We will:

• guided by the Holy Spirit, love our neighbors as ourselves, advocating for peace and justice.
• go out and share our faith in Christ, inviting others to join us.
• be nurturers of the spirit and teachers of the Word.
• welcome and provide sanctuary to all.

Our Faith

The people of the First Congregational Church of Reading are part of a rich history of Congregationalism that began almost 400 years ago in New England. The church has evolved over the years and continues to evolve to meet the needs of the Reading community, while at the same time our members have an continuing commitment to our faith believing that:

• We covenant with God our Creator. Jesus Christ our Savior and Teacher and the Holy Spirit as our Guide, accepting the Holy Scriptures as the rule of our lives in faith and practice.
• We recognize both the duty and privilege of uniting in Christian community for fellowship, for spiritual life and worship and for the opportunity to serve the realm of God in the world.
• We will order our lives in public and private according to the spirit of Jesus Christ.
• We promise to submit to orderly administration of the church, to walk with its members in unconditional love, to be present, as far as possible, at its worship services, to contribute, as we may be able , to its stewardship and prosperity, and to witness for peace and justice around the world.
• We do this relying upon God as our Creator, Jesus Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit as our Helper.

Welcoming

Believing that Christ’s call-- “Come unto me”—is unconditional, we, as Christ’s disciples in the First Congregational Church of Reading, United Church of Christ, strive to live out this call to be the body of Christ. In doing so: we welcome and embrace all people—people of all races, ethnicities and ages; mental, emotional and physical abilities; gender identities and sexual orientation; economic and social standings, and family and religious traditions. Celebrating the full diversity of God’s creation, we invite all to join us in our worship and to participate in the full life and ministry of this faith community. Therefore, guided by the Holy Spirit and with God’s grace, we joyously declare this to be an open and affirming congregation, welcoming and providing safe sanctuary to all.

Congregationalism

The Congregational Churches were organized when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation and the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony acknowledged their essential unity in the Cambridge Platform of 1648. The Cambridge Platform essentially established a doctrine in which each congregation, or local church, has free control of its own affairs. The underlying principle is that each local congregation has as its head Jesus alone and that the relations of the various congregations are those of fellow members in one common family of God.

United Church of Christ

The First Congregational Church of Reading is part of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a denomination established in 1957 with the union of several different Christian traditions. From the beginning of its history, the UCC has been a church that affirmed the ideal that Christians did not always have to agree to live together in communion.

The UCC embraces a theological heritage that affirms the Bible as the authoritative witness to the Word of God, the creeds of the ecumenical councils, and the confessions of the Reformation. The UCC has roots in the "covenantal" tradition—meaning there is no centralized authority or hierarchy that can impose any doctrine or form of worship on its members. Christ alone is Head of the church. We seek a balance between freedom of conscience and accountability to the apostolic faith. The UCC therefore receives the historic creeds and confessions of our ancestors as testimonies, but not tests of the faith.

UCC Statement of faith

Contact our Pastor to learn more about the vision and beliefs of our church.