Congregational UCC of Iowa City

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Congregational UCC of Iowa City

The Congregational United Church of Christ is an Open and Affirming Congregation that Welcomes All of God's Children Christ alone is Head of the church.

What We Believe

The United Church of Christ embraces a theological heritage that affirms the Bible as the authoritative witness to the Word of God, the creeds of the ecumenical councils, and the confessions of the Reformation. The UCC has roots in the "covenantal" tradition—meaning there is no centralized authority or hierarchy that can impose any doctrine or form of worship on its members. We se

ek a balance between freedom of conscience and accountability to the apostolic faith. The UCC therefore receives the historic creeds and confessions of our ancestors as testimonies, but not tests of the faith. Jesus Christ is central to who we are. We know God especially in Jesus, who lived, loved, died, rose from the dead, and is present today. Because we belong to Christ, we welcome, love, pray, and serve. Jesus didn’t turn people away, even those often rejected by others. We don’t intend to either. We are like a “company of strangers,” made family by the grace of God. God welcomes, claims, and loves all people. God also feeds our hunger, forgives our sins, and frees us from aimless wandering.

06/12/2026

The Liberal Church You've Been Looking For...

WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, June 14, at 10:15 a.m. Our guest preacher this morning is the Rev. Bruce D. Williams. A UCC clergyperson, he has spent most of his ministry working as a pastoral counselor, including 46 years with the Community Pastoral Counseling Service (CPCS). CPCS was begun in 1971 and has been housed in our building.

Bill Lovin is on sabbatical this month and will return in July.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.
The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

06/05/2026

THE LIBERAL CHURCH YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR

WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, June 7, at 10:15 a.m. We welcome the Rev. Libby Conley to our pulpit this morning. Libby is a Mennonite minister who worships with us regularly. Bill Lovin is on sabbatical this month and will return in July.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.
The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

05/30/2026

THE LIBERAL CHURCH YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR

WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, May 31, at 10:15 a.m. This morning, the the Congregational UCC Choir, conducted by Dr. Christopher Nakielski and accompanied by organist William Crouch will offer Fauré’s Requiem during our worship. This will feature an orchestra comprising area professionals, in addition to vocal soloists Marie Von Behren (soprano) and Dr. Benjamin Laur (baritone).

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.

The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

05/23/2026

THE LIBERAL CHURCH YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR...

WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, May 24, at 10:15 a.m. It is Pentecost and we mark God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. Our morning will be a spirited time together. The traditional color for Pentecost is red. We invite everyone to please consider wearing “flame colors”—red, orange, yellow—to worship on Sunday, May 24.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.

The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

Pentecost asks us: What kind of people do we need in a congregation?

Some answers might come to mind quickly: Deacons, Trustees, teachers, those who visit the sick, those who feed the hungry, people who clean and repair, musicians and singers, people who give generously. A church needs people who think clearly, feel deeply, act decisively.

You might say that a congregation needs all kinds of people, with all kinds of abilities.

And you'd be right.

Moses in the wilderness, however, seems to have a different idea about the makeup of a religious community.

SCRIPTURE LESSONS: Numbers 11:24-30; Acts 2:1-13
SERMON: “All God’s People”
The Rev. Bill Lovin preaching

ANTHEM: “Come Down, O Love Divine” David Ashley White

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

05/18/2026

We are so proud of our three confirmands Lily, Renn and Peter during this season of renewal and growth!

“Teach us to use our lives with purpose and with power
for visions of a better world and for the present hour.
To choose the way of life, reject the way of death,
until the radiant grace of God fills mind and strength and breath.
Teach us to love in truth, to give and to receive
with joyful and with open hearts, with all that we believe;
to seek another’s good, to honor what is right,
to let our will and our desire be held in holy”

Lyrics by Sylvia G. Dunstan adapted for the original hymn “Now In the Days of Our Youth” by Walter J. Mathams,

Beautiful words to describe our hopes for these three thoughtful & wonderful teens. We look forward to their continued growth and bright futures in and outside the church!

Speaking of growth, our sunflower seeds planters during earth week are officially transferred to outside the church facade in two new planters.

Watch us grow!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DYfnBgmCReV/?img_index=1&igsh=ZDZnamZrMnFqNzZ3

05/16/2026

THE LIBERAL CHURCH YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR...

WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, May 17, at 10:15 a.m.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.

The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

This weekend, the administration is sponsoring “Rededicate 250,” a “national jubilee of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving”—a very conservative, even Christian nationalist, gathering on the National Mall on Sunday. Cabinet Secretaries, the Speaker of the House, and the President will address the crowd.

Critics say the Rededicate 250 event is shaping up to promote the false idea that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and should be so today. Not that most people go along with this. About 2 in 10 U.S. adults and about one-quarter of Republicans, said the federal government should declare Christianity the official religion of the nation, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April.

As people of liberal faith, we affirm that a nation cannot follow God. A nation cannot be led by God. We are troubled by any who would impose their versions of God’s will on all people.
A nation cannot be led by God, but individuals can be responsible before God as we live their public lives.

Some want to transform Christianity into a national religion. Let’s go a little deeper and consider how Christianity transforms us.

SCRIPTURE LESSONS: Amos 9:5-8; Romans 12:2, 9-18
SERMON: “Transforming Christianity”
The Rev. Bill Lovin preaching

ANTHEM: “Blessed Is the Name of the Lord” Dale Grotenhuis

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

05/09/2026

WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, May 10, at 10:15 a.m.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.

The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

As this Easter season draws to its conclusion in two weeks on Pentecost, the story of Paul in Athens helps us as we seek to live in the light of the resurrection.

Athens—that storied center of Greek thought and culture—had declined some since the golden age of Plato and Socrates by the time Paul arrives there. But it is still, as one New Testament scholar put it, “a great university town and a symbol of the ‘high culture’ where important ideas have value and are carefully considered by the intellectually curious.”

That, of course, also sound like a description of Iowa City.

SCRIPTURE LESSONS: Isaiah 42:5-9; Acts 17:22-32
SERMON: “The Reason We Dare”
The Rev. Bill Lovin preaching

ANTHEM: “This Easter Morn” Clark Kimberling

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

05/04/2026

Check out what we are up to are up to in Sunday School & Children’s Church!
Enjoy Evelyn’s art featured as a finalist in the 2026 UCC Climate Hope Art Contest: https://youtu.be/QPryquAYiFA?feature=shared
See more on our Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DX42Q5BiUfG/?igsh=MXNndHRmcXZyMXF4cQ==

United Church of Christ

05/02/2026

THE LIBERAL CHURCH YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR
WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, April 26, at 10:15 a.m.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.

The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

They Might Be Giants released a new album a couple of weeks ago, wonderfully titled “The World Is to Dig.” And yes, they were going for a beatnik vibe with that—encouraging us, not to get out our shovels, but to, well, dig it

The World is to dig. So dig it.

But some might ask, “Hey, man. How do I dig this world?”

We’ll explore some ways this morning.

SCRIPTURE LESSONS: Genesis 2:4b-9; Colossians 3:1-4, 12-15
SERMON: “The World Is to Dig”
The Rev. Bill Lovin preaching

ANTHEM: “Cornerstone” Shawn Kirchner

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

Address

30 N Clinton Street
Iowa City, IA
52245

Telephone

+13193374301

Website

http://www.uccic.org/

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