BOSTON — The Union Combined Parish announced today that the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church has canceled nearly $600,000 of Union’s debt related to property insurance and mission shares. Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton delivered the news to Union's Pastoral Team on behalf of the Cabinet.
"On the Day of Atonement, you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. You shall... proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you."*
This historic cancellation comes as a result of the “Jubilee: Cancel Conference Debt of Black Churches” resolution drafted by Union's Lead Pastor Jay Williams and passed by the Annual Conference in 2023. The resolution affirmed that “black United Methodist churches and black clergy have suffered deeply” as a result of decades of divestment, denial, and discrimination, and proclaimed the Conference’s belief in the Biblical practice of Jubilee—economic justice and equity. The resolution further affirmed that, in the face of disaffiliations and anti-Black racism, “black United Methodists have remained loyal and faithful to The United Methodist Church.” As a result, 18 Black congregations in New England have similarly had debt canceled.
Read the Jubilee resolution and the Bishop's letter.
We are grateful to the Cabinet, Conference Council on Finance & Administration, and the Conference Board of Trustees for their work to enact this resolution. And we know that this is just the first step of many in actively investing in Black churches through reparations and proactive funding.
*Leviticus 25:9-10
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