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We who call ourselves Prospect Congregational UCC are first of all a faith community.  Our weekly worship expresses our primary desire to join together as persons seeking to discover and grow, both in our personal faith journeys and as a community.  Our diversity in our individual roots and reasons suggests our faith as one concerned more with questions rather than simple answers.  As a thinking and celebrating congregation, we are glad to declare ourselve as an open and progressive people.

As part of the United Church of Christ (UCC) Protestant denomination, we draw upon a history which encourages freedom of conscience and relationships of covenant - mutual agreement - with others.  Rather than adhere to strict doctrine, a central UCC tenet states that there is "yet more light and truth" to break forth from God's word and work in our midst.  Prospect Church has a working covenant; the UCC has its own statement of faith that uses verbs to describe God's ongoing activity of creating, calling, and bestowing.

 

"Our diversity in our individual
roots and reasons suggests
our faith as one concerned more
with questions rather than simple answers"

 
Our Open and Affirming declaration was born of our searching, thinking theology.  Based on the desire to make a clear welcome to all sexual orientations, Prospect's Open and Affirming statement expands to include other needed affirmations, from race and class to various abilities.  We deeply believe in the many expressions of God's image and presence in our world.  As such, we join with the UCC and one another to work for justice.

On July 18, 2010, the congregation voted to affiliate with The Center for Progressive Christianity, based on our agreement with TCPC's 8 Points:

By calling ourselves progressive, we mean we are Christians who...

1. Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.

2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.

3. Understand the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus’ name to be a representation of an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples.

4. Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable (including but not limited to):

  believers and agnostics;
  conventional Christians and questioning skeptics;
  women and men;
  those of all sexual orientations and gender identities;
  those of all races and cultures;
  those of all classes and abilities;
  those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope.

5. Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe.

6. Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in questioning than in absolutes.

7. Form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God's creation, and bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers.

8. Recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.

One other thing: as a small, inclusive and diverse congregation, we celebrate our invaluable 100+ year history with our neighborhood.  Many of us live within a few blocks of the church building and stumbled upon the gem that is Prospect just walking by. Some come for our wonderful music, still others as a place for our children. Whatever the reason, we wonder if we might be just what you're looking for.  Come and see!




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Additional links on this topic:

Our Working Covenant

Draft Identity Statement

Constitution - Passed 2005

History of Prospect Church

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