Our Purpose

We connect members with couples, set professional standards and represent membership in public discourse. Our goal is to support secular marriage officiants with the performance of their duties.

Connecting with Couples

Many marriage officiants join the Justice of the Peace Association to be found on findaJP.com, the place where couples who click go to find their perfect marriage officiant! We are all that, and we are so much more!

Professional Standards

Through our Code of Ethics, we set the professional standards for marriage officiants. This signifies an expectation for our membership, and lets couple clients have confidence in the services that our members provide. Members are assured to be in good company.

We hold our membership to these ethical standards as a continuation of our guiding principles. FindaJP and JPus’ foundation is love. All love. We are an inclusive organization that stands for equality for all people. And our activities reflect these values.

Advocacy and Representation

As the professional association for secular marriage officiants, accordingly, we represent the profession in discussion, debate and advocacy. Specifically, our role is to ensure that our members’ needs are well represented.

In addition, members look to us to take a position on issues that affect them as marriage officiants. JPus was an early advocate for marriage equality. Now we continue be a voice to ensure same sex marriage remains a right in this country. Similarly, other issues we care about are child marriage, forced marriage and human trafficking. To help amplify our message, we establish formal partnerships with organizations that share our goals. Read more about our Partnerships here.

Education and Training

Our membership relies upon the Association to keep it current with governmental and societal developments that affect them. Our cooperative and interdependent relationships with policy makers helps us achieve this goal. They give us early access to relevant changes in law and practice so we can share it with members. Education and training is provided through professional development articles, webinars and training certification. We publish a bimonthly newsletter and host professional conferences. In fact, the first JPus conference took place in 2005 and welcomed members and non-members. Although it was held in Connecticut, attendees traveled from all over the northeast.

Networking

Even though our members live in various states, pre-COVID we created opportunities to get-together in-person. To keep everyone safe, now we Zoom. In addition to the conferences, we reach out when the town clerks gather. Check out our networking events.

Social media lets us connect on a regular basis without worrying about our proximity to one another. A lively members-only Facebook group serves many purposes. It’s a sounding board for JPs; a place to ask for help creating a special ceremony; to connect with officiants who agree to back each other up in case of emergency; to hear others’ experience with wedding expos or advertising; and to discuss issues that only a fellow JP or notary would understand. Members and non-members follow our Facebook page. LinkedIn serves as a networking opportunity where marriage officiants can also connect with those in governing bodies. It has a more formal flavor. Plus, since the pandemic, we’ve started Zoom discussions too.