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The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches is the largest of the Congregational bodies that did not join the United Church of Christ in 1957.

The NACCC was formed in 1955 by former clergy and members of the Congregational Christian Churches due to that body's pending merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church to form the UCC. With its headquarters in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the NACCC has its largest concentrations in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Churches in the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches are united for fellowship, inspiration, and counsel, but each local church is independent and autonomous, while the National Association serves in an advisory and helper role. Within the NACCC, there is no binding ecclesiastical authority, creed, or program. Each church is left to decide whether to participate in any social or political actions.

The NACCC belongs to the American Congregationalist tradition, with its origins in the English Puritan movement, and Calvinist influences. The churches that later affiliated with the NACCC participated in the 1931 merger with the General Convention of the Christian Church, forming the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches, leaving it in 1955 to avoid becoming part of the UCC.

Its opposition to the merger was centered in fears of a bureaucracy impinging on the historic freedom of the local church, the chief defining point of Congregationalism. Other issues included the fear of imposed creeds and confessions, as well as the ownership of church property in the event that a congregation later decided to withdraw from the UCC.

A major point of differentiation between the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches is that the NACCC refuses to take political positions of any kind, although local churches within the denomination are free to do so if they wish.

Within the NACCC, congregations taking exception to any measure passed by the denomination's annual meeting may seek a referendum to veto the legislation, a practice not found in any other United States Protestant denomination.

Pastors are ordained by the local church rather than by a central body. Regional associations are purely for the purpose of fellowship and advice, having no authority over member churches, and churches can hold membership in the NACCC without belonging to a regional association. Each member congregation can send its clergy and a delegate to the NACCC annual meeting.

The NACCC does not participate in the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, or the Consultation on Church Union.

The NACCC conducts widespread missionary work in the United States and around the world, being most active in Bulgaria, Ghana, Honduras, India, Kenya, Mexico, and Nigeria.

 

 

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