One might wonder how a denomination founded in 1957 could possibly have a history in nineteenth century Indiana. The United Church of Christ, however, was formed by the merger of four denominations with a long and vital history in early Indiana - the Christian Church and the Congregational Church as well as two predominantly German faiths, the Evangelical Church and the Reformed Church. These denominations brought strong feelings of tradition, benevolence, and social justice. The first of the four faiths, Congregationalism, had its beginning in the English Reformation. It was an offshoot of English Puritanism. The Congregationalists wanted the individual churches to reform from within. Unwilling to be part of a larger church government, they took their ecclesiastical reformation to America. The Congregational church was most prevalent in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the early colonial years where the church dominated religious life for 200 years. Yet, nationally church membership remained quite small and it was almost non-existent in the South. (Rudolph: 113)

To help ease a need for clergy in both faiths, the Congregationalists and Presbyterians developed a "Plan of Union" in 1801. This allowed for the exchange of clergy between the churches as the need arose. Throughout the early years of the nineteenth century Presbyterian and Congregationalist missionary societies sprang up in the East. In 1826, three of the strongest groups merged to form the American Home Missionary Society (AHMS). Through the "Plan of Union," the AHMS was able to secure clergy from both churches for western mission work. During its first decade the AHMS sent 24 ministers to Indiana. Since few Congregationalists settled in Indiana many Congregationalist ministers found themselves shepherding Presbyterian congregations here. One such individual was Edmund Otis Hovey of New Hampshire. As a student at the Congregationalist Andover Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts, Hovey and his fellow classmates interested in western missions met the Reverend Absalom Peters, the general secretary of the AHMS. In a letter to Mary Carter, a friend in Vermont, Hovey recounted the visit:

Mr. Peters arrived…and laid before the whole company of 'western men' the wants of the west & devoted the following day to conversation with individuals. I had an interview with him in the morning…I endeavored to review the whole subject - took the advice of my Professors and the result is a decision to devote my life to the labors as a missionary in the Valley of the Mississippi. The decision has not been without much reflection and prayer & hope - if has been made under the full conviction of duty. (Hovey letter: 16 July 1831)

It was 1833, however, before the first Congregational Church in Indiana was founded in Franklin County. It began as a result of a battle within an established Presbyterian congregation. Similar struggles in other parts of the state had similar results and the first Congregational Association was organized in 1839 in the midst of the Presbyterian infighting. (Rudolph: 188)

Due to the dirth of New Englanders in the state, only two Congregational congregations survived to the mid-nineteenth century. The members of these two congregations were middle-class, educated and prosperous. Their churches were well kept and well furnished with wooden pews, hymnbooks and musical instruments. The faithful were members of the many popular reform societies of the day, such as temperance, foreign missions, and Bible societies. The women were especially active in aid societies. Because of their New England origins, Congregationalists strongly favored the abolition movement. Presbyterian churches, however, remained silent on the subject from the 1830s through the 1850s because they were fearful of offending their southern membership. This fact proved to aid in the growth of Congregational churches, especially in northern Indiana. The transplanted New Englanders residing in Indiana were ardently in favor of ending slavery as soon as possible. Most lived in northern Indiana and belonged to Presbyterian congregations led by Presbyterian ministers. By 1853 these strident abolitionists were withdrawing their membership from the Presbyterian churches to form new Congregational churches, more in tune with their political beliefs. Liber College in Jasper County was another result of the strong stand Congregationalist took on slavery. This institution, like the Baptist's Eleutherian Institute and Friends Union Literary Institute, admitted anyone regardless of race. By 1858, there were enough Congregational churches in northern Indiana to form and support the Upper Wabash Valley Association. (Rudolph: 189)

The years following the Civil War were more fruitful for the Congregationalists of Indiana. The Presbyterians had withdrawn from the AHMS in 1861, leaving the Congregationalists in control. In 1867, the society appointed Nathaniel A. Hyde to be superintendent of missions for the state. For the next five years Hyde worked diligently, strengthening the Congregational presence in Indiana. The results of his work were evident in the increase in the number of Congregational churches from 19 in 1861 to 55 by 1906. The most influential of the congregations in the late 19th century was Plymouth Church founded in Indianapolis in 1857. It struggled until Hyde came to the state to serve as its pastor. By 1867, the year Hyde became director of missions; the church was able to build a 500-seat sanctuary in downtown Indianapolis. Plymouth grew to prominence under the leadership of Rev. Oscar McCulloch, a liberal thinker whose social ministry made the congregation a leader in the city. McCullough was nationally known as a leader in matters of social justice and was a strong advocate of labor rights. Congregationalists were also at the heart of the national youth movement, Christian Endeavor. The first Endeavor group in Indianapolis was organized at Mayflower Church, and by 1895 there were 35 societies in Congregational churches statewide. So, to the new unified church of the 20th century, the Congregationalists brought a 19th century tradition of active benevolence and social justice. (Encyclopedia 1120; Rudolph 189-191)

The second denomination with 19th century Hoosier roots was the Christian Church. This faith brought together the teachings of Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone. In its formative stages throughout the 1830s, this grassroots denomination grew from separate religious traditions and quickly grew into a major Protestant denomination. A liberal theology promoted a Scripture based faith as well as the end of divisive creeds and doctrines. The Christian Church or Disciples of Christ was one of the first "unity" movements found in America. Although most 21st century Christian Church members see themselves as part of Alexander Campbell's reformation movement, there were at least four groups calling themselves Christians in Indiana before Campbell's followers ever brought his message to the state. These groups, along with Campbell's followers, wanted to restore the church to its early form, without denominational name or dogma. They desired a faith based on Scripture alone. (Conner: 41; Rudolph: 61)

New Light Christians, probably the largest of the pre-Campbellite Christian groups, grew from a movement that originated in 1790s New England. Followers of Baptist minister Abner Jones chose to name themselves Christians to stress their non-denominational stance. The Bible was their only doctrine. At the beginning of the 19th century, in far-western regions of the country, Presbyterian minister Barton Stone was watching with great interest the revivals of the Second Great Awakening. In 1801 Stone participated in the great Cane Ridge Camp meeting near Lexington, Kentucky, and from that moment on looked to reform the Presbyterian faith by renouncing the doctrine of predestination and turning instead to a doctrine of salvation by repentance. Although Stone did not initiate the New Light Movement in the West, it is with Stone that it is most often associated. The Kentucky minister's views on religion were widely distributed through his newspaper, The Christian Messenger. The newspaper quickly became the mouthpiece for all Christians in the West. During the 1820s Christian groups in Indiana invited Stone to preach and he traveled to the state several times. In 1839, old and nearly deaf, he was honored at the state's first convention of the Christian Church in Indianapolis. It was this respect and devotion to Stone that aided in the merger of the New Lights with the followers of Alexander Campbell, who was the brilliant son of a Scots Presbyterian minister. Both father and son Campbell had immigrated to America and began preaching anti-denominationalism. Alexander began publishing a newspaper that spread the view of father and son throughout the west. Hoosiers, strong-willed, fiercely democratic and independent, were especially receptive to Campbell's message. By 1832, Campbell and Stone had merged their two groups. They called themselves alternately Disciples of Christ, Christians, and occasionally Brethren. In 1839 the Christians of Indiana came together in convention. The meeting identified more than 100 churches and 7,000 members of the fledgling faith.

Throughout the 19th century Christians proved to be active in all manners of benevolent activities. Strongly in favor of mission, the church worked tirelessly in the West in the area of Native American mission work. The work of women and young people brought a new vibrancy and vitality to the Christian Church and Hoosier Christians were at the center of the work. Marcia Bassett Goodwin organized the Christian Women's Board of Missions in Indianapolis in 1874. Zerelda Wallace, widow of Indiana Governor David Wallace, led the Women's Christian Temperance movement in the state as well as serving as the organization's national president. The Sunday School movement became especially strong within the church and, in 1872, the Christian Churches statewide claimed 550 Sunday Schools with more than 65,000 scholars. All of these movements served to divide the more conservative element of the faith. These members felt that large organizations were symptomatic of denominationalism. These congregations became increasingly unhappy and the issues became more divisive. Even music and the use of instruments became a flash point issue again. By 1906 the division was complete with the conservative element becoming the Church of Christ and the progressives continuing through the 20th century as the Christian Church/ Disciples of Christ. Part of this new church merged with the Congregationalist Church in 1931 to become the Congregationalist Christian Church. (Encyclopedia: 1366; Rudolph: 105-106)

The other half of the UCC was formed from 2 groups with decidedly German roots, in Indiana at least. The Reformed faith had its beginnings in Europe with Calvin, Zwingli and Knox. In the United States the faith was centered in Pennsylvania. The faithful counted Scriptures as the ultimate authority and the Heidelberg Catechism as the statement of faith. In Germany the Reformed faith and Lutheranism were closely aligned, a fact that would have repercussions for the German Reformed congregations in Indiana. (Rudolph: 173)

In America, the Germans of Reformed beliefs struggled to maintain their faith. Short of clergy and cash, the more prosperous Synods of Holland, Dutch Reformed agreed to take the German Reformed congregations under their care. Dutch minister, Michael Schlatter traveled through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia gathering German settlers into Reformed congregations. The numbers of German clergy increased and by 1825, there were 13 Reformed ministers traveling and ministering west of the Alleghenies. By 1837, a Classis of the West had been formed containing Indiana and Illinois. The state's German Reformed population was concentrated in the Ft. Wayne area where there had been considerable German settlement in the 1830s. Because the faith suffered once again from a lack of funds and clergy, the settlers simply joined Lutheran churches. This went well until Lutheran pastor Friedrich Konrad Dietrich Wyneken returned to Ft. Wayne from a protracted visit to Germany. A strict Lutheran, Wyneken proceeded to purge all the Ft. Wayne Lutheran congregations of their Reformed membership. The displaced Germans received aid from Presbyterians and founded new Reformed congregations that grew in such numbers that St. John's German Reformed congregation was even able to build a school. The German Reformed membership was never large and congregations were concentrated in areas of German settlement in the northeastern portion of the state, especially around Ft. Wayne. The English-speaking segment of the church was concentrated in the southern half of the state. (Rudolph: 176)

The final denomination that was part of the UCC merger was that of the Evangelical Synod of North America. This denomination grew from the great German migration to Illinois and Missouri in the 1830s and 1840s. These immigrants originated in Prussia where they, by order of the King of Prussia, had joined with Lutherans to form a united church called the Evangelical or Union Church. Arriving in the United States, the new immigrants managed to stay independent from the German Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregationalists faiths with whom they shared a reformed doctrine as well as the Lutherans and Episcopalians who shared their liturgical form of worship. These German immigrants were committed to the retention of their German language, worship and traditions. They were able to establish their faith in the US through much financial aid from German Foreign Mission Societies and an abundance of German theology students! These eager young men arrived in the US to minister to the new German immigrants in the west. (Rudolph: 180-181)

The American Home Missionary Society, a mission effort of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches, also aided the Evangelicals who settled in Indiana. The Evangelical Society, founded in St. Louis in 1840, applied to the AHMS for young missionaries and in 1846, one Henry Toelke was sent to Indiana. Toelke was a seminary graduate from Lippe, sent to America by a German Evangelical foreign mission society. After working with an AHMS minister in Pennsylvania for two years Toelke applied to the Evangelical Society for a license to preach. Upon receiving his license, the AHMS sent Pastor Toelke to Evansville to begin working on his own. There, and in surrounding Vanderburgh and Posey Counties, Toelke began a five-year ministry to the Evangelical Germans of southwestern Indiana. He returned to Lippe several times to lead German Evangelical immigrants back to Vanderburgh County. With these newly imported members, Toelke founded churches throughout southwestern Indiana.

These congregations worshipped in both English and German, but they maintained that confirmation classes must be taught in German to ensure that the language and traditions would not be lost in the new generation. Some congregations were also committed to parochial education and built fine schools. By the end of the Civil War, the Indiana district of the German Evangelical Synod of the West had 34 congregations when sixteen years earlier there had been only six. The denomination continued to grow in southwestern Indiana and by 1906 the religious census reported 91 Evangelical congregations, with the greatest

concentration in the southwestern corner of the state. (Rudolph: 182-184)

The Evangelical tradition places an emphasis of benevolence and several institutions in Indiana bear witness to this tradition. The members of Zion Evangelical Church in Indianapolis founded the German Home for the Aged (Deutsches Altenheim von Indianapolis) in 1909. They were primarily interested in providing shelter and care for childless widows and single women in their community. Another benevolent institution founded by the Evangelical Congregations of Indianapolis was the Pleasant Run Children's Home, originally named the German General Protestant Children's Home. The original purpose of the home was to shelter orphans of Civil War veterans and was one of the oldest such orphans' homes in the United States. (Encyclopedia: 251, 1119)

In 1934 The German Evangelical Church and the Reformed Church merged to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. This new denomination had a decidedly German face in the state of Indiana and continued to grow within the Indiana. When the merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed was accomplished in 1957, it was the strength of the German church that gave it such a strong presence in Indiana. The 1990 census ranked the UCC as the 11the largest in the state's 89 denominations.

Cauble, Commodore Wesley. Disciples of Christ in Indiana. Indianapolis: Meigs Publishing Company, n.d.

Conner Prairie. Camp Meeting Training Packet. 1995.

Hovey, Edmund Otis. Letter, 1831-1832. Unpublished.

Rudolph L.C. Hoosier Faiths. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994.

Shaw, Henry K. Hoosier Disciples. Indianapolis: Bethany Press, 1966.