Outreach & Social Justice

We expect our church community to make us less complacent by encouraging us to follow Christ’s way and serve others in our parish, in our local community, and in the world-at-large. Faced with the distractions of modern life, we strive to focus and stretch ourselves so that we become better, more faithful servants of love, justice and mercy.

Contact the Stretching into Justice Ministry Team at stretchingintojustice@upbrookline.org.

Current Initiatives

Negro Spiritual Royalties Project

On Sunday, October 31, 2021, the United Parish in Brookline launched a brand new racial justice initiative centered on the musical legacy of enslaved African Americans. We started the practice of collecting “royalties” for the African American, or “Negro,” Spirituals we sing in worship.
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Thrifty Threads

Thrifty Threads is located within United Parish and is fully operated by a team of dedicated volunteers. Thrifty Threads has been serving Brookline and surrounding communities in Greater Boston since 1993. We offer good quality clothing and housewares at very low prices — proceeds support United Parish’s outreach and social justice programs. We pass on more than half of the donations we receive to non-profit organizations working directly with people in need. Our work also supports the environment by keeping gently used items out of landfill and instead helping them find new homes.

Brookline Food Pantry

United Parish is an active contributor, supporter, and host to the Brookline Food Pantry. The Brookline Food Pantry provides free food to Brookline families and individuals in need. United Parish is the main location of the Food Pantry.
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Walk for Hunger

The United Parish has a 30+ year tradition of joining Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger, a fundraising and community planning organization for more than 400 hunger programs across Massachusetts.
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Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO)

United Parish in Brookline is an active member in GBIO. The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization is a broad-based, non-partisan, interfaith, multiracial power organization rooted in Greater Boston’s neighborhoods and congregations.
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Mission Giving

At United Parish in Brookline, we are grateful to be able to share gifts with organizations doing good work in a variety of communities.
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Community Thanksgiving Dinner

Each year, we open our doors to the community for a free Thanksgiving meal.
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Mental Health Awareness Team

The mission of the Mental Health team is to create more confidence in our ability to bear witness, to hear pain that is unfamiliar, and to know that we’re supporting each other as we stretch to support a broader congregation.
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Past Initiatives

End Mass Incarceration

Each year, the United Parish Stretching into Justice Ministry Team chooses a theme to expand our shared learning and understanding of a specific important social issue and how it affects our lives as Christians; to focus and unify our congregation and call us into new service projects; and to engage our congregation with new people and service organizations. Several years ago, we focused on ending mass incarceration.
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Responding to Gun Violence

In addition to the direct involvement we take in outreach activities, both as individuals and as a church, from time to time we feel called to express our commitment to social justice by speaking out as a body on issues of importance to our society and the world.
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GreenUP

United Parish has worked together to raise awareness of environmental issues in our community and in our world.
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