All About Church Day

The richness of life in the Northern California Nevada Conference UCC seems most evident and inspired when members of local churches come together to share their hopes and successes with one another, affirming our common life.

Local church leaders are eager to learn and share in countless areas of church life. The sharing of our experiences also helps us to know we are not alone in the challenges we face in the church today. Our members are eager to learn ways of sharing the joy of life in Christ in their local settings. We also delight in sharing with one another our successes and insights as to how we can best be the face and hands of Christ in the world.

Our NCNC Annual Gathering has been a wonderful experience of being the Church for and with one another. To this we have added twice-yearly Church Day* gatherings in March and October at various local churches around our conference. Church Days extend the opportunities for us to be together as members of NCNC UCC and help us to offer practical applications of many aspects of ministry. Various local churches host these events, making them easily accessible to and giving various local churches and associations an opportunity to showcase and share ideas from their own successful ministries.

 Our Church Day logo echoes the NCNC theme Rhythm of Abundance, with five designated areas of church life: Worshiping, Connecting, Learning, Serving, Giving. At each Church Day event all five of these activities by which we express our life in Christ will be represented in the topics offered.

At the first Church Day event, held at Orinda Community UCC in March 2009, 100 persons attended,  joined by another 100 persons attending concurrent programs, as described below:

Two other conference sponsored programs are planned at the same location and concurrently with each Church Day event.

PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARY TRAINING is a requirement for continued standing as an authorized minister in NCNC UCC.  At each Church Day event, a 6-hour course in either Basic or Advanced Boundary Training for authorized ministers will be included. Authorized ministers are required to take Basic Boundary Training first, then renew their requirement every three years by either repeating the basic course or taking the Advanced Boundary Training course.

UCC IDENTITY SEMINARS is an annual four-part series for ministers and laity alike who wish, for a variety of reasons, to learn more about the United Church of Christ. The seminars are held in February, March, May and October of each year. In March and October, seminars on the topics of History and Theologizing, respectively, are held concurrent with Church Day.

*Inspired by the successful NCNC Forums for the Future held in 2005-06, the name Church Day came from the German "Kirchentag" held since 1949. Check out www.kirchentag.org.uk

Kirchentag was begun in 1949 by Reinhold von Thadden-Trieglaf as a lay movement following the isolation of the church from the state during the Nazi era. The purpose was to "draw together Protestant Christians in Germany in order to strengthen them in their faith, to prepare them for responsibility in their churches, to encourage them in witnessing in the world, and to have solidarity with those in the worldwide community of Christendom."