Dear Concerned Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Several churches in North Carolina joined together immediately following Synod and issued the "Lexington Confession." We are strongly urging everyone to sign on to the "Lexington Confession" as a vital first step in coming together. We are confident that as we realize our unity in Christ on a nationwide basis the Holy Spirit will continue to lead us. 

You can sign on to the "Lexington Confession by taking a copy of the Lexington Confession to your local Church leadership and ask them to vote to support it either by Congregational meeting or by Consistory Meeting as your local Church government allows. If your Church formally supports it please notify the Southern Conference Renewal Group by August 31 or soon after. The goal is to list every UCC church across the nation that supports it on the website.  The Confession is enclosed and can also be found at:  www.southernconrenew.org  

Email your church affirmation to: Rev. John Roberts, pastor at Hedrick's Grove UCC in Lexington, NC, at jdroberts@lexcominc.net AND to Rev. Bob Thompson, pastor at Corinth UCC in Hickory, NC at pastor@crucc.org.  Please include the correct name of your church, address, telephone number and website to facilitate networking and to help people in your area find you.  You can also send the information to Rev. John Roberts, Hedrick’s Grove UCC, 3840 Allred Road, Lexington, NC  27292. 

Yours in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

Rev. David Runnion-Bareford
Executive Director,

Biblical Witness Fellowship
PO Box 102
Candia, NH 03034
1-800-494-9172
areformer@aol.com
 www.biblicalwitness.org

Hedricks Grove UCC
Lexington, NC
July 7, 2005

We, the undersigned, pastors and laity of the United Church of Christ, having reviewed reports of the actions of General Synod 25 of the United Church of Christ in Atlanta, Georgia, gather at Hedricks Grove United Church of Christ in Lexington, North Carolina to declare our confession on this seventh day of July in the year of our Lord two thousand five.

1)      We affirm the faith set forth in the Basis of Union of the United Church of Christ:   "The faith which unites us and to which we bear witness is that faith in God which the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments set forth, which the ancient Church expressed in the ecumenical creeds, to which our own spiritual fathers gave utterance in the evangelical confessions of the Reformation, which we are duty bound to express in the words of our time as God Himself gives us light. In all our expressions of that faith we seek to preserve the unity of heart and spirit with those who have gone before us as well as those who now labor with us."  We dissent with all who have abandoned or altered this faith or who believe that our covenantal unity can be renewed or sustained apart from the historic and apostolic faith contained in the Old and New Testament and in the Ecumenical Creeds and Reformation Confessions. 

2)      We affirm with General Synod 25 our "faith in Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, whose true humanity and divinity are declared in our constitution, our liturgies, our hymnals, and our ecumenical confessions."  We further affirm our belief that that the confession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is essential for Christian profession, church membership, and ecclesiastical leadership.  We dissent with all who reject the divinity, centrality, and Lordship of Jesus Christ, the teachings of Holy Scripture, the Ecumenical Creeds, and Reformation Confessions, or who re-interpret them in manners that violate the historic understanding of these Scriptures, Creeds and Confessions of the truly apostolic and catholic faith. 

3)      We affirm the overwhelming witness of Holy Scripture, church tradition, the UCC Book of Worship, and the ecumenical church that marriage is between a man and a woman.  We urge continuation and strengthening of ecclesiastical, legal, and political protection for the institution of traditional marriage.  We dissent with the action of General Synod 25 to support equal marriage rights for same sex couples. 

4)      We affirm that God is still speaking to the church and the world in our time.  We dissent with all who imply that God is asking us to abandon the teachings of Holy Scripture as affirmed by the historic and ecumenical church. 

5)      We appeal to clergy and congregations of the United Church of Christ who choose to remain in the denomination to affirm the faith set forth in the founding documents of the United Church of Christ and to remain active, vocal members of their Associations, Conferences, and the United Church of Christ as a continuing witness to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the place where God has called them.