Park Hill Congregational Church - Who We Are

 ...free to think & question  ...inclusive & diverse   ...loving neighbors   ...committed to just peace

Organized in 1949, Park Hill Congregational UCC is a growing community of faith that is seeking to increase the love of God and neighbor. We are a multi-aged, multiracial congregation of approximately 200 members drawn from throughout the Denver metro area.

We love to have visitors! Please join us; we will be enriched by your presence.

We are affiliated with the United Church of Christ, a liberal Protestant denomination that was established in 1957, bringing together Congregational, Christian, Evangelical, and Reformed traditions into a "United and Uniting Church." We are one of over 5700 congregations in the United States and 82 in the Rocky Mountain Conference, the regional group of churches in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. To learn more about the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ, go to www.rmccucc.org.

Our five core values are: Freedom to Think, Spiritual Nourishment, Inclusivity, Love of Neighbor, and Commitment to a Just Peace.

We cooperate ecumenically with other churches to sponsor a community Thanksgiving service, support the CROP Walk to raise money for hunger relief, and provide a summer Vacation Bible School. We share our building with Temple Micah, a Jewish congregation, with whom we engage in interfaith study and worship.

Our church is an autonomous body of individual believers. We manage the worship, fellowship and business of our church locally through committees and by consensus. Our church's constitution and statements are approved by our entire membership through democratic voting presided by our moderator.

The basic, shared beliefs of members of churches in the United Church of Christ are iterated in our collective Statement of Faith.

United Church of Christ Statement of Faith

We believe in you, O God, Eternal Spirit, God of our Savior Jesus Christ and our God, and to your deeds we testify:

You call the worlds into being, create persons in your own image, and set before each one the ways of life and death.

You seek in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.

You judge people and nations by your righteous will declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Savior, you have come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to yourself.

You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.

You call us into your church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be your servants in the service of others, 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.

You promise to all who trust you forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, your presence in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in your realm which has no end.

Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto you. Amen.

 
For a critical interpretation of this statement, see We Believe: An interpretation of the United Church statement of faith, by Roger Shinn and Daniel Williams, 1966, United Church Press, Philadelphia/Boston. The passage below is quoted from pp. 14-15.

    "The contemporary church, no less than the traditional church, needs to think about the meaning and the communication of its faith. Therefore churches in the twentieth century, especially in missionary situations and in times of decision, have sought to declare their faith. Thus it was that the United Church of Christ, at the beginning of its career, decided to work out a "Statement of Faith."

    The two groups who formed the United Church both had rich inheritances of confessional documents. Like all Christians, they were the heirs of the ancient creeds imbedded in scripture and developed in the early centuries of the church. The Evangelical and Reformed Church had given great attention to the confessions of the Reformation. The Congregational Christian Churches had drawn upon the documents of English Puritanism and the many covenants and doctrinal statements of American Congregationalism. Now the United Church, concerned that its formation be an act of Christian faith and not simply a functional merger of denominations, took the occasion of union as an opportunity for rethinking its belief. In 1959, a year before adopting a constitution, the General Synod discussed at length and approved the Statement of Faith.

    A statement of faith, we should clearly realize, is not faith. Talk about belief can be a cheap substitute or even an evasion of the trust and commitment that belong to real faith. So no Christian should exaggerate the value of confessions and creeds. Certainly nobody should assume that the faith of any church can be encompassed in its words.

    But words are important. One responsibility of a church is to search its mind and to declare its convictions. A belief that is unsaid is incomplete, and a belief that is well said becomes a power for life and action. Therefore the process of thinking that led to the Statement of Faith and the continuing use of that Statement have become one significant part of the life of the United Church of Christ. And the Statement is part of that church's contribution to the conversations and life of the wider church in which it seeks to play its part."


Return to PHCC homepage