2025 JPANet Sign-Off Letter

As the UCC Office of Public Policy & Advocacy looks back on 2025, we do so with gratitude, humility, and renewed conviction. At the start of the year, the landscape before us felt uncertain and daunting. Our nation was navigating deep political divisions, rapidly shifting public policies, and widening disparities that weighed especially heavily on marginalized communities. Nevertheless, we entered the year grounded in our commitment to show up with love and to build a just world for all. 

As we enter the final weeks of 2025, this reflection offers a look at what we accomplished, what we learned, and what we continue to hope for as we move forward.  

While this represents only a brief overview of our collective accomplishments, it’s important that we pause to reflect on and celebrate some of the moments that shaped our work. It is also an invitation to continue walking with us, advocating with us, praying with us, and imagining with us the world that is yet possible. 

UCC Advocates Showed Up and Spoke Out 

One of the clearest signs of hope this year came in the form of overwhelming engagement from our congregations and advocates across the country. From the sanctuary to the streets, UCC members across the country acted boldly and faithfully in raising their voices for love and justice.  

This was reflected in the significant increase of activity in the UCC Justice & Peace Action Network. Through our action center, folks can send messages directly to their members of Congress on a wide range of issues including immigration justice, disability & mental health justice, LGBTQ+ justice, environmental justice, and much more.  

This included livestreams of #FaithfulWitnessWednesdays, weekly interfaith vigils held outside the Capitol building calling on Congress to exercise greater moral courage in upholding its Article 1 powers and stop executive overreach. 

Additionally, we set an ambitious goal to send 50,000 messages to Congress and the administration in the first 100 days. The response was inspiring. Together, our Justice & Peace Action Network sent 53,087 messages in 100 days: a powerful reminder that faith communities can and do shape public policy when they refuse to be silent. 

Everyone Deserve Healthcare: The Fight for Medicaid 

This past year, access to healthcare—especially Medicaid—rose to the forefront as Congress advanced historic cuts to a program serving more than 70 million people. Across the United Church of Christ, advocates responded with clarity and conviction, refusing to let these harmful proposals go unchallenged. 

In April, the UCC Council on Health and Human Services Ministries, UCC Wellness Ministries, and our Washington, D.C. Office of Public Policy & Advocacy hosted the UCC’s Medicaid and SNAP Advocacy Week. Fifty-one congregations and 16 nonprofit organizations participated, meeting with members of Congress to share how these cuts would jeopardize vulnerable families and threaten church-based ministries. 

While Congress shamefully moved forward with these cuts, we remain proud of the faithful advocacy we offered and are committed to continuing the fight for healthcare for all in 2026. 

Love Knows No Borders: Standing with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers 

This year, our office remained deeply engaged in advancing immigration justice and supporting refugee resettlement, especially as national policies shifted dramatically. Throughout the year, our Justice & Peace Action Network consistently uplifted opportunities for UCC members to contact Congress in defense of humane immigration policies including holding immigration enforcement agents accountable, restoring the refugee admission program, protecting sensitive locations from ICE raids, and more. 

We also raised our voices on Capitol Hill—and often. When the federal refugee resettlement program was abruptly frozen in January, UCC leaders joined an interfaith vigil outside the White House, standing alongside partners to urge the administration to reverse the freeze and honor longstanding commitments to welcome the stranger.  

Additionally, when ICE unlawfully abducted and deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a notoriously violent prison in El Salvador without due process, the UCC community showed up at the White House to demand his return. Our call for justice was backed by nearly 3,400 signatures from UCC advocates, insisting that the administration bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home and condemning the abduction, deportation, and disappearance of our immigrant siblings. 

Looking Toward 2026 with Hope 

As we prepare for 2026, we do so with a deep sense of hope. This is not a naive optimism, but a resilient, rooted hope shaped by faith and lived experience. We have seen how small acts of engagement multiply into meaningful change: each message sent, each phone call made, and each congregation mobilized contributes to a broader movement for justice. 

We are grateful for every person who walked with us this year and we invite you to continue journeying with us. Together, we will keep working for a world where dignity is upheld, compassion is practiced, and justice is pursued with bold and faithful persistence.