Abbreviation UCCJ | Phone +81 3-3202-0541 | |
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Associations World Council of ChurchesChristian Conference of AsiaNational Council of Churches in Japan Region JapanEleven other countries Origin 24 June 1941Fujimicho Church Merger of Thirty-three denominations Separations Anglican Church in JapanJapan Assemblies of GodJapan Baptist ConventionJapan Holiness ChurchJapan Lutheran ChurchReformed Church in JapanThe Salvation ArmyNihon Kirisuto KyokaiNumerous evangelical churches Address 2 Chome-3-18 Nishiwaseda, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-0051, Japan Similar Nihondo Kyodan Setagaya, Nihonkiri Kyodan Daimiya, 日本基督教団田園調布教会, 日本基督教団西東京教区事務所, 日本同盟基督教団教団事務所 Profiles | ||
The United Church of Christ in Japan (UCCJ; Japanese: 日本キリスト教団 Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan, or Kyōdan for short) is the largest Protestant denomination in Japan. It is a union of thirty-three diverse Protestant denominations forcibly merged by the Japanese wartime government on June 24, 1941. The UCCJ, which is a Japanese Independent Church, is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
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Currently, the church has some about 200,000 members and 1,725 congregations served by 2,189 pastors.
Second World War
Upon promulgation of the Religious Organizations Law that forced the merger of all the Protestant churches in Japan to unite, a declaration of church unity was made at a mass meeting of Christians from all parts of Japan on October 17, 1940. The Kyōdan was established at a Founding General Assembly held at the Fujimicho Church (founded by Uemura Masahisa) on 24–25 June 1941.
After 1945
With the establishment of religious freedom by the Allied Occupation Forces in 1946, many groups left the Kyōdan to reestablish their prewar denominational identities. The most significant departures were the Anglican Church in Japan, the Japan Lutheran Church, Japan Baptist Convention, Japan Holiness Church, Japan Assemblies of God, Reformed Church in Japan plus numerous smaller evangelical churches.
After the 1970s
The controversy had both theological and non-theological roots, some tending back into an earlier period. The union's wartime origin and the church's self-acknowledged complicity in the war were called into question. While the 1954 Confession of Faith, a doctrinal statement, clarified the postwar church's identity, many cite the 1967 Confession of Responsibility During World War II as recovering the church's integrity, by openly dealing with the church's wartime role.
Twenty-six UCCJ missionaries now serve in eleven overseas lands in a variety of ministries, a heritage begun when the first postwar missionary was sent to Brazil in 1957.
United Church of Christ in Japan permits openly gay and lesbian pastors to act as ministers.