Neighbors in Need 5-for-5 October Offering

This year’s Neighbors in Need theme “Mental Health Justice for All: Mental Health is a Universal Human Right” highlights our God-given right to mental health.

The Neighbors in Need offering, which we will receive during the month of October, supports the UCC’s ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States.

Two-thirds of the offering is used by the UCC’s Love of Church Unit to fund a wide array of local and national justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects.

Through the national Love of Church Unit, you can find resources, news updates, and action alerts on a broad spectrum of justice issues. Working with members of the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network (a network of thousands of UCC justice and peace advocates), the Love of Church Unit continues its strong policy advocacy work on issues such as the federal budget, voting rights, immigration, health care, hate crimes, civil liberties, and environmental justice.

Neighbors in Need also supports our American Indian neighbors in the UCC. One-third of the offering supports the UCC’s Council for American Indian Ministries (CAIM). Historically, forebears of the UCC established churches and worked with Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arickara, and Hocak in North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, and northern Nebraska. Today there are 20 UCC congregations on reservations and one urban, multi-tribal UCC congregation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These churches and their pastors are supported by CAIM. CAIM is also an invaluable resource for more than 1,000 individuals from dozens of other tribes and nations who are members of other UCC congregations in the U.S.