Massachusetts Conference Edition
Return
to main page
Read
National Edition
Read the UC News Spotlight E-Newsletter
Return
to main page
Read
National Edition
Read the UC News Spotlight E-Newsletter
February/March 2006
Willie Sordillo, Administrative Assistant to the Office of the Minister and President, recently reported that UCC churches in the Massachusetts Conference and beyond are continuing to find their Verizon Yellow Pages listings under the category, ‘Church of Christ,’ rather than ‘United Church of Christ,’ despite efforts across the denomination to address the problem.
Verizon apparently dropped the “United Church of Christ” designation as part of an effort to streamline church listings over a year ago. Objections by representatives of local churches, the Conference and the national setting resulted in it being reinstated in some directories but not in all of them.
The UCC’s legal counsel has advised that there is no legal recourse and in order to correct the situation, each church must monitor its own listing.
Sordillo advises: “If you purchase a listing in the Verizon Yellow Pages, please look carefully at your bill before paying it to determine if your church will be listed correctly. If the listing shows that your church will be listed under the heading, ‘Church of Christ,’ our advice is not to pay the bill, but instead to call your local Verizon Yellow Pages agent and explain that the listing is incorrect. Politely let them know that the Church of Christ and the United Church of Christ are two very different denominations, and that you will not be giving your business to Verizon unless they make the correction.”
“If you pay the bill when the incorrect listing is sent to you for approval, you have agreed to the incorrect listing,” warns Sordillo.