Come join us and see how you can help bend our community toward justice!
The Ministry for Social Justice and the Earth (MSJE) for short, is the social action and community outreach team of UUCBV. We strive to understand and address the many injustices faced by the surrounding community, and partner with like-minded organizations and individuals in order to further our efforts.
We are always open to new directions, ideas, and partnerships. You are welcome to join our Email List for updates, and you can join our monthly Social Justice Team meetings by finding the link on our calendar.
Every Sunday, half of the un-directed cash collections from the morning offering go to a nonprofit.
The loose change from the morning offering is collected for MSJE projects.
Too often, congregations – even progressive faith communities – perpetuate a conspiracy of silence around reproductive health issues, especially abortion. This silence can make women reluctant to share their experiences or reach out for support, for fear of being shamed, judged, or stigmatized.
The Reproductive Freedom Congregation initiative is a first step in bringing these issues out of the shadows.
Reproductive Freedom Congregations publicly affirm three principles:
We trust and respect women.
We promise that people who attend our congregation will be free from stigma, shame, or judgment for their reproductive decisions, including abortion.
We believe access to comprehensive and affordable reproductive health services is a moral and social good.
Race matters in our community and it is time that we have open and truthful conversations about it. With community readings/viewing of films/presentations followed by virtual panel discussions, we hope to address persistent racial disparities intentionally, explicitly, and comprehensively and to learn from these discussions. We hope to provide the community forum to effectively engage, sustain and deepen interracial dialogue so that, as a community, we can make changes that will benefit all.
“Confronting Our Racism: A Community Conversation,” that we hope will open up conversations about racism in the community. The proposal is based on a template that another UU congregation, San Gabriel UU in Georgetown, used to stage community readings in Georgetown, TX in August 2020. They had over 270 participants from the community. We have since begun discussions with the BVAAM and UUCBV Boards of Trustees, Brazos Valley Black Lives Matter (BLM) Group, TAMU faculty including Prof. Joe Feagin, Directors of the Bryan and College Station Library Systems and other concerned citizens; all groups involved are very enthusiastic about our proposal to open up discussions about race.
All are welcome.
UUCBV serves as one of the host congregations for the Bryan/College Station branch of Family Promise, a national organization that assists families experiencing homelessness. Members of our congregation help by providing meals, transportation, tutoring, activities, and/or companionship for these families during our rotation every few months. A MSJE representative also attends Board meetings.
To paraphrase their mission statement, TXUUJM educates and organizes member congregations, and partners with sympathetic organizations, in order to advocate effectively for public policies that align with UU values and principles.
Every other year when the legislature is in session, UUCBV joins TXUUJM for a legislative action day, where we gather at the Capitol and speak to legislators about issues that are important to us as UUs. We share our knowledge and strategies with member congregations about UU social justice work in Texas.
UUCBV is a partner church, providing financial and volunteer support for BIIN’s programs and sending a MSJE representative to attend Board meetings on a quarterly basis. This organization works with immigrants in our community, regardless of country of origin or immigration status. They welcome volunteers for citizenship classes, English classes and conversations, tutoring, and client assistance.
