont finally joined the UCC in the early 2000s while keeping its NACCC affiliation).
Current ethos and practices
During the 1960s through the 1990s, the NACCC slowly built a network of, or formed alliances with, voluntarily-supported missions and agencies to replace those lost in the UCC merger. One distinction between the NACCC and UCC is the former body's refusal to engage in political activity on behalf of its constituent churches. By its governing ethos, the NACCC refrains from taking political positions of any kind. The denomination seems to remain firm in its resolve not to abandon its apolitical heritage, for advocacy of any kind.The NACCC's commitment to local church autonomy is so pronounced, that it has adopted a highly unusual measure in its national legislative process. Congregations taking exception to measures passed by the NACCC's annual meeting may seek a referendum vote in order to have the legislation vetoed. This appears to be a unique practice not found in any other American Protestant denomination.
In terms of the ministry, the NACCC, again, respects local autonomy to the point of refusing to keep a membership list for those clergy serving its churches, although the denomination's annual yearbook provides a list of known pastors for convenient reference. Ordination by a local church is sufficient for recognition by this tradition; clergy from other congregations may participate in the ordination service at their discretion, but their presence conveys no special authority over the procedure, as is the case with an association and/or conference in the UCC.
Regional associations in the NACCC are strictly for the purpose of fellowship and mutual edification; like the national entity, they have no authority whatsoever over their member congregations. Also, unlike the UCC, there is no necessary relationship between a regional association and the NACCC. In fact, a congregation can belong to the NACCC without simultaneously belonging to a regional group. By contrast, in the UCC, a church must hold membership in the association covering its geographic territory before participating in the affairs of its conference and the General Synod. Further, unlike the UCC where congregations have no direct representation in the General Synod, each NACCC congregation may send its clergy and delegate to the national annual meeting.
Relations to other Congregational bodies
Another Congregational denomination whose member churches mostly stayed out of the UCC, the Conservative Congregational Christian ConferenceConservative Congregational Christian Conference
The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, colloquially known as the CCCC or 4C's, is a Protestant Christian denomination operating in the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul...
, came into being not primarily because of church governance disputes, but because of decades-long opposition to the dominant liberal
Liberal Christianity
Liberal Christianity, sometimes called liberal theology, is an umbrella term covering diverse, philosophically and biblically informed religious movements and ideas within Christianity from the late 18th century and onward...
theological orientation in the main part of American Congregationalism. Founded in 1948, the CCCC (or "4C's", colloquially) had no relation to the "continuing" movement per se, although some congregations may belong to both bodies simultaneously. The body requires its member churches to subscribe to, as its name implies, a standard evangelical
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
statement of faith; neither the NACCC nor the UCC requires its congregations to adhere to any specific doctrinal position.
In fact, some NACCC congregations have actually retained nominal ties to the UCC, via the latter's listing of special "schedule" categories of membership. Resulting from the submission of the UCC Constitution and Bylaws to each individual Congregational Christian church for approval (a condition of membership to all UCC associations and conferences), those congregations who did not vote at all or voted disapproval but who did not take action to withdraw from their associations (or conferences, in the absence of associations) remained listed in that denomination's yearbook. As of 2011, 95 churches continue to hold this status in the UCC, although not all of them are NACCC members. Some NACCC churches, though, are simultaneously full members of the UCC.