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Jul 07, 2025

📚 Mission & Justice Invites You to Support the Prison Books Collective

Imprisoned people are underserved in nearly every way imaginable. The Prison Books Collective is one powerful way we can help counteract that injustice with compassion, dignity, and meaningful connection.

This North Carolina–based organization sends over 1,000 books and educational resources each year—completely free of charge—to people who are incarcerated and cannot afford them. These resources provide more than information; they offer joy, relief, and a critical sense of connection to the outside world. They support both personal growth and reentry preparation.

Holy Covenant’s Missions & Justice Team is now collecting gently used paperbacks for this important cause. A collection shelf is available in the Gathering Room.

📌 Please Note:

  • Books must be paperback only (hardcovers are not allowed by prisons).
  • No books with markings or highlighting.
  • No content featuring nudity or gang-related imagery.

📝
Click here for a printable book donation list

Thank you for helping us bring light, learning, and dignity to our neighbors behind bars. At Holy Covenant, we believe that justice includes education, restoration, and the sacred act of remembering those the world often forgets.

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Jul 01, 2025

Logo for Indivisible Charlotte, a regional hub for civic activism, featuring bold red, white, and blue lettering over a background of local community faces.

Logo for Indivisible Charlotte, a regional hub for civic activism, featuring bold red, white, and blue lettering over a background of local community faces.

Indivisible CLT: A regional hub for civic activism and grassroots justice work in Charlotte.

Faith in Action: Responding to Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation

A Justice-Minded Opportunity from Indivisible Charlotte

Holy Covenant believes in living our faith beyond the walls of our sanctuary. We are recommending a meaningful way to put our commitments into action: by engaging with the advocacy tools and events offered by Indivisible Charlotte, a local grassroots network mobilizing people to speak out against harmful, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in North Carolina.

This is not about partisan politics — it is about being the Church in the world. It’s about protecting the sacred worth of LGBTQ+ youth, challenging injustice, and showing up for human dignity.

Indivisible Charlotte is offering practical ways to live our values through:

  • 🚨 Resisting legislation that targets trans and queer youth
  • 🗳️ Advocating for voting rights and fair representation
  • 📬 Participating in letter-writing campaigns and direct action
  • 📣 Attending events that raise awareness and build solidarity

Explore resources and upcoming actions:
🔗 Indivisible CLT Website
📣 Indivisible CLT on Facebook

At Holy Covenant, we are building a church where inclusion is not just a statement — it is a practice. This is one way to be part of that practice. Show up, speak out, and help create the world we pray for every week.

#FaithInAction | #HCUCCEverywhere | #ProtectTransYouth

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Jun 07, 2025

A vivid watercolor cross painted in red and orange, radiating yellow, blue, and green light.

🌈 Charlotte Pride 2025 – Celebrate, March, Lift Every Voice

“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

—Amos 5:24

June is here, and with it comes a celebration of truth, beauty, and belonging: Pride Month. Across Charlotte and the greater region, LGBTQ+ communities and allies are gathering for parades, festivals, film screenings, family events, art shows, and sacred storytelling. This is more than a party—it’s a declaration of dignity.

Holy Covenant UCC stands proudly alongside the movement for LGBTQ+ liberation, joy, and justice. Whether you’re new to Pride or have been marching for decades, this month offers meaningful opportunities to show up, speak out, and experience beloved community.

From SouthPark to Uptown, from libraries to church sanctuaries, Pride is unfolding all around us. And your presence matters.

🎉 Scheduled Events

  • Charlotte Pride Festival – August 16 (12:00-11:00 PM)
  • Charlotte Pride Festival – August 17 (12:00-6:00 PM)
  • Charlotte Pride Parade – August 17 (1:00-4:00 PM)

See the Charlotte Pride website for more event details as they are announced.

💒 How Holy Covenant Shows Up

At Holy Covenant, Pride is more than a month—it’s a ministry. We show up in the streets, in the pews, and at the ballot box. Our sanctuary is a place where queer and trans people are not just welcomed—they are centered, celebrated, and sacred.

This June, we invite you to live boldly into your faith and your truth. Bring your whole self. Wear your rainbows. And let your love shine.

🌟 Be the Church, Everywhere

Whether you attend an event, share a post, or offer a prayer for safety and celebration, you are part of this holy movement. Let us keep marching, singing, and loving—until justice and joy are no longer the exception, but the norm.

📖 And each morning in June, join us on Facebook for our daily devotional series, Sacred, Seen, and Called, from the UCC’s Open and Affirming Coalition—a prayerful companion to your Pride journey.

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Jun 07, 2025

Western North Carolina Association - Southern Conference UCC Banner

📰 HCUCC Everywhere | Regional & UCC News

Local Western North Carolina Association News

The Western North Carolina Association of the Southern Conference announced our new Association Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Tom Warren, Pastor of Peace United Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC.

To read his full introduction letter click here.

UCC News

Service Project at General Synod 35 encourages churches to build ‘banned book’ libraries

by Charles Jefferson, Jr. | published on May 27, 2025

The practice of banning books has been at an all-time high. Last year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reported more than 4,000 unique titles were challenged in public libraries and schools — the most since the office began tracking censorship efforts.

Read the full article

Jun 04, 2025

🌈 The Roots of Pride – A Sacred Timeline

“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

—Galatians 3:28

From the ordination of Rev. William R. Johnson in 1972 to Holy Covenant’s march in the 2024 Charlotte Pride Parade, the United Church of Christ has boldly proclaimed that love is love and sacredness belongs to all. This vibrant Pride History Reel honors the faithful steps and bold leaps that brought us here—and points forward to the justice still unfolding.

📅 Milestones in UCC + HC LGBTQ+ Advocacy

  • 1972 – First openly gay ordination (Rev. William R. Johnson)
  • 1985 – UCC’s Open and Affirming (ONA) Movement begins
  • 2005 – Marriage Equality endorsed by General Synod
  • 2015 – HC celebrates marriage equality in NC with “I Do” outreach
  • 2024 – Holy Covenant marches in Charlotte Pride
  • 2025 – HC continues the sacred work of radical welcome

📚 Pride Reads, Listens, & Views

Explore these bold voices of faith and liberation:

✨ Visit our LinkTree collection for more sacred storytelling.

🌟 Forward Together

This reel isn’t just a look back. It’s a mirror, a banner, a blessing. May it move us toward a future where every body is beloved, every orientation is honored, and every identity is held in the light of divine love.

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May 24, 2025

Compassion Closet logo with white hanger and stylized text on black background

🧺 Share What You Can – Support the Compassion Closet

At Holy Covenant, we believe love shows up in practical ways. This season, we invite you to support The Compassion Closet, a local nonprofit serving asylum-seeking migrant families here in Charlotte by providing much-needed clothing and linens.

🧥 What’s Needed:

  • New or gently used clothing for men, women, and children (clean and laundered)
  • Shoes of all sizes
  • Towels and bed linens (especially sheets)

Your donations offer warmth, dignity, and welcome to families navigating a new beginning.

🧺 Drop-Off: Please place items in the collection box in the Gathering Room at Holy Covenant.


The Compassion Closet logo representing Holy Covenant UCC’s ministry to provide essential clothing, hygiene items, and dignity to neighbors in need in Charlotte, NC.

The Compassion Closet at Holy Covenant UCC offers essential items and radical care to our unhoused and underserved neighbors—because compassion is always in style.

Learn more at culturalcompassion.org/compassion-closet


Thank you for helping us embody compassion and hospitality — one shirt, one blanket, one act of love at a time.

Apr 20, 2025

Holy Covenant UCC Missions and Justice ministry image symbolizing faith in action through outreach, advocacy, and community engagement in Charlotte, NC.

💫 Be the Church: Join the Missions & Justice Ministry

At Holy Covenant United Church of Christ, our faith calls us to act — with love, with courage, and with a heart for justice. Through our Missions & Justice Ministry, we work side by side to build a more just, compassionate, and inclusive world. Whether you’re called to march, plant, donate, or build — there’s a place for you in this movement.

🎒 Backpacks for Kids (David Cox Elementary): Providing weekend meals for students facing food insecurity at our neighborhood school.

🏳️‍🌈 Charlotte Pride & Regional Events: Holy Covenant shows up loud and proud, celebrating and affirming LGBTQ+ lives in the metro area.

🌱 Community Garden: Grown right on our campus, our garden provides fresh produce to Second Harvest Food Bank and Friendship Trays.

🚶 CROP Hunger Walk: A powerful walk raising funds and awareness to fight global and local hunger.

🏃 AIDS Walk Charlotte: We walk in honor and in hope, supporting those living with HIV/AIDS.

🧳 Migrant Assistance: Providing clothing and support to asylum-seeking migrant families in Charlotte.

🍽️ Feed NC: Serving neighbors in need with warm meals and dignity through this regional nonprofit.

🏳️‍⚧️ LGBTQ+ Outreach: Advocating for our LGBTQ+ siblings with partnership, presence, and public witness.

🛏️ Men’s Shelter of Charlotte: Offering care and needed items to men experiencing homelessness.

🥪 Sandwich Ministry: Making bagged lunches for local shelters to extend nourishment and compassion.

🏠 A Roof Above: Helping provide meals and support to neighbors experiencing homelessness.

👕 Compassion Closet: Collecting and distributing clothing and linens to migrant families with dignity.

🗳️ Voter Registration Drives: Empowering every voice through nonpartisan civic outreach.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and make a difference? Whether you can give an hour, a weekend, or a season — you’re needed, and your presence matters.

Let’s build a just and compassionate world — together. 💛

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