One Great Hour of Sharing
Special UCC Offering

The theme for this year OGHS is Let Love Flow and what a need we have to be joyful and  overflowing, with love and generosity!

How can you give?

• A special offering will be taken during worship on Sunday April 11th, 2021.
• You can also give online by clicking the green “Give Online” button.
• You can also mail in your donation to:
  First Congregational UCC
  2201 7th Avenue
  Moline, IL 61265
• Special One Great Hour of Sharing offering envelopes will be available on Easter and Sunday April 11th.

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A Note from the UCC

The theme for the 2021 One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) offering is “Let Love Flow.” When you share your gifts to OGHS, you Let Love Flow. Your generosity ensures that, even in the midst of uncertainty, the transforming power of love will continue to change the lives of those who are most vulnerable among us. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare structural inequities that contribute to increased poverty and injustice. On full display is the plight of the working poor who have lost jobs, are on the brink of homelessness, and are waiting for hours in long lines at food pantries.

Deadly wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and wars have left people homeless, families grieving loss of loved ones and entire communities awaiting assistance for long term disaster recovery. Refugees and asylum seekers are left in limbo, languishing at borders waiting for welcome. Many have been displaced by economic conditions, war and climate change. Among the millions of refugees are families looking for safe places that they can call home. In the midst of these despairing moments, the United Church of Christ is able to offer hope as we stand in solidarity and mutuality with communities suffering and in need. Through Wider Church Ministries, the United Church of Christ fulfills its commitment to respond to a variety of global and local concerns by providing advocacy, sustainable development resources, long term disaster recovery support, and assistance for refugee and asylum seekers, working in collaboration with our partners locally and globally.

“Sandra, a Congolese refugee, was welcomed and resettled in 2018. She is one of more than a dozen refugee women using skills she learned in RefugeeOne’s Sewing Studio to make face masks as a way of giving back to the place she now calls home. RefugeeOne is one of the partners engaged in refugee and sustainable development programs supported by your generous donations to One Great Hour of Sharing.

With your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing, we are able to be present for the long term in disaster recovery, as we partner with churches and organizations around the world to walk with families as they rebuild their homes and lives. Thank you for your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing, as together we build a just world for all.

With Gratitude and Hope,
Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson
AGM, Wider Church Ministries
and Co-Executive Global Ministries

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What is One Great Hour of Sharing?

In addition to Our Church’s Wider Mission (Basic Support), the United Church of Christ has 4 Special Mission Offerings (SMOs). These offerings exist to allow congregations and individuals to meet people at points of critical need in their lives. Though many options exist for direct, individual support of these needs, the SMOs allow a common witness and make a collective positive impact. Our church has identified four areas where these critical human needs exist:

• One Great Hour of Sharing—in places lacking health and educational resources and/or where disaster has struck;
• Neighbors in Need—within systems of injustice which oppress daily life and opportunity;
• Strengthen the Church—in the nurture of youth and congregations just beginning their lives of faith;
• The Christmas Fund—in the lives of church leaders without sufficient resources to live with dignity;

We believe these SMOs collectively serve to lift people closer to the abundance and wholeness to which Jesus Christ has called us to work together to bring about. Join the other 1,000 churches that have made the decision to become 5 for 5 congregations, supporting OCWM and all four of the Special Mission Offerings.