United Church of Christ

United Church of Christ
The official logo of the United Church of Christ.
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Mainline Protestant. Evangelical Congregational Reformed
Polity	Congregationalist
Associations	Churches Uniting In Christ National Council of Churches World Communion of Reformed Churches World Council of Churches
Region	United States
Headquarters	Cleveland, Ohio
Origin	1957
Merger of	Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches
Congregations	5,116
Members	1 million adult adherents (2015 estimate), 943,521 members (2015 estimate)
Official website	www.ucc.org

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, with historical confessional roots in the Reformed, Congregational and Evangelical traditions, and "with over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members". The United Church of Christ is in historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC. These two denominations, which were themselves the result of earlier unions, had their roots in Congregational, Christian, Evangelical, and Reformed denominations. At the end of 2014, the UCC's 5,116 congregations claimed 979,239 members, primarily in the United States. In 2015, Pew Research estimated that 0.4 percent, or 1 million adult adherents, of the U.S population self-identify with the United Church of Christ.

The UCC maintains full communion with other mainline Protestant denominations. Many of its congregations choose to practice open communion. The denomination places high emphasis on participation in worldwide interfaith and ecumenical efforts. The national settings of the UCC have historically favored liberal views on social issues, such as civil rights, LGBT rights, women's rights, and abortion. However, United Church of Christ congregations are independent in matters of doctrine and ministry and may not necessarily support the national body's theological or moral stances. It is self-described as "an extremely pluralistic and diverse denomination".