Austintown Community Church to host UCC event

A new group, Faithful and Welcoming Churches, will be introduced.
AUSTINTOWN -- Austintown Community Church, 246 S. Canfield-Niles Road, will host a regional gathering for United Church of Christ congregations in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania at 1 p.m. March 11. The session will introduce a newly formed UCC renewal group, Faithful and Welcoming Churches.
Guest speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Bob Thompson of Corinth Reformed Church, Hickory, N.C., president of Faithful and Welcoming Churches, who will present the origin and goals of the group.
The FWC, which was organized Jan. 19, 2006, in Ligonier, Pa., believes that the UCC is facing a crisis including the loss of churches, funds and unity. The FWC believes the crisis has been intensified by the 25th General Synod's endorsement of same-sex marriages in July 2005 in Atlanta. The FWC does not agree with the marriage equality resolution.
FWC is holding regional gatherings during March in 10 states to create a network of UCC laity and clergy. The events will lead up to the FWC's first national event July 2-4 in Columbus.
Background
The United Church of Christ was founded in 1957 with 2.1 million members in 7,000 congregations. Figures for 2006 list 5,700 congregations with 1.3 million members. The UCC allows its congregations complete autonomy in continuing or selecting its worship style, pastor, name and confessions of faith. The churches include a diverse range of theological and political views in its members.
The FWC thinks the regional and national UCC is not following the founding motto, "That they all may be one." About 10 percent of UCC churches have declared themselves "open and affirming" of homosexuals. FWC says that it offers an alternative for churches to declare that they are "faithful and welcoming." FWC believes that the denomination has begun marketing an identity consistent with a radical social agenda that is not shared by a majority of its congregations.
Visit the FCC Web site at www.faithfulandwelcoming.org for more information.