JPANet October 2025 Newsletter

Love Knows No Borders: UCC Conference Ministers to Gather in Washington D.C.

At the end of this month, dozens of UCC conference ministers will be traveling to Washington D.C. to raise the prophetic voice of the United Church of Christ on Capitol Hill. Guided by the theme of “Love Knows No Borders”, we will gather to seek justice with and for every neighbor and every community oppressed by the fear and greed of an unholy movement fueled by white supremacy and Christian nationalism. Learn more about how you can get involved here.

World Council of Churches shares resources for World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has published resources for people and churches all over the world to pray, advocate, and stand in solidarity with people in the Holy Land during the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, to be observed from 20-26 September. You can learn more here.

Applications Open for Global HOPE: Migration, Immigration, Refugee and Asylee (MIRA) Unified Grant  

The Global HOPE Office offers three grants through its Refugee and Migration Services ministry that are intended to encourage local UCC congregations, associations, conferences and covenanted ministries to engage in ministry to migrants, immigrants, refugees and asylees in their midst. Applications are open! Contact Megan Bergert (bergertm@ucc.org) with any questions.

Submit Your Story: Love OUT LOUD Videos

October 11th is National Coming Out Day and in celebration Gender & Sexuality Justice Ministries is inviting YOU to share your story of Love OUT LOUD with the wider church! Share your story with us so we can spread the message of an inclusive Jesus for all! Submit your story here.

Season of Creation Ends with a Powerful Call for Climate Justice in Washington D.C.

On September 29th, the United Church of Christ was proud to stand alongside Creation Justice Ministries and over a dozen national faith partners in bearing public witness to the urgent need for moral action in the face of worsening climate impacts, rollbacks of vital protections, and systemic environmental racism across our country. You can watch the recording of the event here.

Southern siblings of color at higher risk for HIV/AIDS: ‘We need to reduce the stigma’

On Sept. 3rd, UCC leaders joined other faith advocates and HIV/AIDS activists at the United States Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) Interfaith Preconference hosted by the U.S. HIV & AIDS Faith Coalition. Read the full story here. 

‘We must tell the story’: D.C. church art installation honors people enslaved on their land

First Congregational UCC DC dedicated a permanent art installation, “Forever in the Path,” on Sept. 14 in memory of those who lived and were enslaved on the land that was a tobacco plantation before Congress deeded the site to the church in 1865. Read the full story here

October 7th: Understanding Gender: Beyond the Binary 

This webinar offers an accessible introduction to gender and gender variance, exploring how understandings and embodiments of gender have shifted across time and cultures. Together we will consider how stereotypes and assumptions shape our views, glimpse diverse expressions of gender across history and the globe and listen for what God might be saying to us in this moment. Ultimately, we will reflect on the call to draw the circle wider and build communities of true belonging. Register to join us!

October 12th: Observe Access Sunday

Every second Sunday in October, the United Church of Christ invites congregations to take part in observing Access Sunday — a day to remember the very things in worship that are taken for granted. In preparation for Access Sunday 2025, held on Oct. 12, the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries has created a comprehensive list of resources, available here.

October 19th-24th: Congo Week

Congo Week is October 19-24, 2025 and is a time to shine a light on the ongoing impact of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to rally support for its people. As members of the Body of Christ, we join in solidarity with our siblings in the DRC who continue to face injustice, exploitation, and environmental harm. Together, we commit to breaking the silence, promoting justice, defending the vulnerable, caring for creation, and standing alongside the Congolese people. Learn more here.

October 29th: UCC Conference Ministers Witness for Justice in Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday, October 29th UCC members will gather in our nation’s capital to proclaim the sacred stories and identities under attack, stand with communities oppressed by fear and greed, and resist the tide of White supremacy and hatred that seeks to overwhelm us. Register to attend the witness here!

October 8th: Mental Health, Spiritual Care, and Community Healing: An Introduction to an Internal Family Systems Approach 2-Part Training Series

We invite you to join us for a transformative 2-part training designed to equip spiritual leaders and caregivers with the tools to cultivate mental health, relational care, and collective healing within congregations and local communities.

Rooted in Internal Family Systems (IFS) and contemplative paradigms, this experience invites participants to explore how our inner worlds mirror systems of oppression—and how healing within can create pathways to justice beyond. Together, we will dismantle supremacist theologies and monocultural paradigms of care in favor of spiritual approaches that center cultural humility, embodiment, and liberative social change.

Participants will:

▷ Understand and apply the foundational principles of IFS.
▷ Develop Self-leadership as a spiritual and emotional practice.
▷ Cultivate culturally responsive care rooted in the lived realities of BIPOC communities.
▷ Model embodied pastoral practices to integrate into community life.
▷ Reframe mental health through a prophetic, justice-centered lens.
▷ Through guided practice, somatic awareness, sacred listening, and dialogue, we will reconnect to Self and Spirit while envisioning communal leadership that embodies compassion, justice, and belonging.

There will be no recordings of the sessions as each session is a live-virtual learning experience over that span of 3-hours on two consecutive Wednesdays and registration is limited, so register now for the October 8th and October 15th webinars.

October 14th: This Month at the UN

Want to learn more about what the UCC does at the United Nations and how you can help be a part of this work? Starting in October, the UCC’s United Nations team will be hosting monthly zoom meetings to share programmatic updates as well as provide a space for generative conversation on the work our congregations are already doing.

This month, from 2-3pm on Oct. 14th, we will be focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals and updates from the United Nations General Assembly. Register here!

DC Action Center

Each week, the D.C. Office creates an action alert based on what is happening at that time in Congress and offers you the opportunity to contact your legislators with just one click! You can take action with our previous action alerts here.

Justice & Peace Action Network Archives

Want to dive deeper into the expertise of the UCC on a variety of policy issues? Check out the previous Getting to the Root articles and our newsletter archive.

Witness for Justice

Looking for up-to-date social justice commentary? Check out Witness for Justice, a weekly editorial opinion column written by the National Staff.

The Pollinator

The Pollinator is a digital platform of the UCC for the sharing of ideas and inspiration. Its focus is the building of a faith-filled and faith-rooted movement for the care of creation.