By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Another Mass Shooting

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God hear our prayers! In the past week the world has seen yet another mass shooting. Mass shootings are, for the most part, an American phenomenon. While they are generally grouped together as one type of incident they are several different types including public shootings, bar/club incidents, family annihilations, drive-by and workplace. Mass shootings are defined as having a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident. In 2023 thus far there have been more than 565 mass shootings by 31 mass shooters. We continue…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Where is the Conference Staff?

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Your Conference staff was blessed to be able to attend two very special events this week. On Sunday, we joined the Chinese Congregational Church UCC of San Francisco for an amazing celebration of their 150th anniversary. The guest preacher was our new General Minister and President of the UCC, Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson.  Two other churches cancelled their services to attend and support Chinese Congregational: Pilgrim Community UCC of San Francisco and Chinese Community UCC of Berkeley. The next day,  PAAM, the Pacific Islander Asian American Ministries of NCNC, sponsored a Town Hall meeting and luncheon. City of Refuge…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Climate Hope Summer

Have You Heard?, Have You Heard?, Home Page, Young Adult, Youth
Giving Tuesday is November 28, 2023 The United Church of Christ cares deeply about climate justice. We know that this earth is in peril mainly because of our disregard for the health of our planet and its ecosystem. In answer to this crisis, in 2022, we made a 5-year commitment to focus our Giving Tuesday campaigns on environmental justice. Through your contributions, we will gather resources for our work to address climate issues that impact our world. Our Projects: Climate Hope Summer and the UCC’s 2024 Earth Day Summit Our Financial Goal: $75,000 Help us to continue our successful Climate Hope…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Your Conference Staff is Grateful for each of you!

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Wow, here we are in the first week of October 2023, the 10th month for me as your Bridge Conference Minister and for each of you with brand new conference staff! What a time we have had thus far, getting to know one another and all that our portfolios hold, to be fully present for each of you as best we can with limited staff. We were blessed to have our first Staff Retreat last week. What time we had teaching one another, reviewing what we have accomplished thus far. We have celebrated ordinations, installations, and service of release. As…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Black Wealth Builders Congregation Designation Pilot Program

Have You Heard?, Have You Heard?, Home Page, Racial Justice
At the 2023 NCNC UCC Annual Gathering, the collected body passed the Black Wealth Builders Resolution. The resolution is based on a project launched by Arlington Community Church, United Church of Christ, in 2021, which provides zero-interest loans to first-time Black homebuyers for down payment assistance. The resolution “...encourages the local churches within the conference to live out a faith-based belief in racial justice and to take intentional steps to put those beliefs into action by becoming a Black Wealth Builders congregation.” Similar to the Open and Affirming Congregation Designation, the Black Wealth Builders designation is one where the individual…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Can You Do Something About ….

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Can you do something about___________? Whether it comes through an email or voicemail, or simply implied after reading the day’s news, ministry is in part the work of answering this question. This question and whether or how we choose to answer, has rippling consequences. Including for the minister themselves. To have a pastor’s heart means that it will be filled to over-flowing and broken or broken open, often in the same day. You know this to be true. And what happens after, how do you tend to your heart after tending to others? In a conversation with a colleague a…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? Affordable Housing on Faith Lands: Do Good and Do Well

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Did you know that an exciting piece of legislation has just passed the California state legislature that would both fast-track lots of new affordable housing projects WHILE earning revenue for our churches? It’s headed for Governor Newsom’s desk next and needs your support to become law! SB4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, will allow faith communities and nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on their land by-right: without submitting to the arduous and often expensive process to get local approval. Building affordable housing on our church campuses–on parking lots, repurposing or replacing unused or underutilized buildings–is an elegant…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard: The NCNC Has Two New Trained Community of Practice Facilitators!

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“Communities of Practice are groups of people who share a concern about a set of problems, or a passion about a topic and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis.” -- Etienne Wenger The purpose of Communities of Practice (COP) is to bring seasoned clergy, new clergy, AND lay people together focusing on strengthening your ministry. The participants share a common interest in their commitment to ongoing development of competence in ministry (in various settings). In COP knowledge within the group is developed and is tested through the member’s actual practice of…
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By posted by Joy Davis
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Have You Heard? DELIVERANCE

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Grace is a supple movement through tense passages. It blindsides vengeance. This is a lesson taught to me most dramatically through events that occurred at this time of year, over the course of six decades. Every year, as August mellows into September, the memories return. Seasonal reminders of powerful events and teachings. AUGUST 1993 On Monday, August 23, 1993, I was in Gugulethu, outside of Cape Town. It was a time of turbulence in South Africa—politically, socially, racially. Laws that had held apartheid in place were gone, but free elections were still 8 months in the future, and no one…
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