CCOK301, Author at Christian Church in Oklahoma

Update on ODW Area Meetings and Fall Retreats 2020

Usually, August is a busy month for our Oklahoma Disciples Women Areas who would normally be having meetings and taking registrations for Fall Retreats.

Central Area Women:
According to Central Area Director, Jeannie Atkins the Central Area Women are considering a scaled-down meeting with no food and many precautions in place. Their cabinet will decide by mid-August about the meeting which is usually during the last week of August.

Northeast Area Women:
Northeast Area Director, Delois Guess states they will not have a retreat but are considering an alternative activity through social media during the weekend of October 2-3, 2020.

Northwest Area Women:
Northwest Co-Director, Sally Wheeler reports cancellation of their August Missionary Brunch and Fall Retreat. Sally is working on the Northwest Area booklet to be completed by mid-August. Sally is also looking at ways to engage the women through current technology.

Southeast Area Women:
Southeast Director, Mary Mueller has also had to cancel meetings and fall retreat. Mary also serves on the Texoma Christian Camp Board. Mary states that cancellations have been hard on the camp. Camp benefits our youth. They are able to hold events like Water Weekend for the youth since the camp has a dock on a lake. If you feel led to make a donation, you may send a check to: Texoma Christian Camp, PO Box 135, Ardmore, OK 73402-0135

Southwest Area Women:
Southwest Co-directors are Pam Shepherd and Marilyn Bohlender. The Southwest Area Women haven’t met as a group since the fall of 2017 but over the last few years Marilyn has stayed connected through church visits in Southwest Oklahoma. Marilyn found all to be warm, caring, thriving groups doing exciting things. Often Pam and other women of SW Oklahoma took turns traveling with Marilyn. Marilyn reports being very glad she was able to visit so many churches before the onset of Covid-19.

Stay connected with Oklahoma Disciples Women Facebook page as well as on the Oklahoma Region’s website and monthly e-newsletter.

Always keep your faith in the foremost of things

CCOK3012020-08-17T13:21:28-05:00Aug 17, 2020|Disciples Women|Comments Off

Commission on Clergy Announces Ordinations

Ordination into Christian Ministry

In May 2020, the Commission on Clergy approved CeCe Jones-Davis and Gregory Chambers for ordination. CeCe Jones-Davis, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, will be ordained by Edmond Trinity Christian Church on August 30, 2020 via Zoom.

Gregory Chambers, a graduate of Brite Divinity School, will be ordained by New Hope Christian Church, Oklahoma City in a gathering on May 30, 2021.

We celebrate and welcome CeCe and Gregory to ordained ministry!

CCOK3012020-08-12T14:09:16-05:00Aug 12, 2020|Clergy News|Comments Off

Clergy Continuing Education Requirements for 2020

Reminder: 2020 Continuing Education Requirements

The Commission on Clergy will still be requiring 16 hours of continuing education for 2021 standing. During this pandemic, there are many opportunities for online learning. The Commission hopes that clergy can take advantage of some of these opportunities, which include what is available through disciples.org or United Church of Christ, Center for Faith & Giving, or others.

Clergy, please keep a record of what you have watched: the date, the title of the webinar, the time you spent watching/learning. This is what you will add to the standing form when it comes to you in November.

CCOK3012020-08-12T13:45:24-05:00Aug 12, 2020|Clergy News|Comments Off

Faith in Action Reconciliation Grants Awarded to 8 Churches

We are Disciples of Christ, a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. As part of the one body of Christ, we welcome all to the Lord’s Table as God has welcomed us.

Living our identity is a great challenge in our world today, making our Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism work even more critical. Through your generosity in supporting the Reconciliation Fund, The Faith in Action Commission has awarded approximately $20,000 seeking wholeness in 2020. These grants have gone to rural and urban areas and large and small projects. Some are offered by individual churches. Others are part of the work of communities. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing with you more information about these projects. Here are just brief descriptions.

Central Christian Church, Enid—Enid Welcome Table—in coordination with other organizations in the Enid community a diverse population of food-insecure persons are provided a meal on Sunday evening
First Christian Church, Chandler, Bridging the Gap—Intensive program designed to lift people out of poverty, a debilitating impact of racism
First Christian Church of Midwest City, Eastern Oklahoma County Homeless—Addresses the needs of families who are homeless with children in school. It serves a very diverse population of all races and persons of Hispanic ethnicity
Simplicity Christian Church, Oklahoma City, Every Kind of Bird—Targets Reconciliation among all people who feel excluded from the general society, including people from the LGBTQ population
Stroud First Christian Church, Faithful Follower—Helps support a program that brings together Native American, black, and white youth from the community which includes a feeding program
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Guthrie, Thankful Fest— Has a goal of creating more inclusiveness in a church that is 99% white in a community with 25% of the population being persons of color or Hispanic ethnicity
Shepherd Street Christian Church, Chickasha, Building Healthy Families—A predominately black church helping youth and their families flourish in a challenging world
First Christian Presbyterian Church, Pryor, The Meal—Building Reconciliation in a community with wide diversity and poverty

Reconciliation Funds were also awarded

To develop a lecture series piloted by Central Christian Church of Enid in cooperation with Phillips Theological Seminary regarding anti-racism that will be coordinated by the PRAR Team to make it available statewide
To Caminante to help address the discrimination impacting Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic

Congratulations to all Faith in Action grant recipients. We thank you for serving your community in these important ministries.

CCOK3012020-08-13T14:27:28-05:00Aug 11, 2020|Congregations|Comments Off

Pandemic Updates for Congregations

Just a reminder: The Region follows the guidelines of the CDC and the Oklahoma Health Department. We strongly recommend that congregations remain worshiping on-line until new COVID-19 case numbers are declining consecutively for 14 days or there is some miracle.

When congregations choose to return to in-person worship, we strongly recommend that congregations develop clear protocols which include:

How to Return to In-Person Worship: One-way entrance and exits, seating arrangements, sanitizing processes, no singing, no passing of the peace, alternative ways of taking the offering and communion.
Best Practices for In-Person Worship: Hand washing, physical distancing, and wearing a mask.
When Someone is Diagnosed: When someone reports to the minister they have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and attended worship, notify all those present at the in-person worship so everyone can self-quarantine for 14 days, AND return to on-line worship for at least two weeks or more.

Where Congregations Are Today:
Congregations are sharing that attendance on-line is consistently well attended, and for the most part, giving is consistent and up. Celebrate!

Our largest congregations, Edmond FCC, Norman FCC, and Tulsa Harvard Avenue, have medical advisory teams. These congregations are continuing to worship on-line and have not yet set a date to return to in-person worship. Edmond FCC is offering early worship in-person but only by reservation.

In counties where the virus is low, mostly in west and northwest Oklahoma, congregations are worshiping in-person.

Our middle to small-sized congregations are all in different stages. Some are experimenting with in-person worship with clear safety protocols, including wearing masks while also continuing on-line worship. Some have experimented with drive-up worship, and this form of worship went well until it got too hot. Congregations returning to in-person worship are discovering they have VERY LOW attendance because members are very cautious about being in a crowd, especially when worship is in the highest identified place of contamination.

Even with all protocols in place, Oklahoma has three congregations who have had to return to on-line worship after a COVID positive individual attended in-person worship.

Again, the Region strongly recommends that congregations remain worshiping on-line until the numbers are declining for a consecutive 14 days. If your congregation chooses to return to in-person worship, we hope and pray that out of love of God and neighbor, all safety protocols are practiced, including wearing a mask.

Thank you for standing strong and faithful up against this mighty force of a highly contagious virus.

CCOK3012020-08-12T13:57:13-05:00Aug 11, 2020|Congregations|Comments Off

Thank You for Supporting Caminante’s Matching Funds Appeal

As the recent Caminante Matching Funds Appeal is coming to a close we want to thank each of the donors that have made the appeal so successful. We are pleased to announce $2,500 has been raised from individuals and churches. We are close to our $3,500 goal. Because the contributions will be matched, we hope to close out the appeal strong and reach our goal of $7,000 in the coming weeks.

The pandemic has devastated thousands and thousands across Latin America, setting back the clock on the social and economic gains made over the last twenty-five years. Picturesque Caribbean towns, like Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic, once attracted throngs of tourists and urban residents to their white sandy beaches and turquoise-blue seas. Now they are all abandoned. The vast informal labor force who provided food, drink and services have no safety net and are increasingly destitute. Covid-19 is shattering parents’ middle-class dreams that their children escape the grinding poverty and sexual exploitation of their region.

Caminante is trying to keep their people’s dreams alive, but the expenses of their mission are increasing. Along with education programs, they are now providing food to children and their families and masks and disinfectants to combat Covid-19.

We have seen Sister Denisse and the Caminante staff change lives and give people hope and a future. Caminante’s success is due in part to the Oklahoma Region’s support, individuals and churches supporting this worthy ministry. We thank you for your support.

CCOK3012020-08-11T10:24:33-05:00Aug 11, 2020|Regional News|Comments Off

Love is an Action Word: 7 Part Series

Avoiding Complicity with Racism

Love is an Action Word, is a 7-part series presented by Reconciliation Ministries and the Office of the General Minister and President. Panelists include Margie Pride, Glen Miles, Judith Guy, and Josh Toulouse. Our very own Jeff Champeau will be the producer! This is a wonderful opportunity to take your pro-reconciliation anti-racism to the next level. Watch the replay!

Register now for this virtual series here.

CCOK3012020-08-11T10:15:35-05:00Aug 11, 2020|Congregations|1 Comment

Woodlands Christian Church Supports the Community: Shoe-A-Child

Woodlands Christian Church has an important outreach ministry called “Shoe-A-Child”, providing shoes to children in their church and local community. We thank Woodlands Christian Church, Verna Bateman and the Outreach Committee for their amazing ministry that serves and blesses so many. We thank God for your important ministry and servants hearts.

Verna Bateman, Outreach Committee says “What a wonderful experience seeing all those beautiful faces lighting up with their new shoes. This year was very different with having to deal COVID-19 virus. But with the Lord’s help, ever thing went amazing well. It was so different this year without having our wonderful volunteers from Woodlands Christian Church helping. We are so grateful for the staff at Encore Shoe Store who helped us this year more than ever. We are pleased to report that we served 45 children with new shoes. We would like to thank everyone who provided financial help with this annual event. It is only possible through your support. Lord willing, next year, will be back to normal.”

Thank you for a job well done.

CCOK3012020-08-11T10:05:50-05:00Aug 11, 2020|Congregations|Comments Off

Thank You for Supporting the Region’s 2020 Spring Annual Fund

On behalf of the Regional Board, thank you for remembering the Regional Church in your generous giving to the 2020 Spring Annual Fund. We celebrate that your gifts helped the Region reach 53% of its Annual Fund goal! The Regional Church depends upon your faithful giving to strengthen the ministry to clergy and congregations throughout the Region of Oklahoma, and our next appeal will launch in October.

While all of our in-person events have either been postponed or canceled until 2021, the Region has offered several events and meetings virtually: Vacation Bible School and Camp & Conference, Area Clergy meetings, and Commission meetings. We are grateful for your gifts to allow the Region to invest in the technology to keep us connected.

The first Virtual Regional Assembly will be on Saturday, September 26, 2020. We will be providing opportunities to gather on-line for learning, worship, and business. Registration opens soon. We hope you will join us as we unite as Disciples of Christ in Oklahoma.

In this unprecedented and extraordinary season of COVID-19, we give thanks for your health. We are deeply grateful for your congregation as it continues to gather either on-line or in-person for worship, and for your continued ministry into the community in the name of Jesus. Let all you do be done in love.

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong, and may God’s blessing of protection, courage, and grace continue to be upon you.

Peace & God’s Grace,

Pam Holt Signature

Regional Minister, Pam Holt

CCOK3012021-06-24T13:37:39-05:00Aug 11, 2020|Regional News|Comments Off

New Covenant Youth Work Day at Oklahoma Regional Office

The Regional Office received a surprise gift last month when the youth from Oklahoma City New Covenant Christian Church arrived at the Regional Office with tools to trim the very overgrown shrubs! A big thank you to the youth and sponsors from OKC NCCC who spent their day cleaning up the flower beds at the Oklahoma Regional Office. We really appreciate your servant’s hearts. Thank you for blessing us with your time and energy on such a hot day!