and benevolences. Merger with Congregational Christian Churches In 1957, the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined with the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches to form the UCC. The Rev. James Wagner was the last president of the denomination. Upon the union on June 25 of that year, he became, along with former Congregational Christian general minister Fred Hoskins, a co-president of the UCC. He and Hoskins held these positions until 1961, when the UCC constitution was ratified by the Evangelical and Reformed synods and the requisite percentage of CC congregations. About 40 percent of the members in the new denomination were members of the E&R Church. Organization and theology The Evangelical and Reformed Church was generally presbyterian in organization, although it allowed for a great deal of local congregational decision-making than more typical Reformed bodies such as Presbyterianism or the Reformed Church in America did. The church organized into some 30 or so regional synods, culminating in a national General Synod that met annually. The church used several creeds: the Heidelberg Catechism, Martin Luther's catechisms, and the early Lutheran Augsburg Confession; Evangelical and Reformed leaders allowed great latitude in interpretation. In the main, Evangelical and Reformed congregations emphasized piety and service rather than legalistic soteriology or orthodox dogma. Styles of worship ranged from revivalism (especially in Ohio and North Carolina) to a Lutheran-like liturgicism (the Mercersburg Movement found primarily in central Pennsylvania parishes). Generally speaking, the theological outlook of most ministers was largely accepting of liberal trends in Protestant doctrine and higher biblical criticism, although some pockets of conservative revivalistic pietism and confessionalist Calvinism could be found. Educational institutions As with most Protestant denominations, the Evangelical and Reformed church maintained educational institutions and foreign missions. Affiliated educational institutions included the Lancaster Theological Seminary, Franklin and Marshall College, Cedar Crest College, and Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, Elmhurst College in Illinois, Hood College in Maryland, Catawba College in North Carolina, Eden Theological Seminary in Missouri, and Heidelberg College in Ohio. An Evangelical and Reformed seminary, Mission House, previously located in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, joined with the school of theology of South Dakota's Yankton College (a Congregational Christian institution) to form the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in the early 1960s. The seminary set up operations in New Brighton, Minnesota, outside St. Paul. In the early 1930s Central Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, a previous merger of Ursinus and Heidelberg Seminaries, was merged