About Colonial UCC
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Colonial Church in Prairie Village is a member congregation of the United Church of Christ, a denomination that has always valued education and embraced diversity. It was responsible for the founding of Yale, University of California, the Pacific School of Religion and many other colleges and universities. It also ordained the first woman in the United States to the Christian Ministry, the Rev. Antoinette Brown, in 1853.
Colonial Congregational Church was founded in 1948. Congregationalism came to America with the Pilgrims in 1620. Its church government, both spiritual and temporal, is not subject to any other religious or ecclesiastical body. Colonial Church's bylaws state that ours is a free, independent, and self-governing church. Simply put, we are a group of people gathering in Christ's name and adhering to the bonds of our Covenant.
Colonial's heritage comes from two denominations whose merger in 1957 gave birth to the UCC: the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. We place great emphasis on diversity, freedom of conscience in belief, and justice and mission activities.
The United Church of Christ today is made up of 1.5 million members in 6,000 congregations. Unlike most denominations where direction comes from the top down, most worship and governance decisions in the UCC are made within the local church.
