Pages: Cover,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7

Who Owns What?

The only real property owned by the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches is that associated with the office in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. This modest facility houses the administrative personnel of the Association. Occasionally the Association has held other property for a short time as the result of a bequest or other gift.

Each member Church, as a religious corporation of the state in which it exists, owns its own property and holds its own assets. Membership in the Association does not convey title or interest to the Association.

The form of this sacrament will most often be plates of bread and trays of individual cups passed through the congregation. Other forms may occur from time to time or even be normative in particular Churches. Similarly, the frequency of observance is a matter for each Church to decide. A monthly observance is not uncommon though the rate may exceed that or be limited to only two or three times a year.

What Do We Do and How Do We Do It?

A member Church of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches must have demonstrated that it is a regularly gathered and worshipping Church, and that it is founded on the principles of Congregational polity (the ultimate authority of the Church is the congregation under Christ only), and that it is in fellowship with other Congregational Churches. That is the extent to which the Association would inquire into the workings of a Church.

This has meant, in the entire history of our Association, that we have never passed a resolution on a social or political issue. It is not because we regard those issues as irrelevant. Our Commissions, Divisions, and Annual Meeting (where each member Church has one vote) remind us that we are called to confront, in the name of Christ, the pain, suffering, oppression, and injustice which we meet in the world. But we remain convinced that these confrontations, these ministrations, will be most efficacious when they arise from the ministries of the Church and not from the pronouncements of national bodies.

Each Church may - and in the Congregational Way, each Church must - discover its own ministry for its own place. Each of us must uncover Christ's will for the work at our doorstep. This certainly means that we are working on varieties of ministries with varying priorities, It means that sometimes the prophetic word seems to differ, but perhaps no more than our places of ministry differ.

The role of the Association in all of this is to provide (largely through volunteers) the resources and the insights which make maximally effective the ministries to which each of the Churches is called. We do not expect our staff to tell you what you should do. We do expect our staff to be able to provide for you, or to guide you to, the resources you need to do what Christ is calling your Church to do.

National Association of Congregational Christian Churches
PO Box 288, Oak Creek, WI 53154
 

Pages: Cover,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7