A Welcome from the Pastor

On behalf of all the members of the Lynnhaven Colony Congregational Church, I invite you to share our Vision 2000, adopted in 2000:

“Lynnhaven Colony Congregational Church is committed to promote and use our spiritual, physical, and financial assets to become a community center for spiritual growth and social outreach by providing activities appropriate to our members and the wider community.”

With a broad representation of ages and religious backgrounds, we have a wide spectrum of interests and abilities represented in our congregation. This helps newer members feel “at home” easily, and give us the ability to minister to a wide variety of persons. This is a wonderful, spiritually alive community of faith.

I welcome you to learn more as a participant. I am delighted with the friendliness, openness and enthusiasm of the members, and with the level of activity in fellowship and mission. I expect that you will be delighted too.

Blessings, 

Valerie Coe Lowder

ONA Statement

(adopted September 30, 2007)

Lynnhaven Colony Congregational Church, United Church of Christ believes that, although we are many members, we are one body in Christ. As such, we are called to love one another, to do justice, to offer freedom from oppression and to walk humbly with our God. We are an open and affirming church, embracing diversity and affirming the dignity and worth of every person created in the image of God. We welcome into full membership and participation in the Body of Christ persons of every race, language, age, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, mental ability, socio-economic status, marital status, and faith background. We welcome all people as they are, without reservation, to share in the full life, leadership, ministry and fellowship, worship, sacraments, responsibilities and blessings of participation in our congregation.

OUR COVENANT

(adopted January 28, 2001)

“We join together with God and one another as a community of faith for the purposes of worshipping God, encouraging spiritual growth, furthering our understanding of God’s message, interacting with others as loving human beings with Christ as our guide, and welcoming others into our church family.

“The ideals we hold most dear are expressed in the two greatest commandments identified by Jesus: to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. By formally joining the church, we make a covenant to support the church with our participation, financial resources, and attendance. Each member shall have the right to follow the word of God according to the dictates of his own conscience under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. As we share this commitment, our church will thrive, our ideals will be perpetuated, and God will be glorified.”

Our History

In  April of 1956, concerned citizens of the Great Neck area met to discuss the need for a community church to serve the then developing neighborhood. Shore Drive was a two-lane highway, the Long Creek bridge was a one-lane wooden drawbridge, Bay Island and Cape Henry Shores were marshlands, and Cape Story By-The-Sea was beginning to develop residential sites.

  At the meeting, two-thirds of the money needed to build this community church was given in cash.  By November of that year, the construction was complete.  The congregation was composed of persons from varying religious backgrounds.  The fifty charter members selected the Congregational Christian Church as their denominational affiliation.  The church later became part of the United Church of Christ.

  In 1958 a Sunday School wing was added to the sanctuary.  A larger sanctuary was built in 1963.  The old sanctuary became the fellowship hall.

  In 1991 the fellowship hall was expanded and refurbished.  A nursery and classrooms were added to meet the growing needs of the congregation.

  In 1993 a new ministry called the Child Development Center was developed in the fellowship hall building.  The ministry grew so much that it eventually used the whole building. Our capacity is 100 children.

   In May of 2000 a new fellowship hall was completed.

In December of 2004, the congregation called the Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder as their new pastor, building on our past with hopeful enthusiasm for the future. We believe that “God is still speaking…”

DENOMINATIONAL AFFILIATION

We are part of the United Church of Christ, a mainline liberal Protestant denomination of some 1.5 million members worldwide. The UCC accepts persons of differing theological viewpoints, and encourages dialog. We have a Statement of Faith, which is a testimony of what many of our members believe, but not a test of faith.

The United Church of Christ Statement of Faith is as follows:

We believe in you, O God, Eternal Spirit, God of our Savior Jesus Christ  and our God, 

and to your deeds we testify:

You call the worlds into being,

Create persons in your own image,

And set before each one 

the ways of life and death.

You seek in holy love to save all people from

Aimlessness and sin.

You judge people and nations 

by your righteous will

Declared through prophets and apostles.

In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, 

Our crucified and risen Savior,

You have come to us

And shared our common lot,

Conquering sin and death

And reconciling the world to yourself.

You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit,

Creating and renewing 

the church of Jesus Christ,

Binding in covenant faithful people 

Of all ages,

tongues, and races.

You call us into your church

To accept the cost 

               and joy of discipleship,

To be your servants in the service of others,

To proclaim the gospel to all the world

And resist the powers of evil,

To share in Christ’s baptism 

and eat at his table,

To join him in his passion and victory.

You promise to all who trust you

Forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace,

Courage in the struggle 

for justice and peace,

Your presence in trial and rejoicing,

and eternal life in your realm 

which has no end.

Blessing and honor, 

glory and power be unto you.

Amen.

This Statement of Faith, Revised 1981 (in the form of a Doxology), was affirmed by the Fourteenth General Synod of the UCC.

This following portion from the Preamble to the Constitution of the UCC is helpful in describing our relationships and our sources of authority:

“The United Church of Christ acknowledges as its sole head, Jesus Christ, Son of God and Saviour. It acknowledges as kindred in Christ all who share in this confession. It looks to the Word of God in the Scriptures, and to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, to prosper its creative and redemptive work in the world. It claims as its own the faith of the historic Church expressed in the ancient creeds and reclaimed in the basic insights of the Protestant Reformers. It affirms the responsibility of the church in each generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honest of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God. In accordance with the teaching of our Lord and the practice prevailing among evangelical Christians, it recognizes two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.”

More information about the UCC can be obtained through

HELPFUL LINKS.