Janet Curtis started coming to the Little River United Church of Christ 30 years ago, but she remembers very distinctly one of the first things that drew her to the church. She was bringing her children to the Annandale Co-op pre-school which is housed in the same building.
As she was walking through the building, "I saw a hall display on Martin Luther King Jr., and I thought, well, that was interesting," Curtis said.
Such displays are fairly common at the church which cultivates a progressive membership, explained Vern Arens, a Burke resident and senior pastor at the church. Little River was founded on Feb. 27, 1955 — 50 years ago — and celebrated its anniversary last weekend.
The church, Arens said, has long been known for its liberal social stance. "United Church of Christ has long been at the forefront of a lot of social issues," Arens said.
When the church was founded in 1955, its members assumed a stance of opposition to segregation. "A fledgling congregation said, ‘This is wrong as we read the gospel,’ and as it turned out, we were on the right side of history," Arens said.
The denomination, Arens said, encompasses roughly 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members nationally. They are a merging of several progressive sects, including the Congregationalists, the spiritual descendants of the pilgrims, Arens said.
Arens is only the second senior pastor at Little River, he said.
The groups merged in 1957, not long after Little River was established, out of a thirst for unity, Arens said, and a "feeling that it’s a scandal for the Church of Jesus Christ to have so many denominations."
IN RECENT TIMES, the church has continued its social drive and has declared itself to be "Open and Affirming," essentially meaning that it accepts gay and lesbian members. "In our hearts, we think in 50 years we’ll look back and see we’re right," Arens said.
"We were very impressed that the church denominated itself as open and affirming," said Bob Lingo, who has been attending Little River for over 25 years.
The church prides itself on not taking a literal view of the Bible, and of leaving much of it open to personal interpretation. "The United Church of Christ is really defined by the word 'freedom,'" Arens said. "We give people lots of freedom in terms of how they read the Bible. We have a statement of faith which is really written as a guide."
That freedom is something that members like Curtis value highly. "We have the opportunity to use our brains as well as our hearts when pursuing our faith — to be able to think analytically," she said.
"We immediately became attracted to the church because of its non-literal and progressive view of Christianity," Lingo said. "We were also attracted to the social justice bent of the church."
While the church members consider themselves to be thoughtful and critical, Curtis stressed that they also try to be open and warm to newcomers. "We’re not just a bunch of intellectual wonks," she said.
In addition to reaching out to the gay and lesbian community, the church will soon house a center to assist International students and recent immigrants in learning English. While places exist where people can learn and study English, the church hopes to open a place where they can come and practice their skills. "We see that as consistent with the legacy of this congregation reaching out to those on the margins," Arens said.
This speaks to what Arens sees as one of the major challenges the congregation currently faces. The church members are overwhelmingly white, and the congregation wants to diversify its membership. "We are trying to become a truly more multi-racial, multi-cultural community," Arens said. "I think 50 years from now, Little River will more closely resemble the people around us."