Local church members covenant together to be a faithful community in a particular place, and at the same time each congregation relates to the wider church family (denomination) through voluntary covenants. At First Church congregational meetings are held three times a year and all major decisions are voted on by the membership.  In between congregational meetings, a Church Council, chaired by an elected moderator (lay or clergy) and representatives from various Commissions handle all interim decisions.

In the UCC local congregations own their own property, raise their own budgets, call their own ministers and uphold the principle of local autonomy.  However, “autonomy” is freedom for, not merely freedom from personal responsibility.  It is freedom to listen, evaluate, decide and act for oneself.  It is never freedom from accountability.  People often say that the “UCC is a covenanted relationship of autonomous units of church life delineated but not regulated by a constitution and bylaws.”