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Trinity in Hublersburg votes to leave UCC

HUBLERSBURG — The congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ voted this past Sunday to leave the UCC denomination.

The church has maybe 70 or 80 members, and although the vote was not unanimous, the congregation will now be independent, according to its pastor, Rev. Keith G. Koch. The church will reincorporate under another name and a new constitution will be written, he reported.

The congregation made a choice to “continue with the scriptures,” the pastor said. “We didn’t think the denomination was doing that.”

Some ways the United Church of Christ does not continue with the scriptures, he said, is in ordaining openly gay ministers, something the UCC started doing in 1972; publishing a hymnal 24 years ago that honors both male and female images of God; and passing a resolution 12 years ago supporting same-gender marriage equality.

The local church was originally Trinity Reformed Church, part of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church merged with the Congregational Christian Church and became something new, the United Church of Christ.

The UCC denomination does not financially support Trinity Church, the pastor said, while the local church has supported the denomination in the past. The UCC also has no authority over Trinity and cannot take its buildings or property, he said.

Pastor Koch has been with Trinity Church for a year and a half and intends to stay on. This change in the life of the church does not mean he will be sent anywhere else, he said. His service is not tied to the denomination.

“I’m tied to this church right here,” he said.

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