Constitution

ARTICLE I. NAME

A. The name of this church shall be Good Shepherd United Church of Christ located in Washington Township, Lehigh County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

ARTICLE II. PURPOSE

A. The avowed purpose of this church shall be to worship God, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to celebrate the sacraments; to realize Christian fellowship and unity within this church and the Church Universal; to render loving service toward humankind; and to strive for righteousness, justice, and peace.

ARTICLE III. POLITY

A. This church shall be a part of the United Church of Christ, and it shall sustain that relationship described in those portions of the Constitution and By laws of the United Church of Christ adopted July 4, 1961 relating to local churches.

B. The government of this church is vested in its members, who exercise the right of control in all its affairs, subject, however to laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania relating to corporations not for profit or ecclesiastical corporations.

ARTICLE IV. FAITH

A. This church acknowledges as its sole head, Jesus Christ, the son of God and the Savior of humankind. It acknowledges as brothers and sisters 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 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.

ARTICLE V. COVENANT

A. We covenant one with another to seek and respond to the Word and the Will of God. We purpose to walk together in the ways of the Lord, made known and to be made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the Church to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all the world, while worshiping God, and striving for truth, justice and peace, as did our forbears, of the Realm of God, and we look with faith toward the triumph of righteousness and eternal life.