Elon Community Church

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History
The Elon Community Church, United Church of Christ began its life in 1891, two years after the founding of Elon College (now Elon University), an institution dedicated to the education and nurture of the youth of the Christian Church, a denomination begun in the 1790s by James O'Kelly and other Methodists rejecting the authority of bishops. The six cardinal principles of that denomination were as follows:
	1. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Head of the Church. 2. Christian is a sufficient name for the Church. 3. The Holy Bible is a sufficient rule of faith and practice. 4. Christian Character is a sufficient test of fellowship and of church membership. 5. The right of private judgment and the liberty of conscience is a right and a privilege that should be accorded and exercised by all. 6. The purposes of this Church will be consummated in the reformation of the world and the union of all Christians.

From 1891 until 1959, the church met within buildings of Elon College. A significant proportion of the church remembers worshiping in Whitley Auditorium. Two of the congregation's ministers were also the presidents of the college. In 1959, the congregation moved off the campus of the college into the present facility. It has benefited from a mutual relationship with Elon University in a number of ways including its landscaping, snow clearance, and Parish House space. The church building is located on the West side of North Williamson Avenue, facing Elon University. Elon Community Church has historically been a part of the Christian Church. That body united with the Congregationalists in 1931 to become the Congregational Christian Church. This denomination merged with the Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1957 to become the United Church of Christ. For more information about the United Church of Christ, please visit UCC.org or God is Still Speaking web sites.