Evangelical UCC congregation leaves denomination
The Presbyterian Layman, December 10, 1998
St. Paul’s Evangelical Church of Creve Coeur, Missouri, formerly St. Paul’s UCC, will leave the United Church of Christ to become become affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America and associate with the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregational Christian Churches.
“This is an especially painful loss for all who have been involved in the renewal movements of the UCC and will send a strong signal to many churches struggling with the schismatic issues dividing the UCC,” according to a statement by Biblical Witness Fellowship, a renewal group in the UCC.
“St. Paul’s has been in many ways the ‘mother’ church of Biblical Witness Fellowship, hosting BWF’s last national convocation, providing hospitality for numerous national board meetings and providing generous support, particularly for BWF related mission efforts. For the last two years the Spiritual Life Council at St. Paul’s has been the evaluating body for BWF scholarship applicants,” the statement said.
St. Paul’s pastor, Mark Friz, a BWF national board member, is a fourth generation pastor in a large extended family of ordained clergy that has provided leadership for Evangelical and Reformed, and subsequently UCC churches throughout the St. Louis area over the last century.