Who We Are

We invite you to be a part of a somewhat unique and growing community of Faith and to be blessed by God's Grace in our midst. Congregational Community United Church of Christ (UCC) or Sunnyvale UCC (our short name), invites you to grow with us spiritually and to find a warm welcome at God's table. We are an inclusive, vibrant, witnessing community of Faith that dares to be bold in our aim to change the world.

We are a small but diverse, culturally rich, and intriguing community. We are young and old, economically fortunate and economically struggling, White, Asian, African/African-American and Hispanic; gay and straight; we are natives and transplants from around the globe. A common misconception is that all Churchgoers are stuffy, standoffish and don't like newcomers. Not Here!

Please come and experience our friendship and wide welcome firsthand. Feel free to join us in worship, work, and fellowship - as much or as little as you'd like.

Got problems?

Who doesn't?

Facing Challenges?

Who isn't?

No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.

You see, we are Out of the Box people in an Out of the Box building.

There is no box God can't unfold and turn into a dance floor. And we know that firsthand because we are also called The Tornado Church. On May 4, 1998 a tornado severely damaged our building (A rarity in Northern California.) Because we are a people of possibility, we say, “still we rise.”

Our forebears were the first in mainline Christendom to ordain

• An African-American person (1798)

• A woman (1853)

• An openly gay man (1972)

• Affirm same-gender marriage (2005)

But just because we are progressive does not mean we are a fly by night organization. UCC forebears are the same folk who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 and have since grown to be nearly 6,000 congregations and 1.1 million members nationwide. Our forebears founded Harvard, Yale, UC Berkeley, Mills College, Oberlin, Williams, Amherst, Fisk, Talladega and many others,

In the 19th century, we moved people into Kansas to keep it a free state. In the 1950’s The UCC filed with the FCC in the historic WLBT case, demanding that segregationist TV station owners show people of color instead of blocking the signal whenever the news displeased them. We argued that the airwaves are public property -- a completely new idea, at the time. Fortunately, the US Court of Appeals ruled in our favor. As a result,  no longer could segregationist station owners omit news showing Civil Rights and African-American progress. Environmental law today, also stands on that ruling among others. Yes, regretfully our heritage also includes bad moments such as the burning of witches in the 18th c. But one of life's most important goals may be to learn to forgive yourself and others. And we're working on it!

Visiting a church for the first time can be a frightening experience. We know it can be scary walking through those big doors into a room of strangers. But once inside, the hardest part is behind you - making up your mind to visit. If you don't find our little community to be a haven of hospitality, beauty, and inspiring worship, please let us know. Like God, we believe in continuous improvement.

Come and see for yourself. We look forward to welcoming you … home!