Christ Reformed Church - Shepherdstown West Virginia

Well before the United States became an independent nation, the founders of Christ Church had established in this community a congregation served by ordained ministers of the German Reformed Church. Although the year 1747 is the date given for the founding of Christ Church, German-speaking residents of this area had gathered for Sunday worship in the tradition of the Reformed Church in the German Palatinate for some years before.

The German Reformed Church in the United States was a denomination which came into being as a result of the emigration in the early 1700s of thousands of German-speaking people, just as several Lutheran bodies were established in our nation. Both of these traditions, Reformed and Lutheran, trace their beginnings to the spiritual insights, the work, and the struggles of several religious leaders of the Sixteenth Century on the continent of Europe. The early history of the Reformed Church is filled with the influence and contributions of men whose names are among those vital to the telling of the story of the Reformation in Europe: Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, Luther, and Melanchthon.

In the earliest days of the Christ Church congregation, the local Lutheran congregation (and some historians report the Presbyterian congregation for a time as well) shared the same log building. The stone tower presently a part of our Christ church building was built as part of the earlier shared building. It was preserved and included as part of the present structure, which was erected in the early 1800s. Inscriptions on the gravestones in the adjacent churchyard attest to the early history of the congregation and its community. The graves of soldiers who served in the American War for Independence may be seen, and some of them like others nearby are inscribed in German.

Christ Church was a part of the Reformed Church in the United States almost from the very inception of that denomination in the early part of the Eighteenth Century, when its name also included the word, "German," to distinguish it from the Dutch Reformed Church. Another denomination formed in the United States by Germans emigrating here in a later era included both Lutheran and Reformed traditions in Europe. It was the Evangelical Synod of North America, and in 1934, it merged with the Reformed Church, when it was seen that these two communions shared much in heritage, beliefs, and practices. Christ Church then became Christ Evangelical and Reformed Church in Shepherdstown.

A willingness to cooperate and a desire for church unity were prominent qualities of the national leadership of the Evangelical and Reformed Church. They early found a kindred spirit among the leaders of the Congregational Christian Churches, whose beginnings on the North American continent reached back a hundred years before the founding of the German churches here.

The landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 marked the beginning of the life of this denomination in America. Its roots among the English presented a number of differences from the German background of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, but the desire for unity in Christ was strong. In 1957, faith in a future united brought the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church together. The United Church of Christ was formed, and the name of Christ Church in Shepherdstown became Christ Reformed Church, United Church of Christ.

The congregation's name now reflected a recollection of its early origin in the German Reformed Church, as well as its unity with other Christian traditions which were also part of the new United Church of Christ.

Today, the Christ Church congregation strives to make its presence in Shepherdstown reflect a characteristic of the denomination in its presence nationally: a desire to be faithful in devotion to ministry, a commitment to ecumenical endeavors, and an involvement and influence in community life by its members well beyond the proportion of its membership to the population.

The service of the congregation in its ministry within and beyond the church is reflected in its service of worship. This is expressed through an appreciation for liturgy. Not just any liturgy, but a liturgy which is true both to its Reformation heritage of a sound Scriptural doctrine applied to today's world and to a distinctive form of reverence, meaning, and beauty. This may be found in elements and orders of worship from the past and from the church at work and worship in contemporary society.

Living, learning, serving, and worshiping at Christ Church never demand a faith that requires you to leave your intellect, your reason, or your wisdom at the doorstep. But they do demand a faith and action which reach beyond these gifts for survival, so that we may live in God's love, enjoy it, and serve God by sacrificing ourselves because of that love, more than we know, more than we can understand, and more than seems wise!

Christ Reformed Church, United Church of Christ, we celebrate more than a quarter millennium of service to God in our community of Shepherdstown by continuing in that tradition, while growing in commitment more than numbers, in humility and gratitude more than prestige.

OUR ADDRESS
	CHRIST REFORMED CHURCH United Church of Christ 304 East German Street Shepherdstown, West Virginia