Historical Congregationalism affirmed the reality of eternal hell as consistent with Reformed theology and the Savoy Declaration. The New England Puritan tradition is notorious for its vivid preaching on hell, most famously in Jonathan Edwards' 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' (1741), which was delivered in a Congregational church context.

The modern United Church of Christ does not hold a unified position on hell, and the denomination's Statement of Faith does not address the topic. Given the UCC's emphasis on God's universal love and its proximity to universalist streams of theology, many UCC congregations and theologians hold broadly universalist or hopeful universalist positions — that God's love will ultimately triumph and all will be saved. The UCC's non-creedal character means that traditional doctrines of eternal conscious punishment coexist with universalism and conditionalism in different congregations. The topic is not a matter of official UCC teaching.