Ecumenical leader elected to top position in UCC
UCC News Service, July 8, 1999
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Rev. John H. Thomas, 48, who has been ecumenical officer of the United Church of Christ for the last seven years, was elected general minister and president of the 1.4-million member Protestant denomination. Like General Assembly moderator in the Presbyterian Church (USA), general minister and president is the highest elected position in the UCC.
In his sermon to the UCC’s 22nd General Synod, Thomas emphasized that he was “profoundly aware that the United Church of Christ is one of the few churches in the world that can joyfully receive the gifts of faith and music from gay and lesbian people.”
Following the election, Thomas said, “I look forward to joining my colleagues in a new style of leadership in the UCC as we seek to carry forward the historic commitments of our church into the 21st century.” Asked at a press conference where he saw the UCC headed, he replied, “I think the titles of these positions signal where we want to go (and) the core of our life is in our congregations.”
The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland, has some 1.4 million members and more than 6,000 local congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.