Have You Heard?

Bridging the Gap: Mental Health First Aid Training Among People of Faith Post-COVID, and in a world that moves at a relentless pace, mental health has become a critical concern affecting individuals from all walks of life. People of faith, in particular, continually find ourselves navigating in balance between mental health and spiritual well-being. Per the CDC, more than 1 in 5 US adults live with a mental illness; over 1 in 5 youth (ages 13-18) either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness; about 1 in 25 U.S. adults lives with…

Your Thanksgiving table wouldn't be complete without all the fixings…however that may look in your context. We often rush around here and there, this store and the next, to ensure the holiday feast is perfect for family, friends, loved ones, and the community, which makes it easy to forget the "thanks" part of Thanksgiving. Northern California Nevada Conference UCC, thank you! Thank you for supporting me during my time as your Bridge Conference Minister. Thank you for your OCWM support, unique offerings of your time, talents, gifts, and resources. What a blessing you all have been to this Conference. On…

Last month I was on my way to a Non-Profit Housing Conference. I emerged out of the BART station at Powell Street in San Francisco and at the top of the stairs was a man sleeping/passed out/unconscious draped across an open suitcase as his pallet. Momentarily overwhelmed with powerlessness and hopelessness, I continued on to the conference a block away. I walked into a beautiful hotel and found myself in a crowd of almost a thousand people, all there because they care about homelessness and affordable housing. My first reaction was a feeling of despair because of the inequities and ironies…

Betsey Guest-Natale, Volunteer Coordinator at Second Congregational Church of Boxford (Massachusetts) wants NCNC churches to know about the Boston-North Backyard Mission, which introduces its participants to the myriad ways in which they can use their skills to serve. From their website: Boston-North Backyard Mission, a ministry of Second Congregational Church of Boxford, welcomes groups to a variety of urban and suburban service experiences in and around northern Massachusetts.  Uniquely situated in a picturesque location with an outdoor lakeside worship space, our church serves as a wonderful retreat after serving the urban poor in nearby city neighborhoods or aiding local suburban…

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…

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…

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…