The United Church of Christ has a long history of “doing justice” dating back to standing with abolitionists in the early 1800s. Our denomination stood in the ‘60s with the Civil Rights movement. We’ve been advocating for LGBTQ rights since the ‘70s. We took on environmental racism in the ‘80s. And in 2005, we were the first denomination in America to endorse marriage equality.
Plymouth UCC has been doing justice since our founding in 1857 when we were known as an abolitionist church. Throughout Plymouth history, we have been on the side of peace, social, economic and racial justice. Since the 1930s our church leaders have been spearheading interfaith and racial justice work in the community and various groups at Plymouth have held numerous studies and forums over the years on current issues. See Plymouth’s 150 Year Anniversary notebook, 2007.
The mission of the Plymouth Justice and Peace Action Network is to grow in love of God and Neighbor through an action, education, communications and event promotion network for Plymouth members to advocate for policy changes at the local, state and national levels on a variety of peace and justice issues. Our mission aligns with being a Just Peace church that seeks Peace and Justice in the community, so that all may live free from fear; with the earth, so that all life is sustained; in the marketplace, so that all may live with dignity; and among the nations, so that all lives are protected.
We often use resources available on the UCC website and work in partnership with faith groups like the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, Interfaith Power and Light and other denominations, as well as community advocacy groups like the ACLU Iowa, Iowa Movement for Migrant Justice-IMMJ (formed through the merger of American Friends Service Committee and Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors), and Iowans for Gun Safety, among others. We share and promote those action alerts but realize that only committee members within Plymouth may be aware of this advocacy information.
To engage more congregants in advocating for justice issues locally, we are creating the Plymouth Justice and Peace Action Network (P-JPAN). This is similar to the UCC JPAN but focused on Plymouth people who are not necessarily on a board or committee but who would like to receive periodic action alerts, and information about events and resources related to public policy issues.
P-JPAN includes these boards and committees: Board of Christian Social Action, Board of Benevolences, AMOS, Anti-Racism, Creation Care and Justice Coalition, Cuba Partnership Team, Human Trafficking, Peace and Justice Committee, RENEW, Transition from Prison Ministry, and Welcoming Migrants Committee. We are working together to promote advocacy around issues that we care about, such as immigration, voting rights, gun safety, racial justice, lifting the blockade against Cuba, climate education and action, training businesses to be aware of human trafficking, and a host of other issues.
Action alerts will be developed by each group for their issues and then congregants can choose which action alert(s) they wish to receive by topic. Each group will send its own action alerts, as well as information about events and educational pieces related to the group’s issues. We also are working with the Plymouth Staff to integrate P-JPAN into the church’s new database system.
We are called to live out our faith in today’s world, to pursue God’s requirement to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly. Will you join us to do this justice work? Make your voice heard on issues that will create God’s Kingdom on Earth! Sign up for the P-JPAN network below.
P-JPAN Sign-Up
Below are examples of the action alert issues that committees in the P-JPAN network are working on, have worked on or might work on. Please review the issue areas for each committee to determine which committee’s action alerts are of greatest interest to you. You may sign up for more than one set of action alerts.
- AMOS: Housing, anti-racism, racial justice, mental health, racial profiling.
- Anti-Racism: Voter ID, voter rights restoration, racial profiling, anti-racism, racial justice, red-lining, indigenous peoples.
- Creation Care & Justice Coalition: Climate education and action.
- Cuba Partnership Team: Reduce/eliminate travel restrictions, lift the blockade.
- Human Trafficking: Work with Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking (NAHT) to support federal, state and local legislation on human trafficking, specifically sex and labor trafficking.
- Peace and Justice Committee: No war in Iran, Palestinian/Middle East peace issues, gun violence prevention, economic justice, nuclear weapons reduction.
- RENEW: Adult English language learners, citizenship.
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Transition from Prison Ministry: Provide mentorship to people coming out of prison to foster their smooth transition into civilian life. Criminal justice reform. Prison reform. Advocate for removal of barriers for felons – driver’s license; debt to state; unreasonable fees charged by the state; housing and employment barriers.
- Welcoming Migrants Committee: Immigration, detention, family separation, path to citizenship, welcoming refugees and migrants, DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals), TPS (temporary protected status), financial support for basic needs for unauthorized migrants during pandemic.
