Worship is on Sundays at 11 a.m.—ALL are welcome!
We are overjoyed once again to be holding in-person worship services in our sanctuary. To continue to do our part in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, we are practicing the following health protocols for our worship services: we ask for social distancing to be observed, with face masks optional.
We have 18 months of our online worship services archived on our Events & Calendar Page on this website, as well as on our Facebook page. Please check out our YouTube channel for videos of our previous worship services and special events:
Union Church of Bay Ridge - YouTube
Our Mission
Dedicated to the Teachings of Jesus
Dedicated to the teachings of Jesus, Union Church is an open, accepting community where all people can find belonging, fellowship, and support.
Joy in Service
We believe that service is a joy. Jesus Christ calls us to love our neighbors, enacting faith through service. We believe this service is joyful and done by:
*Working for peace and justice;
*Supporting the needs of individuals in our church, our community, and the world;
*Celebrating peoples of all ages and abilities in the life of the church and equipping them for service in our world; and
*Sharing of our financial stewardship, resources and time with neighbors in need.
Diverse and Creative
We are a warm and diverse congregation who find inspiration in worship through music, art and the creative gifts that are in each of us.
Statement of Faith on Racial Justice in the U.S.
The Session of the Union Church of Bay Ridge, June 2020
The Session of the Union Church of Bay Ridge [Presbyterian Church(USA)] believes that, in regard to racial justice
in our nation, we may be in what Christian tradition calls a “Kairos” moment (Mark 1:15), understood as a moment of fulfillment in which God acts in history. In keeping with our congregation’s long history through the past century of speaking the truth of Gospel justice to the earthly powers that be, we proclaim and affirm the following:
The United States is a pillar in the history of nations on account of our expressed foundational commitments to
the Creator-endowed, unalienable rights of humankind to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the equal protection of our citizens within a Constitutional democracy. However, we exist as a contradiction that continually must be confronted, for those expressed commitments were made while a brutal, inhumane, mass enslavement of Africans
was being carried out in our land that was the cornerstone of building the U.S. economy, along with a mass genocide perpetrated against the indigenous peoples of color from whom our lands were taken. From our beginnings, justice, freedom, and the very notion of equal rights, were betrayed by the demons of white racism and supremacy. The result has been a 400-year legacy of constantly shifting injustices and pain visited on people of color, who miraculously continue to persevere and rise nevertheless.
In faithfulness to God in Jesus Christ, we lift this original sin of our nation to God for mercy and forgiveness, including the ways it has affected the Christian Church and our own PC (USA). We commit ourselves to own and repent of our participation in these injustices, and call upon all who have benefited from them to do the same.
We recognize that the one who, in the words of theologian Howard Thurman, “stands with his back against the
wall,” will inevitably find the means to resist that situation, usually, as Malcolm X predicted, by any means necessary.
Because progress toward justice in our nation has been so incremental, with small advances followed always by setbacks, people of color and particularly those in African American communities, inevitably have reached boiling points of outrage. We find ourselves in one of those times.
We believe, then, that the current uprising of persistent protest, demonstration, and civic unrest against the
injustice of disproportionate mistreatment, violence and death experienced by communities of color, particularly African American communities, at the hands of law enforcement and white fellow citizens, is inevitable and understandable. We are horrified at the tragic murders that precipitated this current expression of outrage, and lift their names to our God: Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others unjustly killed.
Before God in Jesus Christ, we therefore affirm that Black Lives Matter, and we condemn as sin white racism and supremacy, and all forms of bigotry and hate. We condemn the violent and unjust policies and practices of law enforcement and policing amongst communities of color, express our solidarity with people of color in demonstrations and protests in the U.S. seeking to reform them, and call upon civic authorities in the U.S. to implement those reforms.
We moreover are outraged and appalled at the incidences of anti-Asian racism, hate, and violence perpetrated against various Asian communities that we have seen in the U.S. in recent months. We condemn this bigotry as sinful, and stand in solidarity with Asian fellow citizens.
We Presbyterians are a Reformed, Protestant Christian people who by virtue of those titles affirm the right and need for protest and reform. We are a Biblically-inspired people who trust in the truth of the apostle Paul from 2 Corinthians 13, in the order in which he rendered it: “Put things in order…agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” Order must come first; only then will the rest follow. It is our affirmation and hope that in this moment in history, God is establishing divine order, and we trust that, “in all things God works for the good of those who
love him” (Romans 8:11). May the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you
all.
Union Church is a member of Parity (formerly Presbyterian Welcome)
Parity works for the full participation of individuals in contexts of faith, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. As followers of Christ, convinced by Scripture, we labor for a world where all persons might live into the calling that God has placed in their hearts. We are a resource, training current and future leaders of church and society. Parity is based in New York City and supported by member congregations and individuals.
Union Church is a member congregation of the Presbytery of New York City
http://www.nycpresbytery.org/