Mission & Outreach

"We are a Community Seeking to Share God's Love"

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Mission Giving Dashboard - 2023

 

Souper Bowl of Caring - February $73.00

One Great Hour of Sharing - March $ 238.00

Mother's Day Cards - Church World Service - May  $120.00

Strengthening the Church - May  $200.00

Father's Day Cards - Church World Service - June

Neighbors in Need - October

Santa Fund for NM Social Services - December

Christmas Fund - Veterans of the Cross - December 

Litchfield South Association $405.00

Southern New England Conference, UCC $3,125.00

United Church of Christ

Silver Lake Camp and Retreat Center

 

in addition, the Mission Committee makes grants totaling over $3,400.00

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 Our Congregation Seeks to Serve More Than Those In Our Church

We Seek To Extend Our ReachThrough

Our Church's Wider Mission

A Descriptive Video

 Our Church gives beyond ourselves through

the Southern New England Conference of the UCC

and the National United Church of Christ, as well as its agencies.

 

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Supporting Others

 

People of Ukraine

We continue to encourage aid for the people of Ukraine, as the war grinds on.

LINK to read about our United Church of Christ's response to the war as well as our relief efforts.

We have been receiving generous donations to extend our reach into these relief efforts.

You can send your donations, payable to the Church, and marked with "Ukraine" in the memo,

to the Church Office.

 

A Prayer on the first anniversary of the War:

Creator God, maker of all that is good.

Comforter God, restorer of peace between all peoples. 

Redeemer God, healer of wounds that inflict trauma and chaos:

We turn to you this day crying out for an end to a war that rages across the land of Ukraine, threatens the lives of its inhabitants, and displaces millions of children no longer able to sleep in their beds, attend their schools, or play with their friends. 

May your Spirit of Peace soften the hearts of the politicians who rattle their sabers and threaten nuclear annihilation. 

May your vision of a just world thwart the ambitions of dictators who are thirsty for conquer and lusting for lands over which to rule.

May your hope of shalom engender within our own hearts the call to let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with us. 

Help us find the pathway to peace, a Just Peace, built on human rights and equity not just in Ukraine but in every land where bombs and guns are the sounds to which children fall asleep and from which families flee. 

You are the source of our peace. 

You are the horizon of our hope. 

You are the author of our love. 

May the promise of your enduring peace, your abiding hope, and your everlasting love sustain us all and bring the promise of a new and better day to the people of Ukraine. 

Amen. Written by the officers of the United Church of Christ.

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Earthquakes in Turkey and Syria

Feb. 23, 2023: The news continues to unfold about the devastating earthquake on the border of Turkey and Syria. The death toll continues to rise - numbers above 65,000. This is shattering news and adds to the challenge of the war in this area for over a decade.

 

Our church, through its' long-established network of partners is already on the ground - working...

More information here: LINK

 

We are also mindful of people living through the devastation of hurricanes and flooding.

 

The United Church of Christ gives us ways to channel our support so that donations go as directly as possible to neighbors in need. You can send your donations, payable to the Church and marked with Turkey/Syria in the memo, to the Church Office. 

 

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Giving to Special Appeals and Situations

Reaching Out Responding and Making A Difference Beyond Roxbury

There are so many needs right now and we have the opportunity to help from our comfort and relative wealth:

 

For giving through the United Church of Christ online using a credit card securely:

https://www.ucc.org/giving/donate-now/general-donation/

 

(In the drop-down select “disaster relief” and note the location in the memo.)

 

 

Checks made out to Roxbury Congregational Church can also be sent to the church where they will be sent on to the appropriate agency working on our behalf

 

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Our Congregation Seeks to Share God's Love!

We believe in a God who has called each of us to help our neighbors

whether in town or around the world. We are citizens of God's world.

 

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Extending Your Reach

We Extend Your Reach at home and around the world 

through our denomination and partner agencies.

Here is the 2022 Listing of Grants from Roxbury Church

LINK

To Find out more about how you, through your church, serve others around the world,

click here on the Global Ministries page and click on a region.

Important note: 100% of your financial donations go directly to aid others.

 

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 Our Church's Wider Mission - Extending Our Reach!

 

We carry this out through a number of diverse mission projects through financial support, prayers, and education. They include:

Basic Support - support of the Southern New England Conference and the wider United Church of Christ.

 

Also these 5 United Church of Christ special offerings:

One Great Hour of Sharing, Assisting global village development and disaster assistance

The Christmas Fund - Veterans of the Cross, aid to retired clergy with low retirements and benefits

Neighbors In Need, assisting neighbors here in the USA including native americans

Stregthen the Church - assists churches with financial needs.

Strengthen the Church provides extra funding in areas of youth leadership development

 

Association of Religious Communities in greater Danbury serves the wider community in housing ministry, domestic violence prevention, and inter-faith understanding through the cooperation of the broad spectrum of religious communities of our region.

 

Christian Community Outreach Ministries serves in Danbury to those who are caught between the systems that support people in need. Revs. Merideth and Wanda Payton have residential, job training, support, and service opportunities. Christian Community Outreach Ministries, Inc. is a Christian-based community organization whose purpose is to offer support and resources to individuals in order to aid in the transformation toward empowerment, self-sufficiency, and an increase in the quality of life through Judeo-Christian values.

Services and supports:  Provides for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of individuals in the community.

 

Andover Newton Seminary at Yale Divinity School New Haven, CT  Mission Statement: a graduate theological school in the Reformed Tradition, in faithfulness to Jesus Christ, we strive to educate leaders who are: enlivened by rigorous study in a community embracing diversities of faith and life; devoted to the renewing of church and society through ecumenical witness and creative expression of the Gospel and committed to enacting God's ways of justice and live in the world

 

Brian O'Connell Homeless Project a modest grant to help this small ministry in providing necessary daily use items directly to homeless persons. Named in memory of one who died on the streets of Waterbury.

The Crosby Fund for Haitian Education  The Crosby Fund for Haitian Education (CFHE) was founded in 2004 by Rebecca and Frederick Crosby of Old Lyme, CT, to provide full scholarships for secondary education to academically gifted students living in the Artibonite Valley (north of Port-au-Prince), who otherwise could not attend school. In 2006, we expanded the program to include university scholarships, and, in 2009, we initiated our technical school scholarships in the hopes that both of these programs would prepare students for professional careers in Haiti. This expansion of our program was a natural outcome due to the success of many students graduating from high school and the need to continue their education for future employment.

 

IRIS - Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, based in New Haven, this organization work with community groups to sponsor and settle refugees in local communities.

Washington Refugee Resettlement Project, we have teamed up in support of our neighbors in settling a refugee family in New Milford.

 

Seafarer's Friend, based in Boston, MA Provides for the spiritual, social, emotional, and physical needs of sailors on shore in Boston, MA, Portland, ME, and Portsmouth, NH
 

Holy Joe's Cafe , a ministry founded through the First Congregational Church of Wallingford, CT, supports the work of US military chaplains overseas with coffee and supplies so that they can provide the setting for pastoral interactions with those involved in a war and the aftermath.

 

Renewal House (formerly known as Shelter of the Cross)  – provides transitional housing, support, and services for elderly homeless men and women in the Greater Danbury Area.  

 

Back Bay Mission– Biloxi, Mississippi - a community ministry of the UCC, serves the Mississippi Gulf Coast and the wider church community poor, homeless, victims of AIDS or substance abuse; works with teenagers and works to provide affordable housing after Katrina.

 

Uplands Retirement Village– a nonprofit continuing care retirement community of independent living, assisted living, and long-term care in Pleasant Hill, TN.  Uplands is home to over 300 people who value simple living and serving others.  It has been particularly attractive to those who have served the world as doctors, nurses, teachers, missionaries, pastors, engineers, and volunteers

 

Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, New Milford – runs the New Milford Community Hospitality Kitchen, which serves meals to the needy.  Sponsored and supported and staffed by area churches.

 

The Greater Danbury Women's Center - free and confidential services to women, children and men of Danbury and area towns to prevent or lessen the trauma associated with domestic violence, sexual assault, and other major life transitions.
 
Simply Smiles- provides loving homes, appropriate educations, and every chance at happy and successful lives for impoverished children.  Works supporting the mission of the Casa Hogar Children's Home in Oaxaca City,  and has built homes for the 33 families who call Oaxaca's garbage dump home(Mexico). They are currently working in the southern jungle region with food distribution for hungry families affected by the globalization of coffee. Simply Smiles also works in South Dakota on an Indian reservation there. Described as "third world", S. S. is working to rehabilitate housing and provide for basic needs. Our congregation sent mission trips to both Mexico and was one of the first to go to South Dakota in 2010. We have returned in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018.

Team Nilab refugee support of an orphan refugee in Waterbury 

Daily Bread Food Pantry- – at St. James Episcopal Church, Danbury, distributes food staples to needs CT residents.

 

United Church of Christ Disaster Ministries

United Church of Christ Mental Health Network

Micro-loan Program, UCC Wider Church Ministries – microloans to needy women around to the world who require equipment/materials to support their families.

 

Silver Lake Conference Center in nearby Sharon. We support camp scholarships for those who are in financial need.

 

 

In addition, we serve others with:

 

Mother's Day Card donating a blanket in their honor through Church World Service

 

Father's Day Card program - "Tools of Hope" purchasing tools in their honor through Church World Service

 

The Santa Fund, (also known as St. Nicholas Fund) a regional program of providing gifts and clothing to needy living in New Milford and neighboring towns including Roxbury. Based at New Milford Social Services.

 

Roxbury Resident Relief Fund is coordinated through the Roxbury Social Services Director.

 

Minister's Discretionary Fund, is a confidential source of help for those in need. Funded primarily from the Christmas Eve service offering and some donations.

 

Your Directed Gifts to help in disaster situations. (earthquake, flood, Typhon, famine, etc.) 

(100% of the donation goes directly in the locality to help)

 

These gifts flow through our UCC and to agencies such as Church World Service and others

Additional information is made available during the year on our Bulletin Boards in Fellowship Hall. We invite all to peruse the notes of thanks from the folks you help as well as learn more about the agencies.

 

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Mission Trips

Chris and Janet Childs with Roberto in Oaxaca, Mexico 2010.

Simply Smiles Mission Trip ~ Oaxaca, Mexico 2010

 

 

CRST - South Dakota - 2010

 

CRST -South Dakota 2012

 

 

CRST - South Dakota - 2014

 

 

CRST - South Dakota 2016

with Guilford, VT group

 

 

 

Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation trip 2018

with the Congregational Church of Ann Arbor, MI