DENOMINATIONAL MEMBERS
Wear Your Support to Help Stop Gun Violence – Shirts Available for Sale
Help us spread Gun Violence Prevention Awareness by supporting the cause and saving lives. One Team. One Goal. A whole lot of support. We’re thrilled to share some exciting updates on all the great things happening at the Gun Violence Prevention Committee of the Ohio Council of Churches. Our resources are expanding with Committee members’ input.
Welcome to the Ohio Council of Churches
A Jesus Christ Movement For Unity, Justice & Peace!
The Ohio Council of Churches (OCC) is a partnership of 17 Christian denominations in 23 different organizational configurations or judicatories throughout Ohio. While our administrative offices are in Columbus, the Ohio Council of Churches is much larger than any office; it is all of us, together, across Ohio!
Justice & Advocacy Ministries
Mental Health Stigma Reducation
Fair Legislative Maps
Join Us for Advocacy In Advent: A Lame Duck Lobby Day
December 10, 8:45am at the Ohio Statehouse
JOIN FRIENDS FROM AROUND THE STATE: We have an opportunity to pray and encourage our public officials to answer their call to be public servants.
NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! All we need is you, we will set up legislative meetings, print off materials and provide a policy briefing beforehand. Your stories and passion are a powerful witness.
RSVP's are needed to allow us to schedule legislative meetings before the event.
The Lame Duck is the legislative session after the election, but before the new legislative leaders are sworn in. Legislators in their final 2 months will be able to finish up their work from the past two years. Anything not sent to the Governor by the end of December will have to start the legislative process all over again!
With so much going on, we will coordinate faith leaders and community members to lift up the needs of Ohioans struggling to make ends meet to help our legislative leaders remember their call as public servants.
The Day:
8:45 Gather at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus. Over coffee and refreshments we will pray and hear from policy experts who will brief us on the issues of the day.
10:00 Legislative teams will go across the street to the Ohio Statehouse for pre-arranged legislative meetings
12:00 Boxed Lunches will be available at Trinity Episcopal for you to stay and eat or carry to your next meeting.
1:00 Afternoon meetings will last until 2 or 3:00 (Come for all or part of the day!)
Each team will have at least 1 experienced advocate to lead the group.
Thanksgiving Thoughts for 2024
by Rev. Dr. Amariah McIntosh, Associate Director,
The Ohio Council of Churches
Today is the day the US observes Thanksgiving Day, I want to share a Thanksgiving thought expressed by Dr. Michael Jinkins, a former President of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
“Perhaps the purest form of thankfulness is simply not to take life for granted as we are living it. Just paying attention in the moment may be the most sincere expression of devotion in response to God the Giver. Perhaps, in fact, it is a prayer of gratitude more profound than any ever to enter the official liturgies of our churches just to savor those silent moments sitting with an aging parent who may not remember our visit; or listening to the problems facing a maturing child without giving-in to the temptation to offer advice; or sharing a glass of wine with a spouse or partner or friend who has had a really, really bad day. Herein may lie the mystery of the Eucharistic feast, reminding us that the very word Eucharist is all about a kind of thanks we offer because we have noticed God at work among us. I suspect that at life's end we will regret how poorly we attended to the ordinary occasions of tenderness far more than many of the things that clamor now for our attention."
On this Thanksgiving, on behalf of the Governing Board and Staff of the Ohio Council of Churches, I want to encourage us all, whether we will celebrate the holiday surrounded by loved ones or separated from them by miles, not to fail to appreciate the moment when it is here. If we are with our families, let us enjoy the warmth and insanity, the unintended humor, the differences between us that make us irritating and the similarities that make us even more unbearable to each other. And if we are separated, for God's sake, let's pick up the phone and not let the moment pass. Let's make it clear that we are not giving up on life or each other by treating life and those we love as the miracle they are.
Life as we have experienced it is so fleeting. Over the years people we knew and were close to one Thanksgiving were gone by the next one. As a pastor I conduct or attend many funerals during a year. Some deaths are expected, others are not. I see the pain in the eyes of families, especially during holidays. These losses impact them during this time of the year and only time helps them move through the stages of grief until they can finally come to accept that death is a part of life.
Each day that God’s grace gives you is a time to express thanks rather than regret or complaint. None of us knows what the future holds but we know who holds the future. Today, pause and give thanks. Paul reminds us that it is the will of God concerning us.
We would also like to take this time to remind you that Tuesday, December 3 is Giving Tuesday. As you consider your charitable giving support on that day, please consider a gift to the Ohio Council of Churches. No amount is too small.
You may use this link to make your gift anytime between now and Tuesday.
With thanks,
Rev. Dr. Amariah McIntosh
Associate Director
