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Strengthen the Church
Sample Letter, Articles & Announcements
(It’s as easy as cut and paste!)
Sample Announcement Letter
To be sure your congregation is well-informed, send a letter like this one at the start of your
offering promotion, generally about three weeks before Dedication Sunday. Enclose a
Strengthen the Church bulletin insert and offering envelope. You might want to add a hand-
written note like “See you in church.”
Dear Friends,
Each year I look forward to signs of new life as Spring takes hold and moves towards
Summer. With God’s strong sun to warm the earth, and a little nurture from us, gardens
bloom and thrive. I rejoice in their beauty, breathe in their fragrance, and know I have
received a great gift.
It’s a lot like that in our church, isn’t it? Here we flourish in the warmth of God’s love and
nurture of our life together. Here we find welcome, acceptance, grace and love. Gathered by
God, we grow, and serve, and find food for our spirits. Here we discover a gift too great to be
kept to ourselves. We want to spread the love.
Each year, we receive a special offering that helps the church’s love to grow and thrive.
Called Strengthen the Church, this offering funds new congregations and renews existing
ones. It supports programs for youth and young adults and nurtures current and future
leaders. And it sends the God is Still Speaking Ministry’s message of extravagant welcome
and inclusivity into our world.
We will receive this offering on May 31 – the birthday of the church – Pentecost Sunday. I
invite you to celebrate by giving to Strengthen the Church. Your generous gift today ensures
a vibrant church tomorrow.
Spread the Love. Strengthen the Church. God is still speaking,
Peace,
(Signature)
Sample Reminder Note Card
or Sunday Bulletin Insert
Remember! Next Sunday, May 31 – Pentecost – we will be receiving Strengthen the Church,
a special mission offering that helps to grow the UCC as a vibrant community of God’s love
through support of the God is Stillspeaking Ministry, Local Church Ministries and our local
Conference. Please join us and spread the love!
Page 1 of 4
Strengthen the Church
Sample Letter, Articles & Announcements
(It’s as easy as cut and paste!)
Sample Newsletter Article
On Sunday, May 31 – Pentecost – we will be receiving the Strengthen the Church special
mission offering of the United Church of Christ. This offering builds the UCC’s future. It funds
new congregations and renews existing ones. It supports programs for youth and young
adults and nurtures current and future leaders. And it aids the God is Still Speaking Ministry
and its message of inclusivity.
Directed to local Conferences, Local Church Ministries and the Stillspeaking Ministry,
Strengthen the Church gifts help to create vibrant church communities of extravagant
welcome. [Insert one of the stories below or a story from your Conference.]
Newsletter Story Insert 1
Following a God without Limit
Historically serving immigrating, first and second
generation Filipinos, Moanalua Community Church
UCC, Honolulu, is in transition. When you believe
vital, healthy churches welcome ALL peoples from
ALL walks of life because GOD IS A GOD WITHOUT
LIMIT, you use your strategic location, their Pearl
Harbor Memorial Chapel on Naval property, to
welcome a very diverse military population.
Members of Moanalua draw on their rich history of
strong extended families, to offer themselves as an extended family to military
personnel far from home. Through their Preschool and Day Care Program and
partnership with a predominantly Caucasian, military congregation, they live their
vision with help from a Strengthen the Church Revitalizing Church grant.
Page 2 of 4
Strengthen the Church
Sample Letter, Articles & Announcements
(It’s as easy as cut and paste!)
Newsletter Story Insert 2
Making God’s Love Visible
At First Congregational UCC in Santa Rosa, California,
the vision is “Making God’s Love Visible…” Excited and
enlivened by the Holy Spirit, we are transformed. Reaching
out, we become what our hearts can see.
Unbinding the Heart groups encourage and equip disciples to
engage their talents in community ministries. Open and
Affirming, the church leads in performing same-sex marriages in the area. Youth
have participated in the last three National Youth Events. Worship reaches
across cultures, including Samoan and Ghanaian, for a common life in God.
A Strengthen the Church Revitalizing Church grant supports this “beacon
church” of growth and vitality.
Newsletter Story Insert 3
Take the Journey
“Life is a spiritual journey, but it can be tough to find time
for your soul in the craziness of life. Get out of the fast
lane once a week. Come join us. Take the Journey.” –
an invitation to Journey UCC, Prairieville, Louisiana, a
new church start supported by Strengthen the Church.
“Faith is a Journey – not a guilt trip” is something many
yearn to hear. A bi-racial family felt ignored or unwelcome in five churches
before coming to Journey and feeling loved. People reached by Journey’s FEMA
trailer park ministry of visitation and care packets are touched and grateful. To
those who “Take the Journey.”
Page 3 of 4
Strengthen the Church
Sample Letter, Articles & Announcements
(It’s as easy as cut and paste!)
Newsletter Story Insert 4
Now Is the Time for New Church Development
UCC Conferences are discerning strategies to claim “Now Is
the Time for New Church Development.” From Southeast
Conference’s “Nehemiah Initiative: Building Transformational
Churches in Our Still Speaking World,” to “Make the Vision
Plain: Church Development in the Pennsylvania Southeast
Conference” … from Illinois Conference’s “LEEAP” (Local
Evangelism, Envisioning and Planting) to “The 20/20 Vision: 20
New Churches for the New York Conference, UCC by the
Year 2020”… these and others offer bold, strong, Spirit-filled
plans to plant new churches where the need is great, with
broad support of the Strengthen the Church offering.
Page 4 of 4
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