The United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is a

united church A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

formed on 1 December 1965 as the "United Church of Jamaica and Grand Cayman" by bringing the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

denominations "Presbyterian Church in Jamaica" and "Congregational Union of Jamaica" together. The "

Disciples of Christ The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

" joined on 13 December 1992, at which time the current name was adopted.

Background

In 1800 when the Scottish Missionary Society established the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

denomination in Jamaica. In 1848 the first Synod was held. Congregational churches were formed by the assistance of the London Missionary Society from 1834. Later the Colonial Missionary Society take over the

congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

work. The Congregational Union of Jamaica was formed in 1877. The

(United States) started mission in 1839. Between 1870 and 1950 over 30 congregations were established. It became independent in the 1950s. Since the United Church was established, it has represented a strong presence of the

Reformed faith Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...

in Jamaica.

Interchurch organisations

It is affiliated with the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

,www.wcrc.ch/node/164
the Council for World Mission and the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

Statistics

It is governed by a council called the Synod. It has a head called a Moderator whose duty is to give pastoral oversight of the ministers within the denomination . The United Church is divided into 4 Regional Mission Councils, and had approximately 60,000 members in 204 congregations served by 86 pastors in 2006.

External links

Official website

Cayman Islands Regional Mission Council

References

United and uniting churches Protestantism in Jamaica Presbyterian denominations in the Caribbean Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches

Members of the World Council of Churches Christian denominations in the Caribbean Christianity in the Cayman Islands Reformed denominations in the Caribbean {{Christian-denomination-stub

Background

Interchurch organisations

Statistics

See also

External links

References