The ministry's charter includes the following:

• To be responsible for helping the church and its members to live out Jesus' simple charge to "do justice."
• To study the Bible and other sources in order to understand, teach, and celebrate in worship the nature of Christian social justice as God's dream of shalom on earth—well being for everyone.
• To help members of the Church to assess the state of Christian social justice in contemporary life and identify the conditions and barriers to its realization.
• To advise and support individuals and organizations at all levels—local, regional, national, and international, striving to overcome fundamental barriers to justice and striving to promote God's shalom.

How We Serve

In pursuit of this charter the Christian Social Justice Ministry engages in the following activities:

• Letter writing campaigns around specific issues of social justice.
• Classes and seminars to inform members about specific issues of social justice.
• Moments for Justice from the pulpit to inform members about issues and opportunities for advocacy.
• Direct contributions from our budget to organizations—regional, state, national, and international—that engage in advocacy for justice. Examples of current organizations we sponsor include Amnesty International, American Indian Center in Chicago, Bread for the World, Chicago Religious Leadership for Latin America, Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance, Children's Defense Fund, Justice and Witness Ministries of UCC, Protestants for the Common Good, and Voices for Illinois Children.
• The Open and Affirming Task Force operates as a committee of the Christian Social Justice Ministry.

Mission or Social Justice?

The topic often arises as to what exactly is the difference between the work of the Christian Mission Ministries and that of the Christian Social Justice Ministries. Of course the distinction is not always clear and there is certainly overlap, but one can get a feel for the difference by considering a hypothetical problem, and looking at the different approaches to remedying the problem.

Consider, for example, a severe food shortage in a particular part of the world. The Christian Mission Ministry would be likely to spearhead an immediate relief effort to raise money and send food as quickly as possible to feed the starving people. The Christian Social Justice Ministry would be more likely to work with a hunger advocacy group addressing the underlying problems (for example, third world debt) that contributed to the food shortage in the first place.

Generally, the Christian Social Justice Ministries provide financial support to advocacy organizations rather than to immediate need institutions.