December - The Christmas Fund

Purpose 
The Christmas Fund provides a lifeline of hope to many lower-income active and retired clergy and lay employees in the United Church of Christ. Gifts to the Christmas Fund help provide pension and health premium supplementation to low-income retirees, emergency assistance to the families of clergy and lay employees and Christmas “Thank You” Gift checks to hundreds of annuitants. 

Mission 
The Mission of the Christmas Fund is to provide assistance dollars in situations of critical need, while reserving the dignity of those who receive the aid. You can honor the Christ Child during this season by bringing gifts that will be used to support and honor those who have served, and are serving, this beloved church. Your gifts will truly represent the incarnational nature of the church at its best. For 110 years, the Christmas Fund for the Veterans of the Cross and the Emergency Fund has been a means by which we-as members of the United Church of Christ and its predecessor denominations- reflect the light of God in the world, individually and in community. The Christmas Fund, one of four Special Mission Offerings received annually in the United Church of Christ, is a beacon of light for many who have served, and who     continue to serve, our church. We are grateful for your partnership in this vital ministry, and ask that you consider supporting the Christmas Fund Offering again, prayerfully and to the best of your ability. Your gift to the Christmas Fund helps us to reach out in love and compassion to provide assistance to those in the greatest need, who selflessly have given of themselves for the sake of the Gospel. On behalf of the 1,600 + clergy and lay individuals and families who received some form of Ministerial Assistance since the last Christmas Fund Offering, the members of the Pension Board express their deep gratitude to you for your generosity. May the light of Jesus Christ shine brightly in your life, now and always.