{"id":9,"date":"2010-01-14T10:13:52","date_gmt":"2010-01-14T15:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2024-03-18T12:18:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T16:18:40","slug":"about-new-union","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/main\/about-new-union\/","title":{"rendered":"About Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><em><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-793\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/favicon-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"98\" height=\"98\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/favicon-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/favicon-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/favicon-400x400.jpg 400w, http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/favicon.jpg 512w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 98px) 100vw, 98px\" \/><\/em><\/h2>\n<h2><em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Our Mission<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n<p>New Union Christian Church is affiliated with the <a href=\"http:\/\/disciples.org\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Christian Church, Disciples of Christ,<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/a> a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/disciples.org\/our-identity\/\">Click here if you&#8217;d like to learn more about Disciples of Christ identity. <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The historic and current mission of New Union Christian Church is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>to present the Gospel of Jesus with intellectual integrity appropriate for our time;<\/li>\n<li>to offer a context and place for spiritual discernment, growth in faith and hope;<\/li>\n<li>to support the ecumenical cause of unity of church and humanity; and<\/li>\n<li>to promote peace with justice in our world.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We affirm the uniqueness and worth of every person and welcome <em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">all<\/span><\/em> persons to the life, worship and community of this congregation. We extend Christian hospitality to all. Our congregation offers a traditional worship service with the weekly celebration of the Lord&#8217;s Supper combined with a reasoned and experientially based approach to Christianity.<\/p>\n<p>In a time when modern life overflows with too much busyness, New Union, with its simple beauty and pastoral setting, seeks to be a place of peace, serenity, caring community, and hope.<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><em><strong>Our Staff<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<div>\n<dl id=\"attachment_432\">\n<dt>\n<figure style=\"width: 147px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rev.-Deb-Phelps-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" title=\"Rev. Deb Phelps\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Rev.-Deb-Phelps-1-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"147\" height=\"221\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Dr. Deborah Phelps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/dt>\n<dd><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Our Ministers: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Rev. Dr. Deborah <\/strong>Phelps began serving as minister of New Union Church on September 1, 2017.\u00a0 Pastor Deb is a graduate of Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis and a former secondary school teacher with a specialty in chemistry, physics, and other sciences.\u00a0 Pastor Deb is one who challenges our members and visitors not to leave our brains at the door, and to find effective ways and creative ways to work together despite our diverse backgrounds and interests.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Deb has special interest in Disciples of Christ and Stone-Campbell history, theology of disability, reconciliation ministries, and online and video ministry.\u00a0 She is co-founder of DisciplesNet Church, an online church for persons not able to attend a physical church. \u00a0 Deb and her husband Dean moved to Versailles, Woodford County in January 2017.\u00a0 Dean is experienced Disciples of Christ pastor and is also a singer, songwriter and guitarist.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_1120\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1120\" style=\"width: 154px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1120\" src=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-23-at-5.01.54\u202fPM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"154\" height=\"175\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-23-at-5.01.54\u202fPM.png 404w, http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-23-at-5.01.54\u202fPM-132x150.png 132w, http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Screenshot-2023-12-23-at-5.01.54\u202fPM-263x300.png 263w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 154px) 100vw, 154px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1120\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Judi Ring<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Rev. Judi Ring<\/strong> began working with New Union Christian Church in the summer of 2023 after moving to Paris, Kentucky from Colorado, where she served as Associate Pastor.\u00a0 Judi graduated from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa in May 2023 and was ordained into Christian ministry shortly before moving to Kentucky.\u00a0\u00a0 Judi also has a background in public education and has taught music, English, math, and led middle school band.\u00a0 Judi is a preacher&#8217;s kid, and grew up learning the ways of the church, and practical ways of bringing the word of God into the church of today.\u00a0 Judi also brings special understanding to New Union in the heart of horse farms and horse country, as her family&#8217;s interest in horse farming brings them to our area.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Our Beginnings:<\/span><br \/><\/em><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">New Union Christian Church got its beginnings in 1834 when a group of Baptists who were members of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church (also located on Old Frankfort Pike) separated from that church in a dispute over their desire to hear an itinerant evangelist who was presenting the ideas had emerged from the Stone-Campbell movement for Christian unity, that had its genesis in the Cane Ridge (KY) revivals in 1800 and in the burgeoning Enlightenment philosophies brought to America.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For a period of about 5 years, the separated Baptists met in their homes.\u00a0 It is said that some of the wives of the men who were pursuing these new ideas were not happy about it, and so would often leave their petticoats to dry on the fire screen when the men gathered in an attempt to embarrass them and subvert their meeting!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In 1839, a brick meeting house, plain in design and simple in its architecture, was erected on a plot of land near Elkhorn Creek.\u00a0 Over the years, the church grew to its largest size with a membership of 90+ adults.\u00a0 Around 1850, the congregation delegated a number of its members to be the founding members of the Midway Christian Church, and <strong>Dr. L.L. Pinkerton, <\/strong>the pastor at that time of New Union, went with the delegation to form the new church.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The original meeting house stood until 1960 when it was determined by architects that a new roof could not be installed on the building without the walls collapsing.\u00a0 Several of the members took the responsibility of razing the old building, which had no running water, and which had only had electricity since 1952.\u00a0 They saved the old bricks and the pews, and these were utilized in the new building that was erected on the same footprint as the prior structure.\u00a0 The new building was erected and dedicated in 1963 with great faith that the church would continue to exist in the future.\u00a0 It included an undercroft with a kitchen, a nursery room for small children, \u00a0space dividers to create additional classrooms, two bathrooms (to replace the outhouse\u2014a real luxury), and a larger entryway.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The glass in the windows reproduces antique wavy glass and is faintly tinted in hues of yellow, pink, and blue.\u00a0 There are two round windows in the building, at the front, above the divided chancel, and over the entry doors.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0In the outer circle, there are 12 panes of glass representing the 12 disciples; in the inner circle there are four panes of glass, representing the four Gospels.\u00a0 The center frame of the window forms a cross.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Other than symbolism embedded in the round windows and\u00a0 a modest-sized brass cross behind the simple communion table, the building has no other religious symbols, denoting the lack of need of such symbols to mediate the sacred to the worshipers, who may find it in the fellowship, the worship, and the immediacy of nature as seen through the church\u2019s large windows.\u00a0 The communion table has center-place, suggesting that our remembrance of Jesus, the one whom we seek to follow, has primary importance in the congregation\u2019s life.<\/p><p class=\"facebook\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share.php?u=http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/main\/about-new-union\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-facebook-plugin\/facebook_share_icon.gif\" alt=\"Share on Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share.php?u=http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/main\/about-new-union\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Facebook\">Share on Facebook<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Mission New Union Christian Church is affiliated with the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ,\u00a0 a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world.\u00a0 Click here if you&#8217;d like to learn more about Disciples of Christ identity. The historic and current<\/p>\n<p class=\"facebook\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share.php?u=http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/main\/about-new-union\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-content\/plugins\/add-to-facebook-plugin\/facebook_share_icon.gif\" alt=\"Share on Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share.php?u=http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/main\/about-new-union\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share on Facebook\">Share on Facebook<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1148,"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions\/1148"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newunionchristianchurch.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}