FIRST IN
The Iowa Conference
United Church of Christ
FIRST WEST OF
The Mississippi River
FIFTH IN
United Church of Christ
FAITH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
IOWA CITY, IOWA
is an
ECONOMIC JUSTICE COVENANT CONGREGATION
Sunday, June 1, 2014 at a specially called Congregational Meeting, Faith United Church of Christ voted unanimously to adopted a covenant for Economic Justice. The vote culminated an almost two year period of study, reflection, action, and prayer. Please read the adopted covenant and join us at Faith as we continue to work for economic justice in our world.
Faith United Church
of Christ Economic Justice Covenant
Adopted June 1, 2014
Jesus proclaimed his ministry in the temple by reading from
Isaiah: “The Spirit of God is upon me, because
God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of God’s favor.” Luke 4: 18-19. The 2009 United Church of Christ
Economic Justice Covenant reminds us that “The
Holy Scriptures, from the Pentateuch through the Prophets, and from Jesus to
St. Paul impress upon the people of God’s Covenant that they are responsible to
God for the well being of the last and the least in the human community.”
Christians
are called to do. To be a Christian is to be a part of creation that
necessitates the extension of God's embrace. Embracing is doing: it is the
acceptance of and the extension of the ongoing resurrection; it is the
acceptance of the ongoing crucifixion. In enacting an Economic Justice Covenant,
we are following Faith United Church of Christ’s Statement of Purpose by
acknowledging “God’s presence in the
human affairs of today, as God has been involved throughout history...We, as
Christians, accept this calling to carry out the vision of Jesus Christ for our
age.”
Although
God has provided the world with abundance, poverty and want persist. In the
past, Faith United Church of Christ has striven to build a more inclusive world
in its Open and Affirming Covenant, and has addressed economic inequality in
its work toward equitable consumption practices and in the many acts of mercy
it pursues. Therefore, in keeping with Jesus’ proclamation of his ministry, the
constant summoning of the scriptures and Faith United Church of Christ’s own
history, we, the congregation of Faith United Church of Christ of Iowa City do
hereby enter into covenant with each other and with the world at large, to
strive toward a more equitable distribution of God’s abundance in the world.
Therefore,
be it resolved by the congregation of Faith United Church of Christ that we
will:
1. Create an ongoing program to discern
the means of redressing the inequitable distribution of God’s abundance in our
congregation, our community, our nation, and our world.
2. Act upon the revelations found in that
discernment on a personal, congregational, local, national and global scale.
3. Pledge to continue our current acts of
mercy, regularly evaluating their role in altering the current distribution of
abundance and altering our actions to fit the altering needs.
4.
Maintain
this covenant as a living document by attaching an ongoing list of our evolving
acts of mercy accompanied by an explanation of the needs that make those acts
of mercy necessary so that all may share in God’s abundance. Further, we the congregation
charge the Council of Faith United Church of Christ to regularly update this
list, or to empower a designated body of its choosing to do so, in a manner it
deems appropriate, making those changes known to the
congregation in a timely and well- documented fashion.
Faith United Church of Christ is an open, affirming, just peace, accessible to all, economic justice covenant congregation.
Please join us for worship each Sunday Morning at 9:30 a.m.
