Evangelical and Reformed Church

Origins Both the Reformed Church and Evangelical Synod originated in the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Nearly all their churches in the United States were established by immigrants from Germany and Switzerland. In 1934, both bodies united to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Reformed Church in the United States 18th century The Reformed Church in the United States, long known as the German Reformed Church, organized its first synod in 1747 and adopted a constitution in 1793. This schism aside, by the time of the merger talks, the RCUS had mostly joined the American Protestant mainline, sending missionaries overseas and operating health and welfare institutions, including hospitals, orphanages, and nursing homes, throughout much of the United States. Further, the Reformed did some work among Native Americans in Wisconsin. The RCUS' constituency composed slightly over half of the membership of the new denomination in 1934. Evangelical Synod of North America 19th century The Evangelical Synod of North America was founded in 1840 at Gravois Settlement in Missouri, by a union of Reformed and Lutheran Christians in a manner similar to the creation of the Prussian Union in the early 19th century. In terms of governance, the Evangelicals most resembled American Lutheranism of the time, with high regard for the pastor's authority but essentially congregational in structure, with a lay council handling temporal matters such as property and benevolences. Merger with Congregational Christian Churches In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined with the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches to form the UCC. The Rev. James Wagner was the last president of the denomination. Upon the union on June 25 of that year, he became, along with former Congregational Christian general minister Fred Hoskins, a co-president of the UCC. He and Hoskins held these positions until 1961, when the UCC constitution was ratified by the Evangelical and Reformed synods and the requisite percentage of CC congregations. About 40 percent of the members in the new denomination were members of the E&R Church, about 2800 churches and 700,000 members. ==Organization and theology==

The Evangelical and Reformed Church was generally presbyterian in organization, although it allowed for a great deal of local congregational decision-making than more typical Reformed bodies such as Presbyterianism or the Reformed Church in America did. The church organized into some 30 or so regional synods, culminating in a national General Synod that met annually. The church used several creeds: the Heidelberg Catechism, Martin Luther's catechisms, and the early Lutheran Augsburg Confession; Evangelical and Reformed leaders allowed great latitude in interpretation. In the main, Evangelical and Reformed congregations emphasized piety and service rather than legalistic soteriology or orthodox dogma. Styles of worship ranged from revivalism (especially in Ohio and North Carolina) to a Lutheran-like liturgicism (the Mercersburg Movement found primarily in central Pennsylvania parishes). Generally speaking, the theological outlook of most ministers was largely accepting of liberal trends in Protestant doctrine and higher biblical criticism, although some pockets of conservative revivalistic pietism and confessionalist Calvinism could be found. ==Educational institutions==

As with most Protestant denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed church maintained educational institutions and foreign missions. Affiliated educational institutions included the Lancaster Theological Seminary, Franklin and Marshall College, Cedar Crest College, and Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, Elmhurst College in Illinois, Hood College in Maryland, Catawba College in North Carolina, Eden Theological Seminary in Missouri, and Heidelberg College in Ohio. An Evangelical and Reformed seminary, Mission House, previously located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, joined with the school of theology of South Dakota's Yankton College, a Congregational Christian institution, to form the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in the early 1960s. The seminary set up operations in New Brighton, Minnesota, outside St. Paul. In the early 1930s Central Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, a previous merger of Ursinus and Heidelberg Seminaries, was merged with Eden Seminary. In 1946, in cooperation with three other denominations, it formed the United Andean Indian Mission, an agency that sent missionaries to Ecuador. ==Famous members==

The list includes members of United Church of Christ congregations of Evangelical and Reformed heritage. • Donald Bloesch • Walter Brueggemann • Leon Jaworski • John Williamson Nevin • Reinhold Niebuhr • Richard Niebuhr • Philip Schaff • Richard Schweiker • Bud Shuster • Paul Tillich • Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben • John Winebrenner • Victor Paul Wierwille was originally a member before founding The Way International United States President Theodore Roosevelt attended Washington D.C.'s Grace Reformed Church, an Evangelical and Reformed congregation. Roosevelt originally belonged to the Reformed Church in America (RCA), a Dutch-American group. Since there were no RCA congregations in Washington, he chose Grace Reformed as perhaps the church most similar liturgically and theologically to Dutch Calvinism. ==References==