2018 FSA Debit Cards to Arrive Mid-December

The Flexible Benefit Plan for UCC Ministries, also referred to as the Flexible Spending Account or “FSA,” will be administered by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield beginning in 2018. New FSA debit cards, effective January 1, 2018, will be issued and mailed by Highmark to FSA Plan participants’ home addresses in mid-December. Please be on the lookout for your new card!

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Boost Your Credit Scores

Your credit scores, sometimes known as “FICO” scores, are used by lenders and other businesses to assess your creditworthiness and general financial reliability. Also, lenders use your scores to determine your credit limit and the interest rate you’ll be charged. While there are many different versions of your score in use, those tabulated by the Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) are the most frequently used today

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The Impact and Gift of CREDO (Part Two)

Forced to choose, I prioritized opportunities that aligned with the Grand Dream and let go of those that did not: A conversation with the BBC about God in the U.S. election? Yes, ahead of all else. Organizing the Council to make a new policy, even on a pressing matter? No. Providing the best sermon I could manage? Yes. Fellowship lunch after church with long-time members?

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The Impact and Gift of CREDO (Part One)

by Rev. Jennifer Mills-Knutsen

In this two-part testimonial posting today and tomorrow, the Rev. Jennifer Mills-Knutsen, Senior Minister of American International Church in London, shares her personal ministry and health journey, highlighting the significant role CREDO played during her season of transition.

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Stories of the “Inuits”

During the gala dinner at the Annuitant Visitor Seminar in St. Louis, September 7-10, 2017, the Rev. Deborah Streeter of Carmel, California, an Annuitant Visitor for the Pension Boards-United Church of Christ (PBUCC), addressed the nearly 150 Annuitant Visitors, spouses/partners, and PBUCC staff, with her lessons learned from her Visitor experiences. She expressed her delight in hearing the stories of these “remarkable people.”

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Minister’s Housing Allowance

March 15, 2019 - The Seventh Circuit issued its decision in Gaylor v. Mnuchin today and upheld the constitutionality of the housing allowance under section 107(2) of the Internal Revenue Code.

 

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Wisconsin Clergy Housing Allowance Ruling

Updated April 30, 2018

The status of the clergy housing allowance continues to generate much discussion in the media and among clergy in all denominations.

On April 26, the Church Alliance – a coalition of the chief executive officers of 38 denominational benefit programs, including The Pension Boards-United Church of Christ – filed an amicus curiae brief in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (Chicago), in the case challenging the constitutionality of the cash housing allowance exclusion for clergy.

The Church Alliance brief focuses on the jurisprudential history of permitted legislative accommodations of religion and brings to the court’s attention the particularly strong reliance interests that would render a change in the law on this point inappropriate and unjust.

The full text of the brief may be found here. Please also see the links below for additional information.

 

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Ministry of Visitation – Paying it Forward

The Rev. Richard L. Floyd, Pastor Emeritus of First Church of Christ (UCC) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is in his third year serving as an Annuitant Visitor on behalf of the Pension Boards. He shares his personal experience as both the recipient and giver of this compassionate ministry of visitation. Rev. Floyd is a member of First Congregational UCC in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and resides in Pittsfield. An author and blogger, he is also a contributing writer to the United Church of Christ’s StillSpeaking Writers’ Group.

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Annuitants – A Responsibility of the Pension Boards

The Rev. Dr. Richard W. Brandon of Wildwood, Missouri, a member of St. John’s United Church of Christ in Chesterfield, Missouri, has served as an Annuitant Visitor for four years on behalf of the Pension Boards. He shares about one special visit with a widow named “Emma” (not her real name).

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