About Us 2

It is the season of resolutions. New year, new you. Become a better

version of yourself in 2026! I have never been all that excited about resolutions. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for goals and the motivation that these resolutions inspire in people. There are plenty of jokes about resolutions. The gyms are full in January, we stop biting our nails, eat healthier, become more active, stop drinking and cussing …all of the things, right? While these resolutions are positive, they

often get left by the wayside come February.

New year’s resolutions are for personal growth. What about our spiritual growth? Is personal growth the same as spiritual growth? I’m not sure. What I am sure of is this: God doesn’t love you more yesterday, today, or tomorrow. God loves us the same every day. Why do we feel like we have to do certain things “better” to make

ourselves more lovable? This pressure certainly is not found in the message we

receive from our compassionate and unchanging God.

I’d like to put more energy into focusing on positive life changes. We find in the scripture, "Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. ” James 1:17

If every good and perfect gift is from above and God’s love is constant perhaps, we should focus on loving ourselves. What if we made resolutions not for the purpose of loving ourselves more when we reach our goal but from a place that says, I love myself enough to want to change? What if we began by recognizing we do not have to change to make ourselves lovable. What if we focused on striving to create positive changes that honor ourselves and the God who made us? As we enter 2026, let us be mindful of making healthy decisions that honor our relationship with God and resolve to love ourselves as God loves us.

The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a distinct and diverse community of Christians that come together as one church to join faith and action. With over 5,000 churches and nearly one million members across the U.S., the UCC serves God in the co-creation of a just and sustainable world. The UCC is a church of firsts, a church of extravagant welcome, and a church where "…they may all be one" (John 17:21).

The Church of Firsts

Since 1957, the United Church of Christ has been the church of firsts, weaving God’s message of hope and extravagant welcome with action for justice and peace. Together, we live out our faith in ways that effect change in our communities. The UCC's many "firsts" mean that we have inherited a tradition of acting upon the demands of our faith. When we read in Galatians: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus"—a demand is made upon us. And so we were the first historically white denomination to ordain an African-American, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first Christian church to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry. We were in the forefront of the anti-slavery movement and the Civil Rights movement. Our response to the demands of our faith is woven into the history of our country.

A Church of Extravagant Welcome

Today, we continue to change lives throughout the world. We work alongside more than 200 mission partners. We labor ceaselessly to fight injustice, in the United States and abroad. We instill our vision into our youth and young adults, forging leaders who will imagine new dreams. And we sustain and develop church leaders, pastors, and our local churches to live their faith in exciting new ways. We believe in a God that is still speaking, a God that is all-loving and inclusive. We are a church that welcomes and accepts everyone as they are, where your mind is nourished as much as your soul.

We are a church where Jesus the healer meets Jesus the revolutionary, and where together, we grow a just and peaceful world.