Outreach & Mission

Social Justice Witness

Our Social Justice Committee is an important ministry of Outreach & Mission. Responding to Jesus’s call to love our neighbors as ourselves, Pioneer Congregational United Church of Christ is passionately committed to working for social justice through preaching, prayer, education, direct service to our community, and public policy advocacy.

The Pioneer Church is committed to the following social justice issues:

  • LGBTQ freedom and equality.
  • Homelessness and affordable housing.
  • Disability rights.
  • Racial justice.
Go here to learn more about our church’s commitment to social justice.
 

Seeking to speak truth to power, the church’s advocacy is directed toward the decision-makers in our community, such as elected representatives and voters, but may also coordinate with UCC bodies, the California Council of Churches, and other state, national, and international social justice organizations. To get involved, please contact the Social Justice Committee of the church.

National Social Justice Issues

Our denomination, the United Church of Christ, provides you a way to get involved in justice issues around the country. Go to their Justice and Witness Take Action website to discover how you can get involved, wherever you are, to take action now to help those suffering injustice.

We provide donation baskets for particular items that you can donate every day. We collect items for local food pantries, Clara’s House, and Wind Youth Services. Look for the baskets inside the sanctuary. Check our weekly Sunday bulletin and e-newsletter for specific items we’re collecting at any given moment.

Community Missions

Sack Lunches for the Unhoused

We provide free sack lunches for those who ask for them, whoever asks for them. In it, we have tuna, chicken, or tuna salad, chips, cookies, fruit, and water. 

Respite Centers with Local Churches

Our congregation has begun a new outreach effort by partnering with specific local churches with particular in-person volunteer mission and outreach efforts providing help around food insecurity, public policy advocacy, mental health, and various service projects. 

HART Respite Centers work with a variety of local congregations to provide a morning respite center for the unhoused. We have been invited by the clergy in the following churches to volunteer with their respite programs:

  • St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1701 L Street, Sacramento, Tuesdays, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
  • Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 2620 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, Fridays, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM

If you would like to volunteer, all you need to do is show up at either church on the given day. Each respite center will train you accordingly. You may volunteer once a month, once a week, or whatever fits your schedule. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Pastor Bo.

Food Pantry Donations

Our church along with many other churches, synagogues, and mosques partner together to confront the hungry and unhoused population of Sacramento. Each congregation contributes by donating food, finances, and volunteer hours to help provide for the needs in the area. We regularly collect and donate food to the South Sacramento Interfaith Partnership Food Closet. For more information about the organization, visit https://www.ssipfoodcloset.org/. To donate food, bring your donations to the church and we’ll deliver them during the week.

Wind Youth Services

Wind Youth Services believes that promoting the safety, shelter and self-determination of all youth experiencing homelessness, including those who are unstably or unsafely housed – regardless of their ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, sobriety status, engagement in the sex trades, and legal history – is fundamental, not only to their human rights, but also to the promotion of a more socially just and equitable society.

The Pioneer Congregational Church provides particular donated items and financial contributions and assistance. To learn more about Wind Youth Services, visit their website at https://www.windyouth.org/. To donate items, bring your donations to the church and we’ll deliver them during the week.

Sacramento Area Congregations Together

The Pioneer Congregational Church is an active church in the Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT). The organization is a multicultural, non-partisan, interfaith organization that empowers everyday people to create a more healthy and just community. ACT’s members include over forty faith communities, neighborhood groups and schools representing at least 40,000 families in Sacramento County.

Sacramento ACT believes that the promise of our democracy requires everyday people to have the skills, organization and opportunity to advocate effectively for themselves in the public arena.

As part of the PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing )National Network, Sacramento ACT serves as a convener and catalyst for transformation, builds partnerships to develop and implement changes, brings our diverse community together and provides opportunities for people of faith to translate their vision of God’s love for the world into action. For more information, please visit: https://www.sacact.org/. To attend their monthly planning meetings, please contact Pastor Bo.