Peace and social justice

• We helped lead peace vigils during the mobilization for war with Iraq.

• We educated ourselves about how the Patriot Act curtails our civil liberties.

• We spoke out about Hillsborough County’s 2005 “gay pride” ban.  (We were the first organization in Hillsborough County to do so!)

• We participated in the March on Washington to End the War on Iraq in September 2005.

• We condemned the use of torture on prisoners.

• We began consciously educating ourselves about being better stewards of God’s creation.

• We, along with other UCC congregations and other religious organizations, supported efforts aimed at reinstating Largo’s city manager, who was fired in 2007 for revealing that she was going to have sexual reassignment surgery.

• We endorsed the Earth Charter.

• We clearly stated our opposition to the so-called Florida Marriage Protection Amendment (Amendment 2) and submitted a resolution to the Florida Conference of the United Church of Christ for the delegates’ consideration at the 2008 Annual Meeting.  It was approved overwhelmingly!  We worked tirelessly against the discriminatory amendment, encouraging voters to vote “no” in November of that year.  Unfortunately, the amendment passed.  Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of marriage equality, we are excited to be a church that marries same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

• In celebration of our 125th anniversary, we declared ourselves a Multiracial and Multicultural church and reaffirmed our commitment to be an Open and Affirming church.

• We took on the issue of LGBT teen bullying and suicides to bring
  awareness to this important issue and to let lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young people know that we are indeed a church that fully and unconditionally welcomes them.

• We are speaking out and taking action on the gun violence that is plaguing our country. We began participating in the Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath Weekend with other congregations around the nation. Also, to increase public awareness, we update a weekly tally of gun deaths on a sign that we maintain on Fowler Avenue.

• In 2016, we added a Spanish-language worship service to better serve the needs of our Hispanic neighbors who seek a progressive and inclusive expression of Christianity.

• In celebration of our 131st anniversary, we adopted two more Core Values. We declared ourselves to be an Accessible to All church to better include people with disabilities into the full life of our congregation. We also declared ourselves to be a Relationship-Building church, which highlights our desire to work with interfaith, ecumenical, and secular communities to address issues of common concern in our community and throughout the world.

• In 2018, we moved from our Fowler Ave. location to share in worship and space with St. John Presbyterian Church. In addition to having a larger, more accessible space, this church campus includes a Judeo-Christian Health Clinic, thrift shop and a community garden. Through our capital campaign, we will be able to commit ourselves to making the dream of the Peace Village a reality here.