Please Contact the Church Office at 330/725.4559 for more information on any of these groups.

Local Outreach

Alcoholics Anonymous (Sunday Night AA)

Sundays, 7:30pm
United Church of Christ, Congregational, Carl Jesse Community Room

Alcoholics Anonymous (Thursday Night Men’s AA)

Thursdays, 7:00pm
United Church of Christ, Congregational, Carl Jesse Community Room

Amanda Fund

The Amanda Fund was established several years ago by a member of the United Church of Christ, Congregational and provides financial assistance to those families in Medina County whose children eighteen years of age or younger have a chronic or life threatening illness. Through the Fund, the United Church of Christ, Congregational has been able to relieve some of the burden of medical bills, medication costs, and special medical equipment. Families may apply for aid through the World Friendship Board. Those interested in making a contribution to the Amanda Fund can do so by contacting the church office.

Community Support Services

The Community Services Center is a ministry of the Seventh Day Adventist Church that provides a safety net of services to the poor in Medina County, including food, clothing and counseling.  Medina UCC has an ongoing ingathering of food and nonperishoable items that are donated to the Center.  Members of the Medina UCC family serve as volunteers there and our World Friendship board supports the Center financially. All of the food our church collects is donated to the Medina Community Services Center, as well as other non-food donations.  We also help support them occasionally with financial donations.  Community Services supports and serves the needs of the people of Medina County.

CROP Walk (link)

Each October, members of the United Church of Christ, Congregational participate in the CROP Walk. Through this walk, neighbors work together to take a stand against hunger, raising awareness and funds for both international and local hunger relief and development. Contributions to the CROP Walk are evenly divided between hunger relief overseas and in the United States. A portion of these contributions goes directly to hunger relief in Medina.

Cups Café (link)

Cups Café is a faith-based community café designed to meet the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of young people and families through coffee, comfort, conversation, and community. The Café does not charge for its products or services: anyone who is hungry can stop in for a free bowl of soup, anyone who is thirsty can enjoy a cup of coffee on the house, and anyone who needs to talk can find a listening ear. The United Church of Christ, Congregational supports this ministry through financial gifts made through the World Friendship Board, and a number of church members volunteer at the Café.

Habitat for Humanity (link)

Habitat for Humanity of Medina County is an ecumenical Christian housing ministry that has sought to eliminate poverty housing from the world and make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action since April of 1991. The United Church of Christ, Congregational has partnered with Habitat to provide adequate, affordable housing to Medina County residents in need by providing financial sponsorship of houses as well as volunteer labor. There are many opportunities for church members to participate in Habitat projects in Medina County and throughout Northeast Ohio.

Help a Family, Make a Friend

The Help a Family, Make a Friend program originated in the United Church of Christ Congregational and has been since been adopted by other churches in the Medina community. The program pairs families in need with a team of five partner families from a participating church. The church families support the families in need with friendship and council, as well as through gifts on holidays and special occasions and other needs that the families may have throughout the year. Through these partnerships, which continue year after year, long term relationships are built and nurtured, so that the ministry is shared by all.

Project Learn (link)

Project Learn helps individuals 16 and older improve basic reading, writing, spelling, and comprehensive skills necessary to meet the challenges they encounter in the workplace and other aspects of their daily lives. It also has a bookstore – The Book Shelf – located on the west side of the square. Project Learn was begun by a member of the United Church of Christ, Congregational and was housed at the church for a number of years until it acquired its own space west of the square. The church continues to support Project Learn by contributing to it through the World Friendship Board. Members of the church also volunteer with Project Learn.

Zion United Church of Christ Saturday Suppers for the Homeless (link)

 

Each Saturday, Zion United Church of Christ, located in the Tremont area of Cleveland, provides a full, multi-course dinner to anywhere from 80 to 140 people in need of meal. The United Church of Christ, Congregational has participated in this mission since September 2009, and volunteers serve at Zion UCC on the second Saturday of each month. Those interested in volunteering should contact the church office.

 

Wider Outreach

Back Bay Mission (link)

Since the 1920′s, the United Church of Christ’s Back Bay Mission has served the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the wider church community by faithful witness for social justice and compassionate service to the poor and marginalized. Back Bay Mission provides direct client services including mortgage, rent, and utility relief, transportation assistance, case management support, and referral services. Moreover, for years, Back Bay has provided its signature housing recovery program, working with mission groups from many churches – included the United Church of Christ, Congregational – to rebuild the Gulf Coast. In 2009, Back Bay Mission broke ground on its first full scale housing development, Bethel Estates, which will provide 32 well designed, sustainable, and affordable houses on Pass Christian. Just as importantly, Back Bay Mission provides educational support for its programs, encouraging community support for its projects. Back Bay has been so successful that it has birthed ten new social service agencies. Every year, volunteers from the United Church of Christ, Congregational travel to Biloxi, Mississippi to work with Back Bay Mission to meet the ongoing needs of the poor and marginalized along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Blankets+ Offering (link)

For over 60 years, Church World Service has worked in partnership with local communities to identify their needs and access the resources they need to build the foundation for a more viable future, including blankets, tents, food, and other emergency supplies in the wake of disaster, tools and seeds for refugees returning home, wells for families living in drought prone areas, and literacy training and microcredit for women struggling to realize their potential.

Can Do… TBI

Can Do. . .TBI is a ministry of Medina UCC that advocates on behalf of and provide resources and support to all persons with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).  Each year Stewart Jones (a member of Medina UCC with TBI) travels to Washington D.C. to advocate on Capitol Hill meeting with Congressmen and their legislative aides.

Easter Offering

The Easter Offering supports both the Friends in Need Fund and the Wolff Program for Theological Education. The Friends in Need Fund was established by the World Friendship Board in 2003 to provide help to members of the United Church of Christ who need assistance with basic living expenses. The Wolff Program for Theological Education was established by Rev. Richard and Mrs. Rachael Wolff to provide grants to Ohio Conference United Church of Christ seminarians who are attending theological schools related to the United Church of Christ

Our Church’s Wider Mission (link)

“Changing Lives, That’s Our Church’s Wider Mission” is more than a slogan or phrase; it is the lifeblood of ministry and mission in the United Church of Christ. We support the many local and global ministries of the United Church of Christ through your gifts to OCWM contributions to this offering of our covenant together. Our covenant as local churches, associations, conferences and the national settings of our denomination is made evident through this mission together.

Special Offerings

Each year, the United Church of Christ performs four special offerings that support denominational and denominational partnership ministries in the United States and throughout the world. By giving to Our Church’s Wider Mission through its budget, as well as giving congregation members the opportunity to participate in Our Church’s Wider Mission through these special offerings, the United Church of Christ, Congregational is a five for five church.

Neighbors in Need (link)

Neighbors in Need is a special mission offering the United Church of Christ that ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. The proceeds of the annual Neighbors in Need offering goes to support both the Council for American Indian Ministry and the United Church of Christ’s Justice and Witness Ministries. The Council for American Indian Ministry witnesses both inside and outside the United Church of Christ by giving voice to and for Indian people, throwing off the traditions of colonialism, educating, supporting, and inspiring Native Americans to participate in church life, recognizing the difference that congregations make to their members and community, and participating as an equal partner with the church in all of its activities. Justice and Witness ministries, one of four Covenanted Ministries in the UCC, helps local congregations and all settings of the church respond to God’s commandments to do justice, seek peace, and effect change for a better world.

Christmas Offering (Christmas Fund and Medina Community Services)

Through the Christmas Fund, assistance is provided to clergy and lay employees, both active and retired, of the United Church of Christ in the form of pension assistance, health care premium assistance, emergency grants, and Christmas gift checks. Through giving to the Christmas Fund, members of the United Church of Christ, Congregational, and the United Church of Christ at large, help those who have given their lives to God’s service through the church. The Medina Community Services Center provides needed support to Medina families with food, clothing, gift baskets, and emergency funds.

One Great Hour of Sharing (link)

A part of Our Church’s Wider Mission, One Great Hour of Sharing is a special mission offering that supports the United Church of Christ’s work with international partners to provide sources of clean water and food, education and health care, small business micro-credit, emergency relief, and advocacy and resettlement for refugees and displaced persons in more than 80 countries.

Strengthen the Church (link)

Strengthen the Church is a special mission offering of the United Church of Christ that supports the future of the church by funding new church starts, invigorating existing congregations, nurturing lay and pastoral leadership, building youth and young adult ministries, and supporting the God is Still Speaking ministry and its message of extravagant welcome.

United Church of Christ Global Missions

Global Ministries is the international or overseas witness of the United Church of Christ and our partner church, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  Through Global Ministries the United Church of Christ works with partner organizations around the world to meet God’s people at the point of their deepest needs—spiritually, emotionally, physically and economically – sharing the good news of Jesus in word and deed.

United Church of Christ Seminaries (link)

The United Church of Christ has always stressed the need for an educated clergy. From the beginning it has founded colleges and seminaries across the country. Through CUE, we support three seminaries in our area:  Chicago Theological Seminary (Chicago), United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis) and Eden Theological Seminary (St. Louis).