About GLO

ABOUT US

Grace UCC of Loyal Oak (GLO) embodies the ministry, message, and hope of Jesus Christ. We offer a sacred place for worship and spiritual growth. We empower people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ in order to participate in a wide range of ministries for our members, the local community, and the world.

We Are an Open and Affirming Congregation

Look around and you will see the artistry of God. Humankind is created not in monochromatic shades, but in a wildly painted canvas of many colors and hues. Diversity is God’s holy design: diversity in color, diversity in race, diversity in sexual orientation and gender expression. It is glorious. Each person is intimately known by The Creator even before birth. Every individual is sacred. Every individual is divine in design and makeup. Every person is a Temple built to display the wonder, splendor, and glory of God. As such the members and friends of GLO affirm and extend an extravagant welcome to all.

We Are an Eco-Justice Church

The earth is full of wonder. Great mountain ranges thrust up towards the heavens. Trenches in the sea reach to depths yet untouched by humankind. What beauty abounds! What mystery invites! And between the heights and depths lie vast plains and deserts, woodlands, and polar icecaps. God created all of this and pronounced it good. It is sacred. It is divine in design and makeup. Earth is a home for all living things, the wonder, splendor, and glory of God. Our congregation encourages members and friends of the church to worship God daily through sacred acts of Eco-Justice and responsibility; by reducing our carbon footprint and by living the words of our indigenous brothers and sisters, “Tread lightly upon the Earth.”

We Are a Just-Peace Church

Imagine a world! Imagine a world where Earth is thriving. Imagine a world where there is enough for every person on the planet, where diversity, culture, art, education, healthcare and resources are shared; where everyone and everything is valued in the same way God values every living thing. There would be no striving, no fear, no pain. There would be global peace. This world would be heaven on Earth as God intends it to be. The church encourages its members and friends to live every day creating peace, living peacefully, and abiding as a non-anxious presence--to be a testament to God’s peace. As the Psalmist says, “Seek Peace and pursue it.”

ABOUT OUR DENOMINATION

Grace United Church of Christ of Loyal Oak is part of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a mainline denomination formed in 1957 by the merger of two protestant churches: the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Church. We are on the liberal side of the social spectrum, though there is a wide diversity among the 5,000 local churches and 1 million members throughout the United States. The UCC serves God in the co-creation of a just and sustainable world. It is a church of firsts, a church of extravagant welcome, and a church where “…they may all be one” (John 17:21). From an early stance against slavery to the first woman ordained, first openly gay person ordained, and many more, the United Church of Christ has long been a beacon of justice in a broken world.

As a church of firsts, the UCC:

• Ordained Rev. Lemuel Haynes in 1785 - the first African American ordained in the United States

• Ordained Rev. Anointette Brown Blackwell in 1853 - the first woman ordained in the United States

• Ordained Rev. Bill Johnson in 1972 - the first openly gay man ordained in modern Christian history

• Our General Synod, the national deliberative body of the UCC, voted to support marriage equality in 2005. This was 10 years in advance of the U.S. Federal Ruling legalizing gay marriage in 2015.

Learn more about the United Church of Christ HERE