Home Events People In Care Churches Resources Justice & Peace Employment About CMA Links

Our Witness For
Justice and Peace

 CMA Committees
Other Links
United Church of Christ
National Web Site
What does God require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
* Read about our
Justice and Peace concerns:
  • Peace & War
  • Latin America
  • Open & Affirming; LGBT Concerns
  • Equal Marriage Rights
  • UCC Council for Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM)
  • Worker Justice

    Global Ministries

    A common witness of the Division of Overseas Ministries, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Wider Church Ministries, United Church of Christ.

    For information on the work of our Global Ministries visit our web site.

    The following link will lead you to the most recent missionary newsletters.

    Almost 300 missionaries are serving in 50 countries at present. Opportunities for service exist in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nepal, American Samoa, Australia, Philippines, Korea, Taiwan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Palestine, Lebanon or Cyprus, Egypt, and Lithuania. For information call 317-713-2566 or send email to: dom@disciples.org

    Contacting Your Elected Representatives To Witness For Justice and Peace

    One way to find the name, address and other contact information for the persons representing you in the United States Congress is to visit the Senate Web Site or the House Rep Locator Web Site. Information on Congressional proceedings is available from the Thomas Jefferson site of the Library of Congress. Information on your representatives in the Illinois General Assembly is available at Illinois Legislature. Information on Chicago's City Council, Wards and Aldermen can be found at Chicago City Council

    UCC Justice Website

    Visit the UCC Justice and Witness Ministries new UCC Take Action website. You can send immediate letters to government officials, corporate executives, opinion makers, and media outlets. It can be your one-stop on-line advocacy center. The main index is at: Take Action With the click of a mouse, you will be able to send instant e-mails and faxes on a variety of important issues:

    • Support Fair Trade

    Buy fair trade coffee and other fair trade items for your home, church and office. Read more at the website for the Chicago Committee on Fair Trade. Urge your friends and co-workers to do likewise.

    Night Ministry and Eden Church

    The Night Ministry and CMA's Eden Evangelical Lutheran Church UCC in Cluster Three are both featured in a Jan. 5, 2006 story in the Pioneer Press. Revs. Sharon Stolz and David Wywialowski are both quoted.

    Read the article here.
    Visit The Night Ministry website here.

    Equal Marriage Rights

    On July 4, 2005, the United Church of Christ became the first mainline Christian denomination to officially support same-sex marriages when its general synod passed a resolution affirming "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender." Read about this prophetic event here.

    For other news from the General Synod held in Atlanta in July 2005 and copies of the adopted resolutions, visit the UCC National Website

    Slavery and the Making of America

    From the UCC United Black Christians:

    In 2005 PBS aired a four part series entitled Slavery and the Making of America, produced by Dante James, and narrated by Morgan Freeman. Dante has produced many award winning films, among them biographies on Marian Anderson and A. Philip Randolph. He worked with the late great filmmaker Henry Hampton at Blackside and was the executive producer of Hampton's last series This Far By Faith: African American Spiritual Journeys.

    Slavery and the Making of America tells the story of slavery from the point of view of the enslaved. The series recognizes the strength, humanity and dignity of the enslaved and redefines them as pro-active freedom fighters not passive victims.

    More information can be found on the PBS Website

    The 4 part program has been released on DVD and is now available from online merchants and in local stores. The DVD set would make an excellent education program for children and adults in your church.

    ALSO: the companion volume to the epic PBS series Slavery and the Making of America by James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton offers a richly illustrated, vividly written history that illuminates the human side of this inhumane institution, presenting it largely through stories of the slaves themselves. Readers will discover a wide ranging and sharply nuanced look at American slavery, from the first Africans brought to British colonies in the early seventeenth century to the end of Reconstruction. Along the way, readers meet extraordinary individuals, enslaved and free, whose contributions to the building of America are only now beginning to be appreciated.

    With more than one hundred illustrations, Slavery and the Making of America is a gripping account of the struggles of African Americans against the iniquity of slavery. Published by Oxford University Press, the book is available from book stores and online booksellers.

    Illinois Maya Ministry

    Since the mid 1980's, Illinois Maya Ministry (IMM), (formerly Guatemala Refugee Ministries (GRM), has worked in partnership with the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, in a ministry of Accompaniment, Reconciliation, and Transformation with the Mayan people of Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala, and the people of the Illinois Conference UCC. Read More!

    Help Church World Service Fight Hunger

    The United Church of Christ is a supporting member of Church World Service and sends a significant amount of its mission gifts through CWS.

    Download a flyer here.

    Visit the CWS Website.

    Disaster Relief

    For the most up to date information on UCC Disaster Response AND HOW TO CONTRIBUTE, visit the UCC national web site.
    Illinois Conference Disaster Team

    The assistance of all of the churches in Illinois Conference is needed to help replenish Disaster Clean Up Kits or having special offerings to help with delivery expenses, etc. Kit contents can be found on the Disaster link of the Conference website.

    Further information can be had by contacting either of the conference coordinators:
  • Ben McNeal: aandbmc@msn.com
  • Bob Tripp: rjtripp@ameritech.net

    The Night Ministry

    The Night Ministry is an independent non-profit organization that assists the homeless in Chicago, including youth living on the streets. State Budget cuts continue to threaten programs that serve youth. A message must be sent that these programs need budget increases not cuts. 26,000 youth in Illinois experience homelessness each year. Almost half are chronically homeless. 70 percent of youth on the street are victims of commercial sexual exploitation according to a recent nationwide study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania. Programs serving youth who are homeless currently have to deny housing to youth in need due to a lack of resources.

    The Night Ministry is committed to being a voice for and with youth and adults on the nighttime streets in the public policy realm. Supportive congregations, volunteers and staff of The Night Ministry regularly take action on issues ranging from affordable housing, health care, and homelessness and to HIV/AIDS and youth advocacy.

    To learn more about The Night Ministry, visit www.thenightministry.org or call 773-784-9000.

    Mission Statment: The Night Ministry, an organization created out of diverse religious traditions, builds relationships with persons of the nighttime streets that empower them to meet their own needs. Recognizing the uniqueness, dignity and value of each person, we accept individuals as they are, in an affirming and compassionate manner. We call the larger community, especially the religious community, to this same mission.

    • Home Events People In Care Churches Resources Justice & Peace Employment About CMA Links
    Return to Top Contact us at
    cma@cmaucc.org         		Last Modified