When 14 of Bainbridge Island’s founding citizens – the sort of folks for whom streets are named – decided in 1882 to form a church, they placed practicality ahead of a likely unattainable view of perfection.

“The citizens of Eagle Harbor” decided that “the congregational form of church government was the least objectionable,” according to minutes of their early meetings.

And after 120 years, the Eagle Harbor Congregational Church still reflects the spirit of accommodation that motivated the Grows, Finches and Parfitts.

“We’re independent minded, which can be a blessing and a curse,” said Rev. Dee Eisenhauer. “It’s great that people have their own ideas about faith and how things should be done.”

The founders met first in the island’s schoolhouse under the leadership of pastor John Damon, who rode circuit throughout Kitsap County. When one of them donated a parcel of land on the southwest corner of Madison Avenue and Winslow Way, the congregation built a parsonage for $600, then a church for $1,050.

The picture-postcard building was opened in 1896, making it easily the oldest continuously used house of worship on Bainbridge. It now has 200 members.

Like other congregations within the United Church of Christ, Eagle Harbor hasn’t done away entirely with ritual – communion is celebrated once a month. But unlike Roman Catholicism and some Protestant denominations, liturgy is secondary to preaching and teaching.

“The focus is on the pulpit, not the alter,” Eisenhauer said.

Preaching is Eisenhauer’s strong suit, members say.

“I’ve never been much of a joiner, but I came for the sermons,” parishioner Bob Burkholder said. “I respect her. She bases her sermons in scripture, but they’re relevant.”

On a recent Sunday, Eisenhauer based her sermon on the New Testament story of Jesus walking across the surface of the water during a storm – calling the apostle Peter to come to him, then rescuing Peter when he became afraid and began to sink.

“It’s no accident that we refer to anxiety as a ‘sinking feeling,’” Eisenhauer said. “Peter was doing great when he focused on Christ, and was willing to try to get over his head.

“It’s time to unload our anxieties about getting in over our heads and say ‘where Jesus leads, I can follow.’”

Church, state

Eisenhauer, the church’s 30th pastor, brings a strong academic bent to the job.

A native of the northern Great Plains, Eisenhauer graduated in psychology from Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont., then received master’s and doctoral degrees from the Claremont School of Theology in California.

She came to Eagle Harbor after stints in Redmond and University Place.

Eisenhauer entered divinity school as a Methodist, but converted because of the greater autonomy offered in the Congregational denomination.

“My husband and I decided we wanted more freedom in determining our career path,” she said, noting that Methodist bishops control the placement of ministers, while UCC congregations hire their own pastors for as long as the arrangement is mutually agreeable.

“Average tenure for a UCC minister is roughly 10 years, Eisenhauer said. “At a certain point, your effectiveness begins to depreciate.

“You’ve said everything you have to say.”

The pastor is not the only one who has things to say at Eagle Harbor. There are book clubs, adult Bible study and what are called Quest groups – small gatherings to support one another’s “spirituality in motion,” as Eisenhauer puts it.

Thursday morning is the men’s breakfast discussion group, which started in 1988 as a four-week series of get-togethers and is still going. The rules: There is no leader, the meeting begins promptly at 7 a.m. and ends promptly at 8:20.

Recently, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee discussed issues on which he found himself opposed to the Bush Administration’s position. He found a receptive audience of about 40, which included a number of women – an unusual departure.

“It’s the high point of my week,” Burkholder said of the meetings. “I never cease to be amazed at the collective wisdom of that bunch of guys.”

The warm reception accorded to the Democratic congressman came as no surprise.

“The national church tends to have very liberal political leanings,” Eisenhauer said, “and thinks that politics are a part of the business of the church.”

The national church has taken positions on a variety of causes, from the grape boycotts of the 1970s to today’s efforts at welfare reform.

Peace is a consistent theme, and a number of the questions directed to Inslee reflected strong opposition to the prospect of war with Iraq.

“We are not uniformly pacifist,” Eisenhauer said, “but we are what we call a ‘just peace’ church.”

The congregation’s long tenure demonstrates that its appeal transcends the particular issues of the day.

“It’s comforting to think it’s been around for so long,” said longtime member and church historian Bob Johnson. “The succession of ministers has kept things together.”

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FREE RANGE FAITH

Free-range faith

When two churches – themselves both products of a fusion – joined forces in 1957 to form the United Church of Christ, some thought the merger might spark a broad ecumenical movement within American Protestantism. Indeed, the group seriously considered calling itself the “Uniting” church of Christ.

The greater coalition of churches didn’t happen on an organization level. But on an individual level, the UCC is a study in ecumenism – an amalgam of different religious outlooks.

“One pastor called us the church of free-range chickens,” said Dee Eisenhauer, pastor of the Eagle Harbor Congregational United Church of Christ.

“Very few of the people here were born into this church,” she said, “and many of them wouldn’t have dreamed of being members of the UCC.”

Becky Beemer, an 18-year member of Eagle Harbor, was raised Lutheran. To her, part of the appeal of the UCC is its respect for other churches.

“I like it because the essence of the teaching is to love one another,” she said. “It’s not ‘we’re right and you’re wrong,’ but just that there are different ways of doing things.”

The diversity within today’s UCC is a reflection of its multi-denominational roots. It was formed with the union of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

The former was in turn a fusion of the Congregational Church – a descendant of the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled in New England – and the Christian Churches, founded in the late 18th- and early 19th-century by groups disaffected with what they perceived as the rigidities of the Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian faiths.

The other two churches were both offshoots of the Lutheran Church, and were products of different waves of German immigration.

“Each group brought its distinct character to the UCC,” Eisenhauer said. “From one we get our character of autonomy and independence, from another our emphasis on education, and from another the passion for social justice.”

The UCC is sometimes confused with the Church of Christ, but there is little similarity. “The Church of Christ is much more conservative and evangelical,” Eisenhauer said. “We probably have more in common with the Unitarian Universalist Church than with any other group, in part because of similar histories and in part because of similar approaches.”

The UCC rejects binding creeds, and welcomes diverse viewpoints; it has promulgated a “statement of faith,” but one need not subscribe in all of its particulars to be accepted as a member.

“There is a wide range of thinking theologically within our church,” Eisenhauer said. “Views about Jesus range from ‘the saviour who died for our sins,’ to ‘an interesting fellow.’”

The UCC takes the Bible seriously, but not literally.

“I believe that the Bible contains the word of God, but that not every word in it is the word of God,” she said. “It makes for a complicated life as a Christian to interpret it.”

She points to the fact that the Congregational Church began ordaining woman ministers in the mid-19th century, and more recently, Eagle Harbor joined a growing number of UCC congregations in proclaiming itself “open and accepting” of homosexuals.

“In both cases, we believed that the Bible’s overriding message of love and inclusiveness was more important than the few passages to the contrary,” she said.

While the 6,700 UCC congregations in the United States are organized, there is no chain of authority. Eisenhauer describes it as “a hierarchy lying on its side,” a partnership in which the congregations communicate with one another while retaining their autonomy.

That autonomy allows local congregations to pay as much or as little attention to the national church as they wish, which allows those in more conservative areas to remain part of a politically liberal church.

“It depends on how interested local churches are in the affairs of the national church,” Eisenhauer said. “The fact that the national church speaks to but not for the local churches make it possible for the more traditional congregations to stay under the banner.”