A week before Christmas, our senior ministries fellowship group hosted an all-church carol sing.  It was an opportunity to venture away from the sacred songs we sing in church like "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" and embrace the zaniness of songs like "Frosty the Snowman."  When it came to "Deck the Halls," the phrase, "Fast away the old year passes" struck me.  2014 seemed to pass by a lot faster than any year I can remember.  That may not make sense when you look at time as a constant, but it makes sense when it comes to an individual's perception of time.  For example, even though a minute always contains sixty seconds, there's a big difference between that one minute you have to get out of the office once you set the alarm but realize you left your phone on the conference table and the one minute your trainer requires you to hold a push-up plank.  Time is relative.  Even Einstein affirmed that measurements of various quantities of time are relative to the velocities of the observers. If that's true it means I must have been moving pretty fast for this year to go by as quickly as it seemed to me.  

Think about it though.  In the past year, we've said farewell to our transitional Regional Minister Mary Jacobs and welcomed our new Regional Minister LaTaunya Bynum.  We also welcomed Jim Thomas as our new Ministry Associate for the Regional Church Office.  We held our Annual Gathering at a local congregation for the first time since 1985 when it was held at First Christian Church in Stockton.  The Youth were quite active this year too as they planned and held a number of lock-ins and camp reunions including the annual Holiday Lock-In in February.  Our Outdoor Ministry program at Community of the Great Commission had 169 campers.  Four congregations who were prayerfully seeking ministerial leadership found pastors whose gifts and graces for ministry fit the church's ministry needs.  We also said farewell to some dear friends and staff members who have faithfully served the Regional Church.  Paula Pociecha, our Minister of Congregational Care and Women's Ministries retired and Ministry Associate Quan Walker moved out of state.  Add to that women's retreats, men's retreats, clergy retreats, clergy boundaries training, seminary students preparing for ministry, churches committed to reconciliation ministry, and churches involved in transformational ministry.  Those are just the things that come to mind.  I know that there are multitudes of other wonderful things we've seen in the Local, Regional, and General manifestations of our church that I could mention too.  Our world has certainly seen a lot of challenges this year that invited the prophetic voice of the Church.  It's no wonder the year seemed to go by so quickly.  

What will this new year bring?  Will it be a year of activity?  Will it be a year of rest?  Will it be a year for thoughtful reflection?  A year of balance?  A year of intentional focus?  Maybe it will be a year filled with a little of all of the above.  Who knows?  What I do know is that we serve a God who is full of surprises, especially when it comes to the ministry of God's church.  In this new year may we be set free to hope and dream for things unimaginable and in both big and small ways bring hope and new life in the situations in which we are placed.

Jesse Kearns

Save the Date!

The 161st Annual Gathering of the Christian Church of Northern California/Nevada will be held Friday April 24-Saturday April 25, 2015 at Arden Christian Church in Sacramento! 

Our theme this year is "Re:"  As in Re-Storing, Re-making, Re-imagining, Re-surrecting, Re-membering who we are meant to be as Church.  Mark your calendars now for this important weekend in the life of our Re-gion (see what we just did there?)!  

January 11, 2015, 4:00 pm - SAVE THE DATE

Lafayette Christian Church

584 Glenside Dr, Lafayette 94549

 

 

Join us as we remember Martin Luther King, Jr.  
And honor Rev. Sandhya Jha with the MLK award for her work

Founder of the ministry of the Oakland Peace Center Activist in her Oakland community Powerful & effective anti-racism trainings Advocate for affordable housing

Save the Date - for  Dr. LaTaunya M. Bynum's installation. The service will take place on March 21 at 3:00 pm at First Christian Church in Sacramento.

 

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NEW MEMBERS:
First Christian Church Selmawelcomed one new member
Mayfair Christian Church, Stockton welcomed two new members

Please consider incorporating these congregations into your congregational prayers each week during worship or in your newsletter, so we can grow together in prayer.
First Christian Church, Watsonville

Jan 11, 2015	9th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration. 4:00 p.m. at Lafayette CC
Feb 4-8, 2015	Women's Action Web, Learn More.
Feb 9, 2015	Feb Camp Registration Deadline. Download Registration
March 21, 2015	LaTaunya Bynum Installation, FCC Sacramento (Save the date!)
March 29 to April 4, 2015	Regional Hands-on Mission Trip to Loveland, CO Learn More.

It's not too late to register for the annual Phillips Theological Seminary Re-Mind & Re-New conference January 14-15, 2015.     

Learn More

February 23-27, 2015
Marten House Hotel and Conference Center, Indianapolis, IN

The Leadership Academy is a week-long learning experience for leaders in both new congregations and transforming congregations, as well as social entrepreneurs of faith (new this year)-those starting faith-based health and social service enterprises.  Learn More

Mission teams are being hosted by First Christian Church, Loveland to assist with flood recovery following the severe storms and significant flooding that occurred across northern Colorado in the fall of 2013. Lou Ann Hughes, the chair of the committee that plans regional hands-on mission trips, has planned a trip there for next year. Ten registrations have been purchased to go to the mission station in Loveland, Colorado during Holy Week (March 29 to April 4). Anyone interested in going should send Lou Ann an email at:  loualoui@hotmail.com. Learn More

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This communication is made possible by generosity expressed  

through giving to Disciples Mission Fund!

 

      

 
The CCNC-N is the presence of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
in the northern half of the states of California and Nevada.