United Church of Christ

This Sunday (Jan. 30th), I visited the United Church of Christ at 825 Middlefield Drive. This church was formed in 1957 as the result of a merger between two longstanding churches in Petaluma - the Congregational Church (at 5th &B), and Grace Evangelical and Reformed Church (which met at what is now the Grace Building at 17 Keller Street).


The pastor, Blythe Sawyer, went to seminary at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. She has pastored the United Church of Christ for six years now. She is the mother of two sons, 4 year old Elan and 8 year old Isaiah. The church has about 160 members and has an average weekly attendance of around 80.

It is part of the United Church of Christ denomination, which formed when the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed denominations united in 1957. Although the name Church of Christ is often associated with the Restorationist movement associated with Thomas Campbell and Barton Stone, and though the Congregational Christian Churches do have some roots in the Restorationist movement, the United Churches of Christ through its merger, has more of Reformed tradition with influences from Lutheranism. Thus the worship service has a strong liturgical influence, something not found in most churches that flow from the Restorationist movement.