What does Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM) support?

In the national setting of the United Church of Christ there are four Covenanted Ministry partners who are supported by gifts Our Church’s Wider Mission. We work together to change lives!

The Office of General Ministries houses the President and General Minister who serves in many ways. One strategic role of the President is convening leaders in conversations on what it means to be a faithful, vital, and healthy church. The Office of General Ministries manages biennial convening of General Synod where delegates representing conferences and local churches from across the UCC gather. Office of General Ministries also houses the Publishing, Identity and Communications office. One responsibility they have is establishing and maintaining a web and social media presence. UCC.org  has over 4,500,000 visitors. The largest number of visitors comes to find a church.

Local Church Ministries supports the local church in many ways. The Ministerial Excellence, Support and Authorization Ministry Team (MESA) team is designed to support Authorized Ministers (Ordained, Licensed and Commissioned) in our denomination from the first inklings of their calling through a healthy retirement. MESA’s ministry is a collaborative effort intertwined with Conferences, Associations, and Committees on Ministry. Congregations large and small are nurtured by Local Church Ministries resources like scholarly reflections for pastors found in Sermon Seeds and Weekly Seeds bible studies for church members, as well as worship materials of Worship Ways. Last year online readers of Sermon Seeds and Worship Ways exceeded 88,000.

Wider Church Ministries is most widely known for the mission outreach work of the UCC because of our disaster ministries. This arm of the church also serves congregations and other settings of the church who strive to be inclusive whether it is multicultural/multiracial, open and affirming, global or accessible to all. In partnership with the Disciples of Christ, Common Global Ministries is the ecumenical global sharing of resources and prophetic vision of a just and peaceful world order, joining with God’s concern for the poor and oppressed.

The vision of Justice and Witness Ministries is of a more just, peaceful and compassionate world. Justice Leaders Engaging and Developing (Justice LED) training program for church members, teaches leadership skills to support justice work in local churches and UCC Conferences. Justice and Peace Action Network is a UCC grassroots advocacy effort to educate and engage church members and friends to shape public policy. Last year we’ve emailed over 600,000 “Action Alerts”! And over 35,000 letters, emails and faxes went to Congress and the President. The work of Justice and Witness Ministries is guided by the pronouncements and resolutions approved by the UCC at General Synod.

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