Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ (UCC)

Rock Spring is, and always has been, a congregation with a clear “mission” for outreach through engagement with wider communities—local, national and global. That mission is now captured in the new name for the Board for Social Action and Mission, which combines the former Boards of Social Action and Stewardship. This merger was one of the more pronounced outcomes of the Congregation’s decision last October to suspend some parts of the constitution in the quest to make better use of the time and talents of our members and friends.  The 12-member Board (listed below) represents an impressive cross-section of the Congregation.

There can be no doubt that this Congregation is engaged. Every day members and friends of our congregation work, by profession or as volunteers, in a wide range of organizations to support the disadvantaged. Often there are special events. In March alone:

• Rock Springers joined a 230-person contingent of Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) for an action in Richmond to protect dental care for low income children and adults;
• The Eco-Justice Committee celebrated four years of achievement in greening the Rock Spring campus and is looking forward to Earth Sunday in April;
• Rock Springers joined a large march supporting Immigration Reform in Washington; and
• Janet Parker was the clergy speaker for the Pro-Healthcare Reform rally in Washington on March 9.

Social action runs far beyond the confines of a single board or committee. Two very practical recent examples involved the children and youth of Rock Spring. The PET project, organized by John Heins, will bring wheelchairs to disabled children in Haiti, and hygiene kits for disaster victims were collected for relief efforts of the Church World Service.

But Rock Spring also faces challenges. The most pressing issue is how to handle the sharp reduction in our mission budget (benevolences) that resulted from the heavily constrained 2010 Church budget. The largest single outlay is for Our Church’s Wider Mission. After extensive discussion, Council had to inform the Central Atlantic Conference that Rock Spring’s contribution would have to be reduced by 22-30 percent in 2010.  This message was doubly difficult to convey since Rock Spring is making particularly heavy use of the CAC’s services at present in support of our search for a senior pastor.  In line with a request from the Annual Meeting, proposals will be put to the Congregation in the next few weeks.

We are very keen to be in touch. Comments, suggestions, and questions may be sent to the new e-mail box socialactionandmission@rockspringucc.org or directly to any one of us. Check also for our updated webpage in early April.

The Board for Social Action and Mission includes: Michael Bell (Chair), Martha Huelsbeck (Vice-Chair), Martha Bozman, Hamilton Brown, Takako Dickinson, Martha Haines, Joe Kelly, Anne Koprince, Amy Ovuka, Elizabeth Ravesteijn, Ann Rudd, Hope Schutte.