Articles II, III, IV, and V From Church By-Laws

ARTICLE II - PURPOSE

The purpose of this Church is to bind together persons who believe in God accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit; to provide opportunities for Christian worship, teaching the Gospel, celebration of the sacraments, and furtherance of Christian fellowship, to render service to all humanity and to strive for righteousness, justice and peace.

ARTICLE III - POLITY

This Church acknowledges Jesus Christ as its Head and finds in the Holy Scriptures, interpreted by the Holy Spirit through reason, faith and conscience, its guide in matters of faith and discipline.  This Church shall be an independent body amenable to no other ecclesiastical authority, having within itself all necessary powers of government and discipline.  The government of this Church is vested in its member who shall exercise control of all its affairs.  It accepts the obligations of mutual council, comity and cooperation involved in the free fellowship of the United Church of Christ, and pledges itself to share its common aims and work.

ARTICLE IV - COVENANT

The objectives of this Church and its basis of fellowship are expressed in the following confession and covenant.   In the humble sense of our unworthiness and dependence on the free grace of God in Jesus Christ, we give up ourselves to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in an everlasting covenant not to be forgotten.  Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we covenant with God and one with another to walk together in His ways as He reveals Himself to us; to unite in maintaining the public worship of God among us; to perform the duties of Christian love toward each other; to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; to foster the spirit of Christian fellowship to proclaim the Gospel to all the world; and seek in every way to relate the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to all of life.

ARTICLE V - STATEMENT OF FAITH

We gladly affirm the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ as a faithful expression of Faith of the Church universal and as setting forth the Faith which is held among us: We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify: God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.  God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.  God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.  In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord, God had come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.  God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.  God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ’s baptism and eat at his table, to join him in his passion and victory.  God promises to all who trust in the gospel of forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace, the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end. Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God.  Amen.

Excerpt from the By-Laws of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Milford, NH
Revised December 31, 1996.