The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 it had approximately 44,000 members in around 1,250 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Congregationalism is a Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. These principles are enshrined in the Cambridge Platform (1648) and the Savoy Declaration (1658), Congregationalist confessions of faith. The Congregationalist Churches are a continuity of the theological tradition upheld by the Puritans. Their genesis was through the work of Congregationalist divines Robert Browne, Henry Barrowe, and John Greenwood.
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran traditions, and with approximately 4,600 churches and 712,000 members. The UCC is a historical continuation of the General Council of Congregational Christian churches founded under the influence of New England Puritanism. Moreover, it also subsumed the third largest Calvinist group in the country, the German Reformed. Notably, its modern members' theological and socio-political stances are often very different from those of its predecessors.
Wheaton College is a private Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad and graduated one of Illinois' first black college graduates.
Concordia Theological Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It offers professional, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees affiliated with training clergy and deaconesses for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).
Harold John Ockenga was a leading figure of mid-20th-century American Evangelicalism, part of the reform movement known as "Neo-Evangelicalism". A Congregational minister, Ockenga served for many years as pastor of Park Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a prolific author on biblical, theological, and devotional topics. Ockenga helped to found the Fuller Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, as well as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).
Reuben Archer Torrey was an American evangelist, Congregational pastor, educator, and writer. He aligned with Keswick theology.
IFCA International, formerly the Independent Fundamental Churches of America, is an association of independent Protestant congregations and other church bodies, as well as individual members. It was formed in 1930 in Cicero, Illinois as a successor to the American Conference of Undenominational Churches. The association's name was adopted in 1996.
The Peoples Church of East Lansing is an interdenominational Protestant congregation located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan. It is officially a member of the American Baptist Churches USA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. The congregation's membership currently numbers around 1,300.
Jennings Ligon Duncan III is an American Presbyterian scholar and pastor. He is Chancellor of Reformed Theological Seminary.
The Moody Church is a historic evangelical Christian church in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
Jonathan Blanchard was an American pastor, educator, social reformer, and abolitionist. Born in Vermont, Blanchard attended Middlebury College before accepting a teaching position in New York. In 1834, he left to study at Andover Theological Seminary, but departed in 1836 after the college rejected agents from the American Anti-Slavery Society. Blanchard joined the group as one of Theodore Dwight Weld's "seventy" and preached in favor of abolition in southern Pennsylvania.
Charles A. Blanchard was the second president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He succeeded his father, Jonathan Blanchard, to the office in 1882 and served Wheaton in that capacity until his death, in 1925. He also served for two years as senior pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago.
R. Kent Hughes is the former senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, United States. Hughes is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Disciplines of a Godly Man. He is also editor and contributor for the projected 50-volume Preaching the Word series, including Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, which received the ECPA Gold Medallion Book Award for best commentary in 1990. Hughes served as senior pastor of College Church for 27 years and retired at the end of 2006. He moved to Wheaton from California, where he pastored two churches. He holds a BA from Whittier College, an M.Div. from Talbot School of Theology, a D.Min. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a DD from Biola University. He lives in Pennsylvania state with his wife, Barbara, and he is the father of 4, grandfather of 26 and great grandfather of 14.
Edward Breathitte Sellers is the first known college graduate of color of Wheaton College and one of the first African American graduates in the state of Illinois.
The Naperville Historic District is a set of 613 buildings in Naperville, Illinois. Of these 613 buildings, 544 contribute to the historical integrity of the area. The district represents the town as it was originally platted and a few early additions.
James Oliver Buswell, Jr. was a Presbyterian theologian, educator and institution builder.
Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. is the former and founding Pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He now serves as President of Renewal Ministries and as Canon Theologian and Deacon in the Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast of the Anglican Church in North America.
M. Craig Barnes is an American Presbyterian minister and professor who served as president of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Robert Gibson Rayburn was an American pastor and college president.
