Does Your New Church Need Chalice Hymnals?
Does your new church need Chalice Hymnals? Please let Laura Ginn, with New Church Ministries know and she will be happy to supply your new church with some!
Call Laura at (317) 713-2529
Putting Our Faith in Action in Canadian County, Oklahoma
On Monday, December 9, 2019, First Christian Church in El Reno hosted the Rev. Caroline Hamilton-Arnold, Associate Director of the Week of Compassion for Domestic Disaster Response. She came to help the church think through how to best coordinate their congregation, Disciples Volunteering, and the Week of Compassion to respond to the 2019 May flooding and the May 29, 2019 tornado. Both events caused significant property damage (including to Disciples families) and loss of life for two in El Reno.
We currently need volunteer work teams (ideally between 5-10 folks!) who could work in the spring of 2020 and especially the summer of 2020 (for a few days or a week). We currently need funding for supplies and repairs volunteer teams cannot properly address. We currently need skilled laborers to give up a day or a week to teach others how to do home repairs.
We currently need prayer and continued awareness that all is not well for our friends and neighbors in Canadian county and across Oklahoma after the 2019 spring storms.
Can you help us fill a need?
Colton Lott,
Senior Minister
FCC El Reno
(405) 262-3539
Thank You From The Regional Minister
These past few weeks, Randy and I have been overwhelmed with the baskets of balm with which you all have blessed us. Your kind words of compassion and care with numerous cards and phone calls and your expressions of shared grief with flowers arrangements and contributions have certainly held us up during these days of grief upon the death of my mother, Shirley Green. I plan to share every expression with our family, and especially with my brother who does not have a church family. Our hearts are full of gratitude and joy for your prayers and presence in such a time as this. Thank you.
Peace & God’s grace this season of Advent,
Pam & Randy Holt
Photo: Marty Leonard Community Chapel, Fort Worth, Texas
Celebrating Generosity at Memorial Christian Church, OKC
This week Memorial Christian Church was featured on Channel 9 news. The story was about the remnants from homeless people and how the city planned to fine the church. By the next morning, the story had changed. Ralph Ranney, the minister of Memorial Christian Church, was inundated with phone calls from the community about how they would like to help with the clean up. He received donations of physical help and dollars to pay the fine. He said, “I am overwhelmingly blessed with the tremendous response already today!” We give thanks for the story on the news which identified a problem, and we are deeply grateful for people’s compassion and generosity to help remedy it.
January 23-24, 2020: Remind & Renew
Registration for Remind & Renew 2020 is now open. Remind & Renew, At the Intersection of Jesus and Justice, will take place on January 23–24, 2020 at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Throughout history, Christian churches have deliberated on the definition of justice in the context of Christianity. Two Phillips Theological Seminary faculty members, Dr. Ellen Blue and Dr. Richard Ward, will explore the relationship between the two during the Remind and Renew Conference.
The Rev. Alexis Carter Thomas will preach for Remind & Renew 2020. In a special evening event, Dr. Charles Kimball will present a talk on Jan. 23 in the evening.
Sign up by Jan. 4 and receive the early registration discount. CLICK TO REGISTER
Lodging can be booked at a discounted rate at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Tulsa. CLICK HERE TO BOOK. Hampton Inn & Suites is located at 3418 South 79th E. Ave in Tulsa, OK.
July 2020 Caminante Mission Trip!
The March 2020 Caminante mission trip to the Dominican Republic has been cancelled. However, the summer mission trip will take place July 19 – 25, 2020. If you feel led to travel with this ministry, please call the Regional Office at 405-528-3577. There are scholarships available.
Those traveling to the Dominican Republic for the Caminante mission trip will help with the fair that serves around 300 children and teenagers over a three day period. While in the Dominican Republic you would participate in the following activities, including making coconut jewelry with Haitian teenagers, visiting a sugar cane plantation community, visiting the Caminante vocational school for hair braiding and haircuts, going to church Sunday evening in Boca Chica, and visiting Santo Domingo to tour the cathedral, the fort, and Christopher Columbus’ home.
You would also help take food to “street kids”, spend time with Sister Denisse, visit homework rooms, visit a major league baseball development camp, and play with the local children on the beach. As always the group will bring dental supplies for 300 children, baseball equipment, clothing, and school supplies.
The trip is for recent high school graduates through people in their early 80’s. The total cost is about $1,800 per person and partial scholarships are available.
If you feel led to join this ministry, call Rev. Don Johnson 580-402-2612 or the Regional Office 405-528-3577 for more details.
January 9, 2020: Central Area Disciples Men Quarterly Meeting
Save the Date! Central Area Disciples Men will meet at 6:30pm on January 9, 2020 at Village Christian Church for their Quarterly ODM Meeting. The event will include dinner and a program about Men’s Health. More details will follow soon.
Date: January 9, 2020
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Village Christian Church 9401 Ridgeview Drive, Oklahoma City 73120
Speaker: To be announced soon
Program: Men’s Health
Disciples Peace Fellowship: 2020 Peace Intern Applications Now Open!
The 2020 DPF Peace Intern Application Process is now open!
What is a Peace Intern?
For more than forty years, DPF’s Peace Intern program has provided a vital witness for peace within church camps and other youth events of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada. Peace Interns are young adults who provide educational and program support at church camps and other church-related assemblies and events about peace and justice issues, serving as counselors and resource people, and modeling the lifestyle of peacemakers for youth and adults alike.
Since 1975, more than 100 young people have served as Peace Interns in hundreds of church camps and conferences. The DPF Peace Intern program has had a lasting impact both on the interns and the youth of our church. Interns have gone on to become pastors, professors, social workers, human rights activists, and other peacemakers in our communities and world. Our youth have been exposed to new ideas and issues and challenged to confront their own responsibility as citizens of a global community.
Apply Today!
You can find the Application Form at disciplespeace.org/apply. Please share the news widely within in your networks and especially with any young people that have a passion for justice, a love for Church Camp, and want to live out their faith in life-transforming ways!
Thank you to the many folks who have already liked and shared our announcements on social media! If you haven’t seen them yet, you can find (and like/share!) the posts at facebook.com/disciplespeace
Thanks for helping us spread the word! If you have a young adult that you think would be an excellent DPF Peace Intern please share their name and contact information with Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray, Director of Mission Support and the Peace Intern Program, Disciples Peace Fellowship
480-399-6945
2019 Regional Christmas Offering Video
We invite you to download the 2019 Oklahoma Regional Christmas Offering video. We encourage you to share this with your congregation:
- As a worship offering moment
- A looped video prior to worship
- Hallway monitors
- Meetings
- Sunday School classes
- Share through your FaceBook and social media pages
Video length 2:30 minutes. Visit our Vimeo site to download the video.
If you cannot use the video, please download this PowerPoint slide or JPG image to use in your worship announcements.
Christmas Offering will be collected December 15 & 22, 2019, but we encourage you to share this throughout the month of December.
For technical questions contact Michael Davison or Ellen Beer.
Thank you!
Click HERE to learn more about the Christmas Offering, including additional resources.
2020 Experience – It’s Real! July 22 – 25, 2020 in Ft Worth, TX
Christian Brothers and Sisters,
You are invited to participate in a unique event taking place this coming July on the campus of Texas Christian University (TCU). The National Convocation, the Central Pastoral Office for Hispanic Ministries (Obra Hispana) and North American Pacific Asian Disciples (NAPAD) of the Christian Church, warmly invite you to this one-time experience in a combined national gathering.
In the spirit of our foundational scripture, Revelation 7:9-17, we will come together giving God praise as the victorious and triumphant Church. In this text, John the Revelator, is caught up in heaven and offers a preview of things to come for the Church from a heavenly perspective. We will become that countless host of worshippers from every nation and tongue, before the throne of God. This is a foretaste of the worship offered to God for the redemptive work of Christ Jesus and the Divine Presence of God through life’s journey. It is our prayer and hope that we will experience a little heaven on earth.
Along with vibrant and spirited worship we will have educational workshops, meal functions for fellowship, exhibits from our partners in ministry and sponsorship opportunities to support the success of this unique event. You are invited to participate in all phases of this experience. Please, plan now to be with us. For more information, itsreal@disciples.org. Registration opens January of 2020.
See you in Fort Worth, Texas!
Click here to here the flyer.