The United Church of Christ (UCC) Board would like to invite every setting of the denomination to begin prayerfully discerning this:
In your setting for ministry, how do you and your worship family live out their call to build a just world for all?
Want to learn more about how to strengthen justice ministry in your congregation? Check out the National UCC’s Justice Resources.
Black Lives Matter
Our faith’s teachings tell us that each person is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and therefore has intrinsic worth and value. So why when Jesus proclaimed good news to the poor, release to the jailed, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed (Luke 4:16-19) did he not mention the rich, the prison-owners, the sighted and the oppressors? What conclusion are we to draw from this? Doesn’t Jesus care about all lives?
Black lives matter. This is an obvious truth in light of God’s love for all God’s children. But this has not been the experience for many in the U.S. When Black lives are systemically devalued by society, our outrage justifiably insists that attention be focused on Black lives.
When a church claims boldly “Black Lives Matter” at this moment, it chooses to show up intentionally against all given societal values of supremacy and superiority or common-sense complacency. By insisting on the intrinsic worth of all human beings, Jesus models for us how God loves justly, and how his disciples can love publicly in a world of inequality. We live out the love of God justly by publicly saying #BlackLivesMatter.
Church Designations
Accessible to All
Accessible to all (A2A) refers to congregations that have completed the Accessible to All process and thereby made the commitment to be physically and attitudinally welcoming of people with disabilities.
Creation Justice Church
Justice is more than just changing light bulbs. It is about a transformation of our hearts and minds to see God’s creation in new ways that lead to living in new ways. It is about acting on new values in your life and in the life of your community.
Faithful & Welcoming
This designation is for churches that identify under the umbrella of evangelical, conservative, orthodox or conservative. They are a group that believes in holding true to covenant by staying affiliated with the UCC.
God is Still Speaking
God is Still Speaking is the identity campaign that branded the UCC in a distinctive way and helped define its progressive voice in the faith community, make religion relevant again, and to extend an extravagant welcome to all.
Economic Justice Church
Work to continue and strengthen the UCC’s work for economic justice by taking action in your congregation and helping those on the margins and at risk.
Just Peace Church
The Just Peace Church vision is a hallmark of UCC theological identity. The Just Peace Church corporately names and boldly proclaims a public identity as a justice-doing, peace-seeking church.
Open & Affirming
Open and Affirming (ONA) is the UCC designation for making a public covenant of welcome to persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
Border & Immigrant Justice
UCC W.I.S.E. for Mental Health
Advocate for all persons with mental illness who are falling through the fraying safety net. A W.I.S.E. congregation is Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, and Engaged.
3 Great Loves
3 Great Loves is our denomination-wide story telling initiative. In the coming years, the UCC will collect and lift up the stories of our local churches and affiliates. Stories about how we are living out God’s love and expressing love of neighbor, children and creation, our 3 Great Loves. From knitting clubs making hats for newborns; collecting food for food pantries; standing together against a social injustice; no story is too insignificant to share.
The hope of this initiative is to tell, and share the story, of how individuals, churches and organizations of the UCC are impacting and transforming the world as covenantal partners united in our common purpose, vision and mission. Work that lives out the love of God and leads to creating a just world for all.