‘Home for me now’: UCC celebrates its new and renewing churches, CASA Grant Awardees

Until this year, Alaska had four United Church of Christ congregations. Now it has five. And the fifth one just attracted 350 young people.

That’s the word from the Rev. Va’a Alaelua, pastor of that new church, Christian Worship Center, UCC, in Anchorage. It is one of 19 congregations from around the country that took the stage in a celebration of “new and renewing” churches at the denomination’s General Synod on Saturday, July 12, in Kansas City.

Christian Worship Center joined the UCC’s Pacific Northwest Conference in April 2024. The conference ordained him in February 2025.

The congregation “is growing exponentially,” Alaelua told UCC News. Those 350 young people showed up in May 2025 at the church’s first youth gathering. And now some of them are bringing their parents to church.

People from many Christian traditions are “taking the name of our UCC literally” and joining Christian Worship Center, Alaelua said. Among them are people from Catholic, Pentecostal, Congregationalist, Methodist and even Seventh Day Adventist backgrounds.

Situated in a mostly Pacific Islander neighborhood, the church reaches out to homeless people the first Sunday of each month in a ministry it calls Northern Lights Food Share. And beyond acts of mercy, it’s also concerned about justice.

Before moving to Anchorage after living in American Samoa and other places, “I didn’t know how much injustice our community in Alaska is facing,” Alaelua said. “In just the last six months three of our youth were killed by police officers.”

One, he said, was “a young Samoan girl, 16 years old. She did not understand the culture. She had just come to Alaska. … She was holding a knife.” Police shot her as she walked back into her house. “She had mental health issues, we found out later.” In another case, a young man was shot during a traffic stop when officers thought he had a gun. In a third, drugs were involved.

“Those families are in our church now,” Alaelua said. “We are trying to help them and comfort them in their seasons of grieving.” And Christian Worship Center is taking part in local efforts toward justice in matters of police-involved violence.

When the church was looking for a denomination to join, the UCC’s welcome was unique, Alaelua said. He got emotional talking about it. “The UCC was the only one that said yes: we accept you the way you are. The UCC is home for me now.”

Other new and renewing churches celebrated July 12 were:

• All In UCC (virtual), Missouri Mid-South Conference
• Embrace UCC, North Richland Hills, Texas
• En Vivo Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Faith UCC, New Braunfels, Texas
• First Congregational Church in Bloomfield, Connecticut
• Flicker Wild Church (pop-up), Wisconsin Conference
• Genesee Area Campus Ministries, Genesee, NY
• The Giving Circle Church, Mililani, Hawaii
• Harbor Online Community, Penn West Conference
• Juniper Formation UCC (virtual), Rocky Mountain Conference
• Kailua Christian Church, UCC, Kailua, Hawaii
• Liberation UCC, Seattle
• Mosaic Community Church, UCC, Oklahoma City
• Open Table UCC, Pottstown, Pennsylvania
• Pilgrim Congregational Church, Southeast Conference
• St. Paul UCC, Corpus Christi, Tex.
• St. Paul UCC, South Central Conference
• The Table, Athens, Ga.

General Synod also celebrated recent recipients of CASA New and Rebirthing Church Grants. Through coaching and financial support, these grants help UCC-affiliated faith communities to become sustainable. They were:

• Community Congregational Church, UCC, of Benecia, California
• Open Arms UCC
• Real Inspiration Ministries UCC, Atlanta
• Ridgebury Congregational Church, UCC, Ridgebury, Connecticut
• Rise United Church of Christ, Romeo, Michigan
• One Coast UCC, Biloxi, Mississippi
• UCC Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas