Edgewood is a congregation of the United Church of Christ. We value questions and the process of our faith journey. In our worship we seek to praise God, develop our spirituality and become equipped for ministering to a world in need.

We believe…that God is Still Speaking and that faith development takes a lifetime. We are a non-creedal church which means you do not have to believe or affirm a particular set of stated beliefs to belong or to feel comfortable. We encourage doubts and questions, and we value rethinking our theology together.

We believe…that all people are created in the image of God and welcomed into the church. Everyone is welcome in worship and at the communion table and into the life and leadership of the congregation.

We believe…“there is yet more light and truth to break forth from God’s holy word.” The Bible is an important witness to how God’s people have experienced God over time and through the life of Jesus Christ. The Bible, though written in specific historical times and places, still speaks to us in our present condition. We believe that we are called to read the Bible critically, rethinking our beliefs as God’s word unfolds and conditions change. We take the Bible seriously, but not literally.

We believe…that our faith calls us to work in solidarity with those who are suffering in our church, our community and the wider world. God calls us together to be the church, for we can do more together than alone and each of us has a role in the ministry we are doing together.

We believe…how we act toward one another is essential to our faith and we recognize and respect the faithfulness of other people who have other names for God.

In 1998, Edgewood became an Open and Affirming church. This decision affirmed Edgewood’s ministry to particularly welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people into the life and leadership of the church. We believe all people are created in God’s image. All people are welcome and all relationships are celebrated as a reflection of the divine love we experience from God. We believe that Christ welcomed all people and so we do also in his name.

To learn more, read our Open and Affirming statement below.

Open and Affirming Covenant Statement

 

The Call

Guided by the love of Jesus Christ, Edgewood United Church seeks to be a community of healing, hope, and hospitality.  We celebrate the diversity that God created and seek to reflect that diversity in our community of faith.   In the Edgewood United Church Covenant Statement on Justice and Peace, we covenant “to conduct our common life in ways that reflect God’s inclusiveness of people of all nationalities, races, ages, abilities, genders, gender identities, and sexual orientations.” We believe we are called as disciples of Jesus Christ “to discover God’s message by standing with the poor, the victims of injustice, and those on the margin of society.”

In standing with those who have been marginalized because of sexual orientation or gender identity, we feel the need to speak and act with enhanced boldness as a congregation and to be more explicit in our inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people into the common life of our church.  The Christian church has often judged and excluded lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons from the community of faith or has been complicit by its silence.  These actions have served to justify, if not encourage, discrimination and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.  It is time for Christians to declare that such practices are incompatible with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 The Covenant

Therefore, in response to the call of the 1985 General Synod of the United Church of Christ, we declare ourselves and Open and Affirming congregation and we covenant anew:

--to affirm that people of all nationalities, races, ages, abilities, genders, gender identities, marital statuses, and sexual orientations are embraced within the family of God and the fellowship of Edgewood United Church.

--to honor, support and celebrate the partnerships and families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

--to encourage all persons to share their talents and energy in the worship, ministry, mission, educational programs, and leadership of Edgewood United Church.

--not to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality or marital status when hiring church staff and contracting for goods and services.

--to condemn acts of homophobic violence, to confront the continuing injustice of institutional discrimination, and to advocate equal protection under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

--to empower the Church Council to establish a Task Force to work with the congregation and its boards and committees to implement the covenant statement in the life and ministry of Edgewood United Church.

Adopted by the Edgewood United Church at a Congregational Meeting on May 17, 1998,  amended on February 7, 2010

 

Just Peace

In 1996 Edgewood became a Just Peace congregation. As a result, when we read the scriptures, make financial decisions, and seek to do God’s work in the world, we do so with an eye toward social justice and peacemaking. We believe that economic injustice is a primary cause of suffering in the world and that we are called by our faith to advocate on behalf of those in need and to give of our talent and time and money to make a more just world.

 To learn more, read our Just Peace statement below.

Covenant Statement on Justice and Peace

We, now, mindful of the bond which relates us to the Lord of all life and to each other, do covenant together to express in our individual and community life the spirit of Christ, made known or to be made known. Whatever it should cost us, we offer ourselves anew to the struggle for justice, peace and the integrity of God’s creation, that the Kingdom of God may draw near.

Therefore, we will strive to live out this covenant in the priorities for the worship, programs, and ministries at Edgewood United Church. We covenant:

....to respond as a community of hope to God’s call to nurture the growth of peace and justice within ourselves and to work for justice and peace in our church, our community, our nation, and our world neighborhood;

….to confess our complicity in sin and evil, and our individual and corporate part in perpetuating systems of injustice, violence, and destruction;

….to discover God’s presence and message by standing with the poor, the victims of injustice, and those on the margin of society;

….to create in our congregation a zone of freedom in which differences may be expressed openly as we strive for mutual understanding and growth;

….to conduct our common life in ways that reflect God’s inclusiveness of people of all nationalities, races, ages, abilities, genders, gender identities, and sexual orientations;

….to nurture, love, and empower one another as we work together to respond to God’s mandate for justice and peace; and

….to act boldly in response to the kairos, the crises and opportunities, of our time.

 

With this covenant, Edgewood United Church is declared to be a Justice and Peace Church.

 

Adopted unanimously by the congregation at the Edgewood United Church annual meeting, February 4, 1990 and amended on February 7, 2010.