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Our Church
Our church is rooted in the Judeo-Christian heritage and came into being during
the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. We have no creeds to which
members must agree and affirm the 16th century statement of the Unitarian
minister Francis David, "We need not think alike to love alike." We also affirm
the Protestant notion of the "priesthood of all believers" by asserting that
final authority for religious faith should rest in the conscience and experience
of the individual. Though the congregation exhibits a wide spectrum of religious
thought, we agree that faith involves inquiry. Thus, our church exists to
institutionalize religious freedom.
The First Unitarian Church of Memphis was organized in 1893 and moved to the river bluff in 1966 where it
became known as "The Church of the River." We are a member of the Unitarian
Universalist Association, formed in 1961 by the merger of the American Unitarian
Association which was founded in 1825 and the Universalist Church of America
which was founded in 1778. We bring together the historic Unitarian affirmation
of "one God, with many ways of worship" and the Universalist belief that no
person is beyond the saving power of redemptive love.
Our Covenant
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In America, the Unitarian church is a descendent of the Puritan New England congregations. We inherited from them the principle of congregationalism. This form of church government gives autonomy to each church in the administration of its own affairs. This continues today in our various congregations with the result that they vary in style and theological emphasis.
The Puritan settlers placed authority in the local congregation by returning to the covenant theory of the New Testament. Each congregation was gathered under the authority of Jesus free from the control of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Centralized authority was rejected because the Puritans could not find its blueprint in the primitive church as described in the scriptures. A congregation was formed by establishing a covenant which described how the members agreed to walk together in mutual fellowship. These covenants were not creedal statements but expressed the way members promised to behave in relationship to one another.
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Our contemporary churches have no creeds to which members must agree. Each congregation has its own covenant, sometimes called a bond of fellowship or statement of purpose, which describes the spirit of how members are united in religious community. The covenant of the Church of the River affirms:
The purpose of this church shall be to promote the high ideals of a rational, progressive, and exalting religion, in the love of God and service to humanity, and to hold regular church services in this community. To this end, all activities of the church shall be conducted without distinction related to race, color or previous religious affiliations; and the right of private judgment and the sacredness of individual conviction shall be recognized in all things. To join our church is to walk with other members of the congregation in the spirit of our covenant.
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