Mission Work
Our congregation is dedicated to serving causes both in our community and abroad. Our mission activty falls into three main categories, namely Food Insecurity, Housing Insecurity, Justice Action and Other Community Support.
Click on the headings below to view the various initiatives in each category.
HOUSING INSECURITY
FAMILY PROMISE OF HUNTERDON COUNTY Family Promise of Hunterdon County has become an important focus of our mission at Grace UCC. From the Family Promise website:
“Family Promise of Hunterdon is the only homeless shelter for families in Hunterdon County. Family Promise and the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) is a unique community partnership of paid staff and volunteers from a vast network of congregations throughout Hunterdon County. We offer a continuum of services that includes shelter, food, homeless prevention/rapid re-housing, mental health services and after-shelter support. Our volunteers offer even more – love, support and companionship.”
RARITAN VALLEY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Habitat for Humanity International is a non-profit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry with the goal of making decent, affordable housing available to every family worldwide. Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity (RVHFH) is committed to achieving that goal in Somerset and Hunterdon counties. Grace UCC is and has been a faith partner with Habitat’s home building projects in Somerset, Franklin Township, and Bridgewater, New Jersey. Grace UCC helps build these homes via financial and “hands on” work. Thank you for your support of Habitat and Grace UCC to make these homes possible.
HURRICANE MARIA RELIEF After Hurricane Maria GUCC sponsored a crew that restored roofs blown off during the storm. We also sponsored a family in Puerto Rico for a year after they lost their home in the storm. Both of these efforts were part of larger interfaith initives.
FOOD INSECURITY
FLEMINGTON FOOD PANTRY Our collections for the Flemington Area Food Pantry are held the last Sunday of every month. Please bring the needed items (please see the food pantry website for the most up to date list) and place them in the blue bin marked “food pantry”. Someone from the church will deliver them to the Flemington Food Pantry (Currently suspended due to COVID19).
Flemington food pantry: 154 Route 31 North, Flemington, NJ 08822. 908-788-5568
MINI-FOOD PANTRY#2 Grace UCC is proud to participate in the founding and maintaining of the second min-food pantry, located at the Salvation Army on East Main Street in Flemington. The project is a joint venture between Grace UCC, Flemington Salvation Army, and Flemington Lutheran Church.
AMERICA’S GROW-A-ROW Gucc volunteers participate weekly in the America’s Grow-A-Row Gleaning program. Volunteers pick-up produce from area supermarkets and deliver it to food pantries around the county. We have also participated in group gleaning activies for all ages.
CHICKEN FEED SPONSORSHIP We provide chicken feed monthly for a congregant who raises chickens soley to donate eggs to local food pantries.
PEACE AND JUSTICE ACTION
PEACE CAMPAIGN Here at Grace UCC we support efforts for peace in our community and in the world.
We are co-sponsors of the Annual Multifaith Service and Conference for Peace.
COALITION FOR PEACE ACTION We are members of the Coalition for Peace Action.
MILFORD SATURDAY GATHERING IN SOLIDARITY The last Saturday of every month we join members of other area churches in Mildford, NJ to stand in solidarity with People of Color in Hunterdon County. As a church we have committed to participating once per month, but the group meets weekly, and anyone can join them on any given Saturday. Bring your own sign.
JUSTICE BLOG We maintain a weekly blog of justice action opportunities. The weekly blog roundup is emailed out to our email list every Monday morning to give congregants opportunities to serve justice, and love kindess. Submissions for the blog are welcome and can be sent to our web curator at Kelly.Ospina@graceuccnj.org.
ANTI-RACISM WORK As individuals and as a congregation, we have been working to become more actively anti-racist. We began with inviting the Hunterdon County Antiracism Coallition to come present to the congregation and lead us in a privilege walk. Sometime later, we did a group book reading about undocumented immigration and hosted the author who spoke to us more about the issues. We are currently participating in an interfaith weekly anti-racism book club and discussion group.
OTHER COMMUNITY SUPPORT
PENNIES AND NICKELS We ask members and friends to save their pennies and nickels and bring them to church, placing them in the silver “Change Bowl.” With these pennies and nickels we have, through Church World Service (CWS) and other agencies, been able to buy water containers, tents, and other items for those struggling with poverty.
CHILD/ADULT SPONSORSHIPS Currently, we sponsor a young adult from Zambia through the Christian Children’s Fund named Messia. We also sponsor an elder individual, Mrs. Lomo.
ANGEL PATROL Each year, members of Grace UCC form a team to buy Christmas presents for families in need in the community. The families are identified by Family Promise, and the Grace UCC Angel Patrol does the purchasing and wrapping of the gifts.
EMERGENCY MISSION FUND Grace maintains an emergency fund that can be quickly deployed as needed to assist those in need. This fund has helped many local families in numerous ways, some within our congregation but many who are not.
RARE PROGRAM SPONSORSHIP The Rapidly Accelerated Research Experience (RARE) Program at Lehigh University is a focused pre-admission-to-graduation undergraduate STEM immersion program with the overarching goal of improving retention and graduation rates for students.
The program focuses on students from backgrounds underrepresented in STEM fields, first generation college students, and students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.
RARE participants are provided with research experiences, intensive mentoring, and professional development opportunities. The RARE Program was initiated at Lehigh in 2014 with funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, MD.
Annual Coat Drive Grace UCC hosted the very first Annual Coat Drive. We still continue to provide volunteers for the coat drive today. The event was originated by Hunterdon Hispanos in 2006, and was hosted by Grace UCC in the Flemington Women's Club. The event was then taken over by the YMCA and grew to serve hundreds of local families each year for many years. Today, the event is conducted under the auspices of the Flemington Salvation Army and is helping even more local residents stay warm.
In addition to these core priorities, we also take on projects or get involved with activities organized by others or that our congregants are involved in, such as the the Salvation Army’s Hurricane Aida flood relief efforts. These types of ad hoc initiatives are too numerous and varied to list, but we put all funds received and our time and energy to good use to serve justice, and love kindness every day in as many ways as possible. Mission related inquiries can be addressed to our website curator at Kelly.Ospina@graceuccnj.org.
Our Church’s Wider Mission
We are proud of being a “5 for 5″ church within the United Church of Christ. “5 for 5″ means we financially and prayerfully support the following:
UCC Basic Support (OCWM-Our Church’s Wider Mission): Provides funding from congregations for Conferences and the national ministries of the United Church of Christ (Wider Church Ministries, Local Church Ministries, Justice and Witness Ministries, General Ministries, and Pension Boards).
UCC SPECIAL MISSION OFFERINGS (Part of Our Church’s Wider Mission (OCWM), these four offerings sponsor vital ministries that bring hope to people in the U.S. and around the world.):
One Great Hour of Sharing (Fourth Sunday in Lent): Channels resources for international programs in health, education and agricultural development, emergency relief, refugee ministries, and both international and domestic disaster response, administered by Wider Church Ministries, Global Sharing of Resources.
Strengthen the Church (Pentecost Sunday): Supports leadership for new and revitalizing congregations, programs for youth and young adults, and leadership development for the whole church. UCC Conference and Local Church Ministries carry out these ministries.
Neighbors in Need (First Sunday in October): Supports ministries of justice and comparison throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, including the Council for American Indian Ministries (CAIM), justice and advocacy, and direct service projects supported by Justice and Witness Ministries.
The Christmas Fund (Sunday before Christmas): Helps provide pension and health premium supplementation to low-income retired church workers, emergency assistance to clergy families in need, and Christmas checks to hundreds of annuitants, as administered by the Pension Boards.