Community churches have existed in the United States since the early nineteenth century. Small communities did not always have the population or finances to sustain churches of all denominational types, so community leaders would cross denominational lines and pool their resources to support a single church. A fictional example might be the Walnut Grove church in the Little House on the Prairie television show. By the early twentieth century, with the ecumenical movement in full swing, community churches were ready to cut formal ties with denominations and to demonstrate Christian unity through diversity. Community churches began to understand themselves as post-protestant and postdenominational.
The origins of the movement
Community Church Workers
One of the first organized efforts to unite the community churches of America began in the early 1920s. Orvis Jordan of Park Ridge Community Church became the secretary of the Community Church Workers of the United States (CCW-US) and its first newsletter editor. Jordan was later named the group's first president.
The CCW was the forerunner of the white community church group that merged with a similar African-American group in 1950 to form the International Council of Community Churches (ICCC). Peoples' Church of Chicago, First Community Church of Columbus, Ohio, and St. Paul Community Church of Shorewood, Illinois joined the Park Ridge church and other churches in this effort. The International Council of Community Churches (ICC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in Frankfort, Illinois. ...
The movement today
Today the ICCC flourishes as a model of living ecumenism: it is a member of the WCC, the NCC, and the Council on Church Union.
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