That was well put, Bill. The only thing I'll add is a little background on the Church of God. A Reformed pastor John Wienbrenner left the Salem Reformed Congregation in Harrisburg and several years later (around 1826) began his own congregation, first calling themselves the Winebrennarian Church and then the Church of God. Marcia Fronk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Hawk" <whsaxman@philly.infi.net> To: <PACUMBER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 7:04 PM Subject: Re: [PACUMBER] Lutheran or Reformed? > Hal, > According to Fraise and Durand's "History of Cumberland County", Peace > Church near Shiremanstown was a German Reformed congregation. The COG in > Cumberland County started in Shippensburg as The "Union Christian Church" > about 1828, and changed its name to Church of God in 1834-35. I don't have a > specific ref. to the UCC church in Mechanicsburg, but the UCC of today grew > out of the German Reformed church. > > "Union" churches were built usually by a Reformed Congregation and a > Lutheran Congregation when neither of them could afford to go it alone. They > used the one building alternatly for services. As far as I can see, when > they got big enough to afford their own church, these buildings would later > end up being held by one of the congregations, and the other one would build > a new one. > > Anybody else care to chime in? > > Bill