The second ask
The divestment pledge.
What it means for a church to pull its money from the occupation — and the pledge that makes it real.
What we’re asking
To divest is to withdraw two things at once: our money, and our blessing. Not because a church’s dollars will bankrupt an arms maker — but because the church cannot pray for Gaza on Sunday while funding its destruction through the endowment on Monday.
This is not a boycott of everything Israeli. “Complicit” means companies that consistently, knowingly, and directly enable the genocide and occupation, as identified on two published, researched lists: the AFSC Investigate divestment list and the UN database of businesses tied to the settlements. The recurring names: Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, Chevron, Palantir, GE Aerospace, Motorola Solutions, IBM, and the five largest Israeli banks.
The church has done this before
Quakers dropped Caterpillar in 2012. The Presbyterians divested $21 million in 2014. The UCC in 2015, the Mennonites in 2017, the Episcopal no-buy list in 2019. In 2025 the largest faith-based pension fund in the world — Wespath, $26 billion — excluded the bonds of occupying governments. And in July 2026 the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) named the genocide, 454–15, and unanimously divested from Palantir and GE Aerospace.
When your congregation takes this pledge, it is doing what a major American denomination did last month. Not something reckless. Not something new.
Where your church’s money actually sits
Your bank.
Operating accounts and reserves. Your board controls this completely — and for a small church, the bank is the lever. Major banks finance the arms trade; credit unions and screened banks don’t.
Your endowment.
Your trustees choose the manager and the funds. Screened, values-aligned funds already exist inside church ecosystems.
Your denomination’s funds.
Pension boards answer to denominations, not congregations — so the pledge asks you to petition, and petitions are exactly what moved Wespath.
Your members’ retirement.
The 401(k)s in your pews. Weapon Free Funds shows what any fund holds; the guide walks a member with no investing background through every step.
The pledge
Because we have named the genocide in Gaza, and because we will not fund what we cannot bless, our congregation pledges:
- 1.To examine, within ninety days, every place our money sits — operating accounts, reserves, endowment, and the funds we reach through our denomination.
- 2.To adopt an investment policy that excludes companies which consistently, knowingly, and directly enable or facilitate genocide, apartheid, or war crimes, as identified on the AFSC Investigate divestment list and the UN database of businesses tied to the occupation.
- 3.To sell what we hold in those companies and not buy it back; to let any Israel Bonds mature without renewal; and to press the managers of our pooled funds for screened alternatives.
- 4.To petition our denomination and its pension boards to do the same with the funds we cannot move ourselves.
- 5.To report what we find and what we have done — to our congregation and publicly — within one year, and annually until the work is complete.
The honest objections
“Our trustees have a fiduciary duty.”
A church’s funds are held in trust for its religious purpose — aligning investments with that purpose is fiduciary faithfulness, not a breach. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund made the same moves.
“Our money is too small to matter.”
One endowment won’t move a stock price. But over 1,000 congregations and organizations have already pledged to cut ties with the occupation, denominational funds have moved billions, and every public pledge lowers the cost of the next one.
“Shouldn’t we engage as shareholders instead?”
The denominations tried — for ten to twenty-five years — before divesting. Engage everything else; divest from these.
Ready — or almost ready
Whether your board votes next month or you’re one member with a question, we’ll walk with you the whole way.
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Every congregation ready to lead will find us alongside them the whole way. — hello@churchdivest.org