The dean of Howard University's School of Divinity pledged continued and strengthened ties with the United Church of Christ ahead of a preaching engagement at the denomination's headquarters on Wednesday.

Dean Alton B. Pollard III told UCC News on in a report published Tuesday that the links between the historically black university went back to the the institution's start.

"It is of critical and faithful importance to the School of Divinity community that we strengthen and renew our common commitment to visionary faith and academic freedom with the UCC," he said. "You have partnered with us from our historic beginnings to the present day. Our relationship is deep and of longstanding."

He also remarked on the denomination's history of support for social justice causes.

"Even more enduring is the Amistad legacy of freedom that pervades and unites our respective institutional endeavors," he said. "From the UCC's support of the defendants in that stirring 1839 uprising called Amistad until this very present moment, the social justice witness of the UCC has inspired us."

Pollard, an ordained baptist minister, is set to serve as guest preacher June 13 at the UCC's weekly worship service in the Amistad Chapel of the denomination's headquarters.