The Oklahoma Disciples Foundation has grant funds available for Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma churches and non-profit CCIO (DOC) affiliated groups for mission and ministry. A downloadable application, scoring sample and guidelines are available HERE. Applications are due by February 15, 2019. Please call the Oklahoma Disciples Foundation at 405.525.6530 if you have any questions.
Year Book and Directory forms are important to maintaining your church’s 501(c)3 tax status with the IRS. Submission Deadline is March 15, 2019. The General Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) votes and approves the list of member churches, church agencies and institutions published in the Year Book for submission to the IRS. This assures contributions to your congregation may be properly reported as tax exempt to the IRS.
You may download a complete set of instructions HERE.
Please submit your Year Book form online by clicking HERE. If you do not know your church PIN, you may look it up in the church PIN directory HERE.
If you have any trouble submitting your form online, you are welcome to mail a completed paper form to the Regional Office to be received by March 12, 2019. A paper form is available for download HERE. Mail to: Christian Church in Oklahoma, 301 NW 36th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73118-8661
Call Jennifer or Ellen at the Regional Office with any questions. 405-528-3577
By Rev. Don Johnson (Retired)
Member, Central Christian Church Enid
In the late 1980’s, I was working for a steel company in central Nebraska. We were going to hire a metallurgical engineer and the most qualified applicant was a young lady from Ohio. After her interview, the production manager told me that this was man’s work in Nebraska. And we aren’t going to hire a woman for this job regardless of her education and experience.
The next day, I heard the production manager loudly complaining to a co-worker that his daughter wasn’t hired for a job at the county airport. He said, “My daughter has taken computer classes and can operate the airline’s reservation system. She’s 5’10” and is strong enough to handle heavy baggage. And during heavy travel times, my daughter has actually helped people at the airport. I know the young men who got the job. He doesn’t know computers and he’s only 5’6”. He may not be able to handle heavy luggage by himself. My daughter was better qualified. And it’s not fair that she didn’t get that job.”
After hearing his complaints, I asked him, “Does that young lady you interviewed yesterday have a father? And do you think her father hopes people treat his daughter fairly?” After a minute, he said to me, “Hire her and I will see she gets treated fairly.”
Pray that your decisions about an individual are based on individual’s merit and not on the person’s gender, race or class. And as you make decisions, remember what Jesus said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Or, “As you make decisions about a person, make decisions, as you would like to have them made to a member of your family.”
Southern Hills Christian Church located in Edmond, is looking for a Children Program Director and Youth Program Director. For a full job description click HERE.
Please reply with your resume and cover letter to [email protected].
What could your congregation or organization accomplish with a significant increase in per capita giving? In a study conducted by the United Church of Canada, congregations that consistently employed a set of operational, management, and ministerial practices designed to foster a culture of generosity, experienced on average an 84% increase in per capita giving over a six-year period.
Fellowship Congregational UCC, along with Phillips Theological Seminary, the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference UCC, and the Christian Church in Oklahoma, are co-sponsoring a two-day seminar, Cultivating Generous Congregations, facilitated by the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at the University of Indiana.
Presentations include details of the practices that led to the increase in giving in United Church of Canada congregations, as well as the most current research and practices in the field of philanthropy.
You may view the flyer HERE and consider registering for the seminar on February 8th and 9th, at Fellowship Congregational United Church of Christ (2900 South Harvard, Tulsa, OK). Participant organizations are encouraged to bring a team of 2-4 individuals, including a member of the ministerial staff.
Registration closes on January 25, 2019.
By Mrs. DeLois Guess
Member, Pine Street Christian Church, Tulsa
Disciples Peace Fellowship is now accepting applications for 2019 Peace Interns. What is a Peace Intern? Read more HERE
Information about this extraordinary summer internship, the application process and all online application materials can be found HERE.
All applications and references for this paid internship must be completed and submitted by February 10, 2019.
If you have any questions about the internship or the application process email: [email protected] or call 480-399-6945
You are invited to the Remind & Renew Oklahoma Clergy Breakfast. Join us at Phillips Theological Seminary in the Student Commons on Thursday, January 24, 2019 from 8:00 – 9:00 am. No RSVP required.
Click HERE to view details about the Remind & Renew Event.
By Ms. Marilynn Knott, Retired Commissioned Minister
Member, Crown Heights Christian Church, OKC
Oklahoma’s most valuable resource is our people. One of the best things we can do for our state is to enable our people to become fully the people God created them to be. If you check out statistics on poverty, you will learn that people of color are disproportionately included in counts of those living in poverty. Jim Wallis labels racism as America’s Original Sin.
One of my great grandfathers was the captain of a local militia for the Confederacy during the Civil War. I was told he was very bitter about the loss of the war and carried that bitterness throughout his life passing it on to his family. Some years ago, I sat in a court house in Tennessee reading the will of this great grandfather’s father who was the product of Manifest Destiny probably taught in his church. Tears ran down my cheeks as I read the names of his house slaves and the children who inherited them listed among the horses and cattle he was also leaving them. His great granddaughter, my mother, did not pass that on to me. I never got the chance to ask her how that happened. My guess is she learned racism was wrong in Sunday school when a teacher taught her that God commanded us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and she thought God meant it.
People of faith don’t always get things right. As Paul says we get caught up in the world sometimes and transfer the ways of the world to our faith. The good thing is we serve a God of second chances giving us the opportunity to turn around and work to set things right. My mother took that opportunity and lived and modeled it all her 98 years from serving all colors of people as a deaconess in the Methodist church in West Virginia during the depression to intercessory prayers from her nursing home bed.
Systemic racism is insidious, destructive in ways that are gradual and not easily noticed. As we pray about needed systemic change, let us seek and follow guidance on becoming intentional in our efforts to overcome systemic racism.
While the Woman-to-Woman Worldwide journey isn’t a ‘hands-on’ mission, it does offer a way to respond to the call for Disciples women to experience solidarity with one another, to affirm the unity of the church in Jesus Christ, and to join the common struggle for justice and peace in the world today by educating and advocating for those needs. These international, ecumenical, and personal experiences encourage faithful women to see the world through new eyes and bring that perspective back to their congregation and community. An integral part of the post-journey experience is giving presentations about their experiences and sharing what they have learned with others.
“Woman-to-Woman Worldwide is designed to establish a network of “growing concentric circles of world proportion.” T.J. Liggett
You are invited to participate in this program in a number of different ways.