I will pour down rain on a thirsty land, showers on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring and my blessings on your children. They shall spring up like a green tamarisk, like poplars by a flowing stream. —Isaiah 44:3-4

The promise of God's blessings for children has been affirmed down the generations of faith from the time that God first promised to Abraham and Sarah that their offspring would be as numerous as the stars. Jesus not only welcomed the child, but asked everyone to enter into the eternal realm of God's blessings as children. Children are not only invited, but show us the way.

Children have the right to develop spiritually, intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, and culturally, and to live in conditions of freedom and dignity. Because children are powerless and often live with adults who are poor and have little voice, there is a tendency not to see or hear them. Too often, their basic needs go unfulfilled.

The United Church of Christ has a long tradition of affirming public policies which generate and distribute resources in ways that provide all people, including children, with the potential to live healthy and productive lives. The covenant of God is with all children of our nation and the world, not just with the children who share our church life.  

Justice and Witness Ministries convenes a Children's Table several times each year to gather all staff in the national setting of the denomination whose work connects with issues affecting children.  From this web page you can explore the ways the United Church of Christ is creating programming for and about children and engaging in advocacy on their behalf.

Important resources

• April 2009...Have you wondered how the economic crisis across our country is affecting children?  Bob Herbert, columnist for the NY Times, reflects on "Children in Peril."
• The 2007 General Assembly of the National Council of Churches passed A Social Creed for the 21st Century, in honor of the hundredth anniversary of the "Social Creed of the Churches," passed by the Federal Council of Churches in 1908. This historic document, which was central to the social gospel movement, lifted up the public role of the church, just as the NCC's new statement calls its member communions to ameliorate particular injustices in our own world including concerns for children.

Here are UCC web pages that can help you address children's concerns:

• Bullying: What We Can Do to Stop It
• Child Care, Early Education
• Children and Christian Education                           
• Children's Health
• Child Sponsorship, Global
• Criminal Justice, Human Rights, Children and Youth
• Ecumenical Child Advocacy and the Children's Sabbath Celebration
• Human Sexuality and Children
• Media Justice and Children
• Poverty and Children                                                  
• Public Education  
• Safety and Protection of Children in Church 
• Stewardship and Children              
• UCC Youth Page