Conference News
Conference Council Proposal
Greetings Sisters and Brothers of the Northern California Nevada Conference,
This is a very exciting time for our conference as we seek to continue to be a faithful and progressive witness here in California, Nevada and beyond. You know we are in a time of transition. As we look to meet the challenges of ministry here, and under the wonderful leadership of Phil Hart, our Interim Conference Minister, we have sought your input through the Local Church Needs Assessment Survey.read more...
Move Coordinator needed
The NCNC UCC office is moving to a smaller space in the same building. We are looking for a Move Coordinator to help organize and direct all aspects of the move, so that the staff can continue to do their work. Are you interested? Or are you willing to be a volunteer?
Major gift inspires generosity in Calif. congregation's hunger efforts
What began as a simple donation with basic instructions turned into one of the largest donations by a faith-based organization that one California food bank has ever received.
The facts are chilling. Nearly 1 in 4 children in California are now living in poverty according to the recent U.S. census bureau. As poverty figures for the country have increased tremendously adding to the gap between rich and poor, California’s numbers are more dire than the national average, with nearly 6 million people now living in poverty.
This bad news inspired the Rev. Laurie Manning and the justice-seeking congregation at Skyline Community UCC in Oakland, Calif., to take aggressive action when they received a donation of $25,000. The donation came with the simple instructions "to give to an organization that makes a difference in the local community."
"We’re a little church and I’m a little pastor in the big city of Oakland," said Manning. "We want to make a big difference in Alameda County, especially now, in this tough economy where 1 in 6 people don’t have enough money to buy healthy food, especially families with children and the elderly on fixed incomes … increasingly the images of the long food lines from the Great Depression are returning."read more...
News from our Churches
Seeking Sabbatical Minister
The First Congregational Church of Sonoma, UCC, a small, vibrant congregation in the city of Sonoma, is seeking a sabbatical minister (ordained or in discernment) to serve from April 15 to August 15, 2012. We are an Open and Affirming, Earth Care church.
read more...
NCNC Local Church Needs Assessment
Here is the summary report from the Local Church Needs Assessment.
Many thanks to all who participated!
The Big Interfaith Tent at Occupy Oakland: faithfully engaging the 99%
By Rev. Laura Rose
A local pastor’s reflections from the Oakland encampment
Fourteen members of the Interfaith Tent @ Oakland locked arms in front of the Tent and were arrested early Monday morning as the police raided the encampment. It is not surprising that our words and actions have been reduced to a few sound bites and fleeting images by the mainstream media, but there is a deeper, better story to be told.
Our Interfaith Tent is a big tent – spatially and spiritually. The tent has been a sacred space of solace at the encampment, but it has also provided a sacred canopy for an interfaith coalition of Indigenous Elders, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Jews in solidarity with the Occupy Movement, locally and globally.
As someone who pastors a local church less than four miles from the Oakland encampment, I am keenly aware of how critical it is that we challenge the people in our faith communities to engage in soul searching dialogues that force us not only to read between the lines and listen beyond the partisan sound bites but also to grapple face to face with what it means to be the 99% in all its complexity and diversity. So right after our worship service on Sunday morning, just hours before the raid on the Oakland encampment, twenty five of us gathered around the board room table at First Congregational UCC in Alameda, Calif., including two people who would later be arrested.read more...
Churches Celebrate First Anniversary of Shared Ministry
Pittsburg, CA – November 14, 2011 – One year ago Community Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg (CPC) and First Congregational Church of Antioch (FCC) began sharing ministry, combining the two congregations every Sunday morning for worship as well as a variety of extra-curricular activities. The two congregations are now known as East County Shared Ministry (ECSM).
ECSM will celebrate its first anniversary on Sunday, November 20, during the 10 a.m. worship service and in fellowship afterwards as well as an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Dinner at 4 p.m. that afternoon. The service will also include dedicating the Beede Memorial Rose Window in its new location in the historic Stoneman Chapel and the Ruth Custer Memorial Cross atop the church’s north steeple.
The two churches are mid-way through a two-year exploration of similarities, differences and possibilities. The major similarity is that they are two of the few, if not the only, progressive congregations in East Contra Costa County, where all are welcome to worship, to serve, and to give thanks for the many diverse gifts of God among us.read more...
