The Heart of Our Faith
Local Community Service and Outreach
Collective Witness and Activism
National and International Issues
Our Partners in Ministry
THE HEART OF OUR FAITH
Social justice is at the heart of our understanding and practice
of the Christian faith. It is in our bones. It started with our
work in support of community racial integration and for quality
education in all city public schools. In the face of a changing
neighborhood, Park Hill Congregational Church fought the forces
of fear and flight and actively welcomed new neighbors as equal
partners.
That witness continues today through our welcome and advocacy on
behalf of LGBT persons – as an “Open and Affirming Congregation”
– and extends to the peaceful resolution of conflicts worldwide
– as a “Just Peace Congregation” of the United Church of Christ.
Through our Board of Social Justice and Outreach, we seek to
gather the collective strength of the congregation on such
diverse issues as health care for all, immigration reform,
environmental issues, and other matters of justice, equality,
peace, and compassion. While we seek to address systemic issues
of injustice, in the meantime we care for those on the margins
in numerous ways – financial support, volunteerism, education,
and awareness-raising.
In addition to our collective witness, our style is to encourage
mission and service on an individual basis – discipleship in our
daily lives. Not all of us are engaged in every project, but
individuals are encouraged to engage their own justice and
outreach ministries in expressing their faith.
Finding ways to support those in need, as well as transforming
those cultural and institutional systems that abuse the poor and
disenfranchised are central to our understanding – at the heart
– of Jesus’ claim on the faithful.
LOCAL COMMUNITY SERVICE AND OUTREACH
Every year in early November we organize our own
Fair Trade Gift
Market, just in time for holiday gift buying. Every dollar from
the sales of crafts, jewelry, food items, or other products goes
back to the groups and artisan cooperatives involved. This huge
annual undertaking enables friends and neighbors to "buy with a
conscience" and provides a way to “spread the wealth around.” In
2008, the weekend sale resulted in $11,000 for a dozen different
groups. Contact our office for future dates or to volunteer.
Church members can be found providing a meal at
Senior Support Services every third Thursday of the month. Senior Support
Services is a program run by the Volunteers of America. Our meal
feeds 60-80 mostly homeless individuals. Contact our office to
volunteer – we need cooks, servers, and cleaner-uppers.
A group gathers on the second Wednesday of each month, 6 pm - 8
pm, to prepare meals for
Project Angel Heart, an organization
started to deliver meals to persons living with AIDS, but which
has expanded to serve anyone with a life-threatening condition.
Helpers chop vegetables, sort fruit, and do other food prep
needed for the next day’s meal.
Every fall we go out to glean produce from area farms that is
distributed to metro food banks through the
COMPA Food Ministry.
This activity usually happens one Saturday in September or
October (the kind of produce and the date varies year-by-year
and with the weather). It’s a few hours of “hard labor” throwing
cabbages to the truck or bending over to cut peppers. Contact
our office if you’d like to join us.
Every quarter we work with the Interfaith Hospitality Network,
an organization that assists families to find permanent
housing. For the week we are involved, IHN's Denver Central
program is based at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Park Hill.
We are one of several churches in the area that helps St. Thomas
provide meals, transportation and supervision for families in
the program. Typically we provide the Friday dinner; individual
volunteers choose additional activities during the week. The
2009 schedule is: March 22-29, June 14-21, Sept 6-13, Dec 13-20.
Every October we join with other congregations in the Park Hill
neighborhood for a Crop Walk to benefit Church World Service.
Members of the church pledge for those who participate in the
walk. In 2008, our 20 walkers collected over $1,700.
We have a box in the church for people to bring non-perishable
food every week. Most of it is taken to support the Greater Park
Hill Food Bank, but we also support the food bank at the Denver
Inner City Parish and have supported the pantry at the United
Church of Montbello.
Members of the Music Ministry participate in the annual MS Walk
in early May.
Members of the church are involved in many other non-profit
agencies and organizations, including the Victim and Offender
Reconciliation Program and the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado.
In addition, through our annual budget, we provide support to 20
other groups. For a complete list of our partners in ministry,
click here. Maybe you’d like to get involved too!
For five years we worked with other congregations and Habitat
for Humanity to build homes in partnership with families with
limited income. We contributed significant funds and volunteer
labor to complete five homes.
COLLECTIVE WITNESS
Our activism takes us to the street several times a year. On
Martin Luther King, Jr., day each year a group from the church
participates in the Marade (March/Parade), walking from nearby
City Park to downtown. Thousands of people participate in one of
the largest MLK events in the nation.
We were one of the first churches in Denver to march in the
annual LGBT Pridefest. With members walking alongside our float,
we seek to counter those who would marginalize anyone who seeks
in sincerity to worship God and be Out and Proud.
When called upon, we gather with others on the State Capitol or
City Hall steps to protest a community injustice or advocate for
legislation that would serve the “least of these, my brothers
and sisters.” Joined with others from interfaith groups or
progressive allies, our presence and witness makes a difference.
NATIONAL AND
INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
