The Pension Boards’ Faith and Finance Advisory Group gathered for a two-day meeting October 24-25 in New York to discuss ways the Faith and Finance Initiative can be interpreted and embodied to impact the work and life of the Church and those who serve it.

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.

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).

As she listened to an update Sunday on a resolution passed four years ago urging all settings of the church to divest from fossil fuel companies, Laura Keating texted her pastor, asking if their church had divested.

The answer: no. And not likely to happen due to "oil barons" serving as trustees.

Dismayed, Keating, a Member in Discernment from the Montana Conference, stood up at the hearing and asked: "How can we make changes in churches when the culture is very pro-fossil fuel?"