We grow in our faith through service and social witness.
At UPC, what begins in worship and education carries through into our relationship with the community around us, and with all of God’s creation. By lifting our voices in advocacy, by serving our neighbors face-to-face, and by supporting our friends and partners all over, we try to put our faith into action. Even during the pandemic, there are still many ways that you can come alongside us as we seek to live out God’s commandment to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”
Doing justice.
We interpret the changing world around us through the lens of our Christian faith. We create spaces for learning about social issues within our church congregation, as well as providing opportunities for advocacy and for cooperation with other engaged faith communities. If you want to act act on social issues through civic engagement in Austin and Central Texas, or through our Presbyterian denomination, we can help you do that!
Loving kindness.
We connect with our community through ministries of service, love, and relationship, even during the pandemic. Our UPLift financial assistance program continues to find ways to serve low-income and homeless neighbors through community partners that work directly with our neighbors in need. The Micah 6 of Austin coalition of churches continues to operate their food pantry from the lower level of our education building on San Antonio Street Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. And we hope to be able to return soon to Reynosa, Mexico, to help our friends at Faith Ministry build houses for their community. If you’re looking for an opportunity to give back, we can help you find one.
Walking humbly.
We know that we can’t go it alone. And so part of our commitment to our community is to build partnerships with organizations doing other critical word — in the campus community, throughout Austin, and through our connectional Presbyterian church — and to support them with our time and our resources. We also work to provide our congregation with regular opportunities to support socially-conscious vendors and artists.
Every Advent, you can find fair trade items at our annual Alternative Gift Market. Shoppers can purchase items from vendors from fair trade organizations, mission partner organizations, or church members crafts. All proceeds from the market go to support particular ministries or mission partner organizations.
The Presbyterian Coffee Project offers fair trade coffee, chocolate, olive oil and more year round. You can purchase after in-person church services or through online order forms. Proceeds help small farmers through the Equal Exchange program.