The Office of General Ministries is one of four Covenanted Ministries in the United Church of Christ. Its mission is to care for the spiritual life, unity, and well-being of the church, to nurture our covenantal life and its ecumenical and interfaith relationships, to provide regular processes which focus on theological reflection throughout the church; and to assist in the total mission of the United Church of Christ. The Office of General Ministries works through five teams:

Office of the General Ministers.
Common Services Ministry.
Covenantal Relations Ministry.
Proclamation, Identity and Communication Ministry.
Financial Development Ministry.

These teams provide common services for the national setting of the church; care for relations with Conferences, other faith traditions and racial/ethnic constituencies in the church; provide platforms for communication within the church and the church's relations with the media; and assist the national setting in its financial development.

The Rev. Geoffrey A. Black was elected General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ in June 2009. Prior to that, he served as Conference Minister of the UCC's New York Conference for nine years beginning in 2000.

Geoffrey Black previously served as a Minister for Church Life and Leadership with the then-Office for Church Life and Leadership (currently Parish Life and Leadership), a national agency of the United Church of Christ housed at the UCC's national offices in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Prior to joining the staff of OCLL in 1994, he served as Pastor of the Congregational UCC of South Hempstead (N.Y.). During his years in ministry, Black also has served as assistant chaplain at Brown University, associate minister at St. Albans Congregational UCC in Queens, Lecturer in the Field Education Department at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and Protestant chaplain at Adelphi University.

In his capacity as Minister for Church Life and Leadership, Black was active in several key aspects of the ministry. In addition to engaging in the work common to all OCLL staff such as ministerial authorization and search and call, he devoted special attention to ecclesiastical endorsement, ministerial formation, congregational life and the development of resources for the multiracial/multicultural church.

During his tenure as a local church pastor, Black also was active in Association and Conference life, serving on several committees and holding a number of elected offices.  He served on the Ordination and Standing Committee and the Committee on Church in the Metropolitan Community of the New York Metropolitan Association. He was chairperson of the New York Conference Commission on Mission Priorities and he served as moderator of the Conference.

Ecumenical commitment, concern for equal justice, African-American empowerment, and community improvement have shaped Black's ministry in the church and in the communities in which he has lived. This has resulted in his work with organizations such as the Nassau Coalition for Safety and Justice, The Long Island Interracial Alliance for a Common Future, and the Amistad Cultural Center of Long Island, which he co-founded.  While living in Ohio, he has been an active member of Caring Communities of Shaker Heights, Ohio, and Partnership 2000 of the Shaker Public schools.

Rev. Black is maried to Patricia Williams-Black. They have one daugher, Makeda Black, who resides in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Mr. W. Mark Clark is Associate General Minister of the United Church of Christ. He was elected at the UCC's biennial General Synod in 2011.

Clark previously was president and chief executive officer of CODAC Behavioral Health Services, Inc. in Tucson Ariz. CODAC is a non-profit managed behavioral health care organization based in Pima County and serves 12,000 individuals annually with a staff of 325 and a budget of 36 million dollars.

A life-long member of the United Church of Christ, Clark has been active at all settings of the Church. In college he worked as an intern at his college campus ministry and spent a year as Director of Christian Education at Flagstaff Congregational Church.  He has been a member of five UCC congregations in two Conferences and served on four of those church councils.  He also chaired the Southwest Conference Minister Search Committee.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the Office of General Ministries, serving as chair of its Budget and Finance Committee and served as an OGM Board representative to the Executive Council (2005-2009). He served as chair of the Executive Council's Committee of Reference for the Twenty-seventh General Synod.

Clark holds a B.S. degree from Northern Arizona University and an M.S.W. degree from Arizona State University. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships, university teaching appointments and scholastic and civic honors. He is married to Stacy K. Parrish-Clark. 

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