Prominent in Jesus’ prophetic ministry are his challenges to unjust and harmful economic practices. He understood the violence and human cost of predatory economic systems and sought to upend them.

Jesus’ witness – preaching the currency of love and denouncing the commerce of greed -- invites us, as people of faith, as congregations, and as a denomination, to examine our economic priorities and investments. Are they consistent with our values of love, justice, and compassion? Whether shopping or investing, might we inadvertently be contributing to harms such as unjust labor practices, environmental degradation, the war machine, and genocide? Are we profiting at the expense of others?

UCC MPS’s Divestment Team has been addressing these questions. Human rights for Palestinians constitute our plumbline, and Palestinian civil society’s 2005 Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel provides our mandate. We have been focusing, in particular, on the ‘D’ of BDS: divestment. We seek to engage and support our UCC conferences and congregations in thinking critically about their investments. Do our investment portfolios include companies that profit from Israel’s occupation and genocide? If so, we want to point congregations and conferences to socially informed and responsible investment opportunities which avoid harm and instead promote justice for Palestine...

Click the button below to learn more about how your congregation can engage in more responsible investment practices.

If your congregation is interested in divestment, but not sure where to start, you may reach out to our MPS Divestment Team by emailing steering committee member Stephen Gasteyer at gasteyer@msu.edu.

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This excerpt is from the UCCMPS October 2025 E-Newsletter. To view the full newsletter, click here:
UCC MPS October E-News 2026