As CRS and delegates sojourn to Jerusalem for our 142nd Annual Membership Assembly, in partnership with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center and in solidarity with Palestinian activists, CRS Manager of Human Resources Rev. Dr. Ebony E. Only shares her Prayer for Peace and Healing in Gaza.

Following the results of Election Day on November 5, 2024, CRS Board Member and Imani Village Ambassador and Community Outreach Organizer Kevin Tyson shares his reflection, considering the rights of our children.

Following the results of Election Day on November 5, 2024, CRS Board Member and Michigan Conference Minister of the United Church of Christ Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel shares her reflection from a swing state.

No matter the final ballot count, we must remember our mission and work continues. We must remain steadfast in our commitment to be vessels of love in the world - during our victories and amidst trials and disappointments. We can acknowledge our lamentations and remain on the wall as truth-tellers, prophetic witnesses, and good troublemakers.

Today is Election Day. That means today, Tuesday, November 5, is the last day to cast our votes for a host of political offices that have the power to determine the course of the future for our individual and communal lives. CRS encourages all who read this to make that choice.

With news of the September 21 mass shooting in Birmingham, Alabama, CRS compels Chicagoans to consider the ties that bind our two cities and ways we can care for our grieving siblings. We begin our Towards a Beloved City initiative, a partnership between community groups, city officials, and concerned people who will unite to reduce gun violence. Learn more in this statement.

CRS co-hosted a prayer vigil with our member congregation, Urban Village Church, at Grace Church of Logan Square for our “We Won’t Bury the Slain: Day of Action” on September 18. Together with site pastors and Black, Brown, white, and LGBTQIA+ communities in Chicago, we embodied the longstanding tradition of acting in solidarity in the pursuit of justice.  

Our voices will resound stronger, louder, and unbroken in unison and Beloved Community. Our foreparents faced setbacks and obstacles. Still, they rose to the occasion for us and generations yet born. We will carry that spirited fire because it is perpetual and vibrantly inextinguishable through the persistence of our prayers, our protests, and our policies.

CRS rang in Freedom Day early and boosted backing for the Free2Move Coalition’s campaign and their petition to end pretextual stops by canvassing at the June 15 Juneteenth Village Fest hosted by It Takes A Village Family of Schools. Check out photos from the fest here!

CRS and the North Lawndale community banded together on the West Side for an outreach initiative to reconfigure the Douglass Branch Library on June 8. In our labor, we sought to provide harmony and learning. Check out the event photos here!

On this Juneteenth, let’s honor our history by continuing our ancestors’ fight for freedom. Read our statement as we celebrate and build political power to ensure that Black liberation is a reality.

In honor of the Juneteenth holiday on June 19, join CRS in uplifting freedom for all! Check out this list of upcoming events happening in Chicago and Illinois.

Join CRS in celebrating love during Pride Month! Check out this list of upcoming PRIDE events happening in Chicago and Illinois.

This Memorial Day holiday, as CRS reflects on lives dedicated to service, moral courage, and the principles of justice, sacrifice, and human dignity, we do so against the backdrop of present-day wars, genocide, and a culture of violence that includes poverty and racism. We are beckoned to memorialize the peacekeepers of our past by being the change agents in this very hour of world suffering and unrest.

We are reminded of the profound message of hope and healing that lies at the heart of this sacred season, including observations of Ramadan, Passover and Easter — each respectively steeped in Abrahamic traditions. It is a time when we reflect upon the ultimate act of love and redemption — the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

CRS shares our deep condolences with the saddening news of another senseless act of cruelty, the unimaginable brutality that stole the life of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins. We extend our heavy hearts to those grieving alongside us.

During an evening worship session of the 2024 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, CRS Executive Director Rev. Dr. Waltrina Middleton provided a moving testimony and call to action. She preached the urgency of uplifting disinvested and displaced communities, not only in Chicago, but in Palestine.

Read staff reflections below of CRS’ powerful fall programming and enjoy photos and recordings! We thank our partners and all those who took part in the 2023 Illinois Conference United Church of Christ Annual Celebration, the A Gathering of Communities conference and our 141st Annual Membership Assembly.  

We oppose the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, which if passed, would ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care and make it harder for trans adults to get such care.

CRS is steadfast in its commitment to honoring the sanctity of life. We grieve the loss of all lives impacted by the culture of violence across the global diaspora, perpetuated through war, racism, poverty, disinheritance, xenophobia and all crimes against humanity, including white supremacist patriarchal systems of oppression.