General Synod Hearing on Implementation of Resolution Urging Fossil Fuel Divestment and Other Strategies

At General Synod 29 in 2013, the Resolution Urging Divestment–Along with Other Strategies–from Fossil Fuel Companies to Address Climate Change mandated that the next five General Synods hold hearings on the resolution’s implementation. In 2023, the final mandated hearing included the following reports:

Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, Resolution Author

United Church Funds

The Pension Boards-United Church of Christ

Report from Skyline Community Church in Oakland, California

The conference liaisons on the UCC’s Council for Climate Justice report that the following conferences, conference affiliated entities, and associations have divested in whole or in part: the Association of Hawaiian Evangelical Churches, the Central Atlantic Conference, the Central Pacific Conference, the Hawaiʻi Conference, the Heartland Conference, the Michigan Conference, the Minnesota Conference, the New York Conference, the Northern California-Nevada Conference, the Penn Central Conference, the Penn Northeast Conference, the Southern New England Conference, Wisconsin Conference, and the Wisconsin Foundation. In 2022, both the Michigan Conference and the Illinois South Conference passed resolutions urging fossil fuel divestment.

According to the most recent annual survey conducted by the UCC’s Center for Analytics, Research & Development and Data (CARDD), 10% of the slightly more than one thousand churches who responded to the survey reported divestment. The churches that have reported divestment to the UCC’s Environmental Justice Ministry since 2013 include:

All Pilgrims Christian Church UCC, Seattle, Washington
Altadena Community Church UCC, Altadena, California
Apples UCC, Thurmont, Maryland
Bethany UCC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Bethany UCC, Seattle, Washington
Bethesda UCC, Bethesda, Maryland
Blue Point Congregational UCC, Scarborough, Maine
Brea Congregational UCC, Brea, California
Carversville Christian Church UCC, Carversville, Pennsylvania
Central Congregational Church UCC, Chelmsford, Massachusetts
Christ Church United UCC, Lowell, Massachusetts
Christ Congregational UCC, Fort Morgan, Colorado
Christ Congregational UCC, Pueblo, Colorado
Church of the Covenant, Boston, Massachusetts
Church of the Nativity UCC, Buffalo, New York
Cleveland Park Congregational UCC, Washington, DC
Community Congregational Church UCC, Benicia, California
Community Congregational UCC, Lynnfield, Massachusetts
Community Protestant UCC, Mundelein, Illinois
Community UCC, Boulder, Colorado
Community UCC, Red Lodge, Montana
Community UCC, Fresno, California
Congregational Church of Grafton, UCC, Grafton, Massachusetts
Congregational UCC, Brea, California
Congregational UCC of Ogden, Ogden, Utah
Congregational UCC, Punta Gorda, Florida
Elon Community Church UCC, Elon, North Carolina
Eliot United Church of Christ, Newton, Massachusetts
Fairmount United Church of Christ, Wichita, Kansas
Faith United Church of Christ, Hazleton, Pennsylvania
First Church in Cambridge, Cambridge, Massachusetts
First Church in Marlborough Congregational UCC, Marlborough, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church, Amherst, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church, Downers Grove, Illinois
First Congregational Church, Long Beach, California
First Congregational Church, Montclair, New Jersey
First Congregational Church, Natick, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church, Redwood City, California
First Congregational Church, San Jose, California
First Congregational Church, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church, Thetford, Vermont
First Congregational Church, Westborough, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church, Williamstown, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church of Benzonia UCC, Benzonia, Michigan
First Congregational Church of Canterbury, UCC, Canterbury, Conneciticut
First Congregational Church of Dunbarton UCC, Dunbarton, New Hampshire
First Congregational Church of Lyme UCC, Lyme, Connecticut
First Congregational Church UCC, Sonoma, California
First Congregational Church UCC, South Hadley, Massachusetts
First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Garrison, North Dakota
First Congregational UCC, Mankato, Minnesota
First Congregational UCC, Indianapolis, Indiana
First Congregational UCC, West Tisbury, Massachusetts
First Congregational UCC, Brimfield, Massachusetts
First Congregational UCC, Naperville, Illinois,
First Congregational UCC, Southampton, Massachusetts
First Congregational UCC, Charlotte, Michigan
First Congregational UCC, Longmont, Colorado
First Congregational UCC, Waterville, Maine
First Congregational UCC, Dubuque, Iowa
First Congregational United Church of Christ, Downers Grove, Illinois
First Parish Congregational Church UCC, Newbury, Massachusetts
First United Church of Christ, Northfield, Minnesota
Grace Christian Fellowship United Church of Christ, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Grace Congregational Church, Rutland, Vermont
Grace United Church of Christ, Wausau, Wisconsin
Hadwen Park Congregational UCC, Worcester, Massachusetts
Hanapepe Hawaiian Congregational Church UCC, Hanapepe, Hawaii
Hancock United Church of Christ, Lexington, Massachusetts
Holladay UCC, Salt Lake City, Utah
Hope UCC, Alexandria, Virginia
Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Keystone UCC, Seattle, Washington
Lakewood United Church of Christ, Lakewood, Colorado
Lummi Island Congregational Church UCC, Lummi Island, Washington
Lyndale Congregational UCC, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mayflower UCC, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Medford Congregational UCC, Medford, Oregon
Mission Hills UCC, San Diego, California
Mount Vernon Zwingli UCC, Verona, Wisconsin
Mt. Sinai Congregational Church UCC, Mount Sinai, New York
North Stonington Congregational Church, North Stonington, Connecticut
Northshore UCC, Woodinville, Washington
Old First Church, Middletown, New Jersey
Park Congregational UCC, Norwich, Connecticut
Park Hill UCC, Denver, Colorado
Pilgrim Congregational UCC, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Plymouth Congregational, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC, Seattle, Washington
Prairie Community Church UCC, Lester Prairie, Minnesota
Prospect United Church of Christ, Seattle, Washington
Quentin UCC, Quentin, Pennsylvania
Richmond Beach Congregational UCC, Shoreline, Washington
Riverside Community Church, Hood River, Oregon
Saint John UCC, Arlington Heights, Illinois
Saint John’s UCC, Lansdale, Pennsylvania
Saint John’s UCC, Jonestown, Pennsylvania
Saint Nicolai UCC, Chicago, Illinois
Saint Peter’s UCC, Frankfort, Illinois
Saint Peter’s UCC, Inman, Kansas
Sanbornton Congregational UCC, Sanbornton, New Hampshire
Scarsdale Congregational Church UCC, Scarsdale, New York
Second Church in Newton, UCC, Massachusetts
Second Congregational Church of Bennington, Bennington, Vermont
Shadow Rock Congregational UCC, Phoenix, Arizona
Somers Community UCC, Kenosha, Wisconsin
South Church in Andover, Massachusetts
South Congregational Church Amherst, Massachusetts
Southwood UCC, Raytown, Missouri
Spirit of Peace UCC, Sammamish, Washington
Squaw Valley Chapel UCC, Olympic Valley, California
Stratham Community Church UCC, Stratham, New Hampshire
Skyline UCC, Oakland, California
Tabernacle United Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Congregational Church of Boothbay Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, Maine
The Congregational Church of Westborough, UCC, Westborough, Massachusetts
The First Congregational Church of Guilford, Guilford, Connecticut
The New Church, dba New Church – Chiesa Nuova, UCC, Dallas, Texas
The Second Church in Newton UCC, Newton, Massachusetts
Trinitarian Congregational UCC, Warwick, Massachusetts
Trinity Congregational Church in Gloucester, Massachusetts
UCC at the Villages, Oxford, Florida
United Church of Christ, Beavercreek, Oregon
United Church of Christ, Forest Grove, Oregon
United Church of Christ, Elcho, Wisconsin
United Church of Granville, Granville, Ohio
United Church of New Cambria, New Cambria, Missouri
United Church of Santa Fe UCC, Santa Fe, New Mexico
United Congregational Church of Westerly, Pawcatuck, Connecticut
United Faith Community, Buffalo, Minnesota
University Congregational Church, Missoula, Montana
University Congregational UCC, Seattle, Washington
Waquoit Congregational Church UCC, East Falmouth, Massachusetts
Wayside UCC, Federal Way, Washington
Wellspring UCC, Centreville, Virginia
West Parish Congregational UCC, Bethel, Maine
Weybridge Congregational UCC, Weybridge, Vermont