The church was formed on 30 December 1924, at Wilson College Hall, Bombay by the union of several like-minded denominations such as the Congregational and the Presbyterian Churches. They began working together under the name, "United Church of Northern India" in Northern India. The moderators of each denomination held their first meeting in the Wilson college. Of these moderators, the leaders were Rev. Dr. C.A.R. Janwheeler, Rev. Ram Krishan Shahu and Rev. Dr. Robert Allen Hume. In the first General Assembly of United Church of Northern India held in Mumbai, Rev Dr. Robert Allen Hume was elected as the first moderator of UCNI. The UCNI is located in the North-West and North-East India area.
It was also operating in Assam, Eastern Hills of Darjeeling, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh covering a third of India. The UCNI has its own constitution known as the "Blue Book". The constitution declares and explains the conduct displayed by the Church Government in the United Church of Northern India. The rules for the conduct of work of the United Church also provide for the confession of faith and rules for the administration in the UCNI. This organization was established with an Evangelical, Medical, and Educational outlook.
The United Church of Northern India was formed by the union between different Presbyterian churches in 1924. In the 18th and 19th centuries missionaries came to India from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, England, Wales, and Australia. In Northern India there were the following missions:
- American Evangelical and Reformed Church
- American Marathi Mission of the American Board of Commission of Foreign Missions
- American Presbyterian Mission
- Canada Presbyterian Mission
- Church of Scotland Mission
- Irish Presbyterian Mission
- London Missionary Society
- English Presbyterian Mission
- New Zealand Presbyterian Mission
- United Church of Canada Mission
- Welsh Presbyterian Mission.
At a joint conference held in 1918 in Allahabad, several churches in the conference proposed unity of the Presbyterian churches and the congregational churches. In 1970, some of these churches joined the newly constituted Church of Northern India. In most of the churches, the congregation was unaware of the new union, and consent of the members was not sought, and some of the leaders with vested interest gave the decision to join the CNI, while some pastors and congregation strongly opposed the union. Later, to counter the apparent centralization of the CNI, some churches remained in UCNI while some revived the United Church in Northern India to which they had once belonged. Eventually, more churches withdrew and dissociated from CNI and joined UCNI.The United Church of Northern India. Today, the UNCI has eighteen church councils under five Synods. They are: North India Synod, Mid-India Synod, West Bengal Synod, Maharashtra Synod, and Punjab Synod, which includes the cities of Ahmednagar, Bombay, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Malwa Rajasthan, Gujarat, Allahabad, Farrukhabad, Mainpuri, Bundelkhand, Garhwal, Kumanyu, Gurdaspur, Ambala, Ludhiana, Doaba, as well as the Eastern Himalayan Church Council.
The Office of the United Church of Northern India is at Zira. The United Church of Northern India was registered in Firms and Societies (Punjab) in the years 1977–78. At present the head office of the United Church is at 471/A Christ Presbyterian Church of UCNI, Nagra, Jhansi U.P.
• Procedure of Election and Hierarchy of UCNI
The Local Church Elects a Committee to Run its management. Management Committees of multiple Local Churches get together and form a Church Council and elect a Management Committee to Run it, which, along with other Church Councils, forms a Synod. The Representatives from the Church Councils are responsible for creating the Synod and the General Assembly which is the Supreme governing body of the UCNI. The General Assembly then appoints Commissioners (From the representatives of the Church Councils) who are responsible for appointing the office bearers & the Trustees of the United Church of Northern India Trust Association.