Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches

The Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches is a small fellowship of conservative evangelical Protestant Christian congregations in the United States that became disaffected from the United Church of Christ due to that denomination's national entities professing support for practices such as abortion and homosexuality. Unlike other more sectarian churches, the Evangelical Association does not forbid its member congregations to simultaneously belong to other denominations and fellowships, as the local churches continue to practice congregational polity.

The EA began in 1999 from meetings between the clergy of First Protestant Church in New Braunfels, Texas and St. John's Evangelical Protestant Church in Cullman, Alabama, two large UCC congregations of Evangelical and Reformed (German Protestant) heritage. A core group resulting from interested churches of like mind brought about this initiative to provide a more orthodox alternative fellowship to the UCC in particular matters such as ministerial placement and foreign missions work. Many of the founding churches had been active in the Biblical Witness Fellowship organization, a "renewal" lobby akin to those orchestrated by the Institute for Religion and Democracy in connectional denominations such as the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Perhaps the incident that provoked many of the EA's current congregations to depart the UCC was that denomination's action at its 2005 General Synod to support the rights of two indvidiuals of the same gender to marry. This, to them, was the culmination of over 30 years of unacceptable liberal theology and ethics, to the point of a high apotasy from strict understandings of the Bible; some congregations that had been considering disaffiliation expedited the process in order to disassociate from national entities as quickly as possible. One [http://www.faithfulandwelcoming.org renewal group] claims that over 250 churches withdrew from the UCC following the General Synod's measure.

As of December 2007, the EA has 48 congregations in 17 states, with North Carolina having the largest number; only one congregation among them, in Zebulon, N.C., has maintained its affiliation with the UCC. Most of the churches are from an E&R heritage, although a few congregations in North Carolina are predominantly African-American in membership. The latter churches are descended from the "Christian Connection"; these left due not only to theological disagreement with national entities, but also because they had been adversely affected by the UCC Eastern North Carolina Association's strict application of nationally-recommended seminary requirements for ordination.

The EA requires its constituent churches to subscribe to a statement of faith, which explicitly proclaims exclusive salvation in Jesus Christ and denounces extramarital sexual activity or encouragement of the same.

The Rev. Gary Bowman, of New Salem, Pennsylvania, is national minister of the EA.

ee also

Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, a group similar to the EA

External links

[http://www.evangelicalassociation.org EA website]