NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE OR WHERE YOU ARE ON LIFE'S JOURNEY, YOU ARE INVITED AND WELCOME
NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE OR WHERE YOU ARE ON LIFE'S JOURNEY, YOU ARE INVITED AND WELCOME
In a world where Christianity is too often associated with intolerance, exclusion, and hate, the mission of United Church on the Green is to proclaim Christ through faith, hope, and love. We are a community of many races, ethnic backgrounds, religious experiences, ages, sexual orientations, and gender identities. No matter where you are on your journey of faith, you will have a home here at United Church on the Green.
Come join us for Worship!
What to learn more about who we are? Check out this recent article about Queerness and Christianity that features United Church on the Green.
We will say it again: No matter where you are on your journey of faith, you will have a home here at United Church on the Green.
WELCOME REVEREND DOCTOR STEPHEN G. RAY JR
Rev. Dr. Stephen G. Ray, Jr., has accepted the call to be the 29th Senior Minister of United Church on the Green in New Haven. The congregation enthusiastically and unanimously voted to affirm this call at a special congregational meeting on April 16. He will be joining us after a distinguished career in theological education that included several faculty appointments and the presidencies of Chicago Theological Seminary (a seminary related to the United Church of Christ) and the Society for the Study of Black Religion. A prolific author, Ray has published several books and articles.
An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, Ray has served as the pastor of Imani Fellowship Community Church (UCC) in Hartford, The Black Church at Yale in New Haven, Plymouth Congregational Church (UCC) in Louisville, Kentucky, and as assistant minister at Faith Congregational Church in Hartford, CT.
Prior to taking the leadership role at CTS, Dr. Ray had previously held teaching appointments at several theological seminaries around the nation. He held the Neal F. and Ila A. Fisher Chair of Theology and is Professor of Systematic Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. In addition, he is a past President of the Society for the Study of Black Religion. After his retirement from Chicago Theological Seminary, he was selected to be the Crump Visiting Professor and Black Religious Scholars Group Scholar-in-Residence for the 2022-2023 academic year at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. He has served as a lecturer at Yale Divinity School and the Hartford Seminary.
Dr. Ray is the author of several works including: A Struggle from the Start: The Black Community of Hartford, 1639-1960 and Do No Harm: Social Sin and Christian Responsibility.
He received his Ph.D. in Theology and African-American Studies from Yale University, M.Div. (summa cum laude) from the Yale Divinity School, B.S. from Charter Oak State College, and a Certificate from the Hartford Seminary Black Ministries Certificate Program.
The Congregation is delighted to have such an outstanding pastor, theologian, and educator join us as our next Senior Minister. He is passionate about social justice, committed to welcoming all people, and attentive to the needs of parishioners. Both the United Church on the Green, which grew out of a split in the original church of the New Haven Colony in 1742, and its parent denomination, the United Church of Christ, are known for progressive theology and concern for social justice. The congregation anticipates that Dr. Ray will provide the leadership we need to be effective in standing for justice, peace, and compassion, and building a society that reflects God’s unconditional love for every person. We are delighted to welcome Stephen and his wife Susan as members of our community and look forward to the future we will build together.