UCC Called to Care

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The United Church of Christ, or UCC, is a Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States. The United Church of Christ was started in 1957 with the union of two Protestant denominations: the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches. The United Church of Christ has since grown to expand with 5,000 churches and nearly one million members across the United States.

The United Church of Christ developed the Called to Care program in 1991 as part of an ongoing commitment to strengthen secular leadership. The resource is meant to aid churches or other organizations in developing a caregiving program, train caregivers, and continue to develop and support the program and the caregivers. Caregiving programs can take many forms and have included programs that organize visitation of members and friends who are homebound, in hospitals or care facilities, provide assistance for particular groups such as young mothers, the recently widowed, or a program meant to aid the community or offer services to groups outside the church such as those with mental illness or hospitality for resettling refugees. The resource has been adopted across the United Church of Christ and in other denominations by congregations and programs. It was updated in 1998 and 2008.