Economic Justice Covenant Program

Programa Alianza para la Justicia Economica
 
As Christians we sing the hymns of justice, equality, and unity; we pray for the well being of all God’s children; and we continue our activities to feed the hungry and house the homeless. But all the while we watch the gap between rich and poor in our own nation and in the world become ever wider, with many millions left in poverty…The United Church of Christ and its predecessor church bodies, along with many Christians around the world, have received Christ’s summons to call our churches and our societies toward the blessed vision of God’s Realm, including justice in our economic life.

From the General Synod resolution, An Economic Justice Covenant

In 2009, General Synod XXVII approved a resolution that established the Economic Justice Covenant Program. (A brief excerpt from that resolution is located in the box to the right.) The resolution encouraged all congregrations and other settings of the UCC to become Economic Justice Churches (or Economic Justice Seminaries, Associations, Conferences, etc): to study economic injustices, pray and discern God’s will for their economic justice ministry, draft and adopt an Economic Justice Covenant, and engage in actions to promote economic justice.

This is the program called for in the General Synod resolution. It is designed primarily for a local church but is easily adaptable for the needs of other settings. It includes nine sections, including this introduction.

  • Writing and Approving the Covenant guides the congregation or other setting as it writes an Economic Justice Covenant to express its commitment and lay out a general plan of action.
  • Ways to Engage provides resources and options for getting involved in working for economic justice.

Program overview/Flyer [pdf 1.0 MB]

See a list of all the Economic Justice Churches.

Follow churches in discernment.

Please inform the UCC’s Minister for Economic Justice, Sekinah Hamlin, when a congregation (or other setting of the UCC) approves a covenant and becomes an Economic Justice Church.

Print Version:The complete Economic Justice Covenant Program is only available online through this home page or in hard copy upon request from Justice and Witness Ministries. Contact JWM by email; call toll-free at 1-866-822-8224, ext. 3700; or write to JWM, 1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1100, Cleveland, Ohio 44114. A booklet, available electronically [1.0 MB] and in hard copy from JWM, provides an overview of the Program only and does not contain many resources that are available online.

Economic Justice Task Force: The resolution that established the Economic Justice Covenant Program called for a task force to create a Program that would support and assist all settings of the UCC to become Economic Justice Settings. The task force worked for nearly a year to plan, write, and oversee the development of this program. We welcome feedback that can be sent to Sekinah Hamlin. Members of the task force were:

Diana Burdett, Rhode Island Conference
Hiawatha Demby, Southern Conference
Rev. Michael Denton, Pacific Northwest Conference
Rev. Stan Duncan, Massachusetts Conference
Mittie Davis Jones, Ohio Conference
Gail Kinney, New Hampshire Conference
Rev. Lynne Smouse Lopez, Central Pacific Conference
Carmen Flores Rance, Illinois Conference
Rev. Guillermo Marquez Sterling, Florida Conference

Edith Rasell, Minister for Economic Justice, Justice and Witness Ministries, staffed the task force.

The Task Force thanks United Church of Chapel Hill, UCC, in North Carolina for their leadership and path-breaking work to become an Economic Justice Church, and for bringing a resolution to the Southern Conference calling on the UCC to establish the Economic Justice Covenant Program. The Southern Conference approved the resolution and brought it to General Synod XXVII (2009) which also approved it, establishing this program.