PARISH ASSOCIATE'S PEN
We are now in one of my favorite seasons of the church year – Lent. Historically seen as an austere and ascetic time, the Lenten season identifies with the 40 days of Christ’s testing in the wilderness. It is a time for deeper reflection and commitment as we prepare our hearts for Easter.
How will you prepare your own heart this Lenten season? As a congregation, during worship, we will focus on peacemaking, on the corporate struggle and desire to be people who reflect and work for Christ’s peace in this world. And also, the Pastor will be leading a special study on Monday mornings and Tuesday evenings using the thoughtful devotional “Alive to God in Jesus Christ”.
Here’s a few other suggestions for your own Lenten observance:
1. Go on a “God Watch” during these days before Easter. Look for evidence of the Spirit of God working in and around you. You may see God at work through a child’s love, in a colleague at your job, (and yes, God can work through non-Christians as well as Christians), or you may see the gracious hand of God working in and through a set of challenging circumstances.
2. Choose one of those spiritual gifts or traits that you’d like to nurture, and look for opportunities to use it during the day. If you choose something like “kindness” for example, you may be surprised by how often you see it around you – and by how often you can use it during the day to bless others.
3. Going along with our peacemaking emphasis, you could decide to pray for a certain area of the world – or of our own city. Look for articles in the newspaper or listen for what’s said on the radio to keep abreast of what’s going on in that area – and pray for God’s redemptive spirit working in that place.
4. More closer to home, you might spend this Lent praying for someone you have found to hard to work/live/talk with. That, too, is peacemaking, a very personal kind. You may find in the process that the soul you help “save” is your own, since tension in any relationship keeps us from being all that we want to be for God.
It is so easy in our busy lives to let Lent go by, as just another part of the calendar. But remembering Christ’s testing in the wilderness - as well as his crucifixion and resurrection on our behalf - is too important to be lost amidst our own personal concerns, or worries over the economy, or even amidst pastel eggs and the Easter bunny (as fun as all that is!).
Our efforts are small sacrifices compared to the price at which our salvation was bought, but I believe that they are nonetheless pleasing in God’s sight – and nurturing to the soul. May the observance of Lent this year keep you grounded in the faith, and in those things unseen but eternal.
Yours in Christ’s love,
Pastor Diana
DEACONS' REPORT
Spring is finally here, and along with it came a much needed rain! Hopefully you were able to stay a bit dry. We started off this past month by welcoming three new people into our church family. We celebrated the baptism of 2 individuals, and a membership transfer of 1. It was a beautiful time as our family continues to grow.
With much talk, the pastoral partners are now official! We had the commissioning of the first round of pastoral partners. 9 individuals went through a series of trainings to learn more how to care for people. By the end, they felt a call to be part of this program. Each person will have a “cluster” of people, consisting of 5 individuals or family units to look after. If you are interested in being either a pastoral partner, or be in someone’s cluster, please contact the church.
Please keep in your prayers those in our community and world.
COFFEE FELLOWSHIP:
The Deacons would like to thank the individuals who have contributed to the coffee fellowship during the month of February.
Special cake in celebration of New Members on 2/8/09 from the Board of Deacons
Kara Woo, Vice-Moderator
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
Two-Cents-a-Meal Hunger Program
The Women’s Group will continue to make a quarterly collection for the 2-cents-a-meal program during the year 2009. Please bring in the pennies that you have been collecting each time you sit down for a meal. Your contribution helps reduce hunger locally, nationally and globally. Your offering will be received on Sunday, March 29, 2009. Thank you for your continued support!
Jackie Kwan
Jackie Kwan
ARTICLE OF INTEREST
Town-Hall Meeting Wrap-Up
Back in 2007, a series of four town-hall meetings (focus groups) were held to hear the voices of the congregation, and their hopes for the future. On February 22, 2009, a congregational forum was held, led by the session and the Pastor, to share with the congregation the needs and requests that had been voiced, and what the CUPC leadership had done in 2007/08 to respond to them. The following is a summary:
In July, 2007, after the completion of the townhall forum meetings, the session went over and compiled the results, then identified four main areas in which CUPC felt were important to address in the immediate and near future. These areas were themes that emerged from all of the different age/generation/language groups. The four main areas were:
1. Development of Small Groups
2. Leadership Training
3. Care
4. Development of Japanese-speaking Ministries
In 2007/08, here are some of the NEW things that CUPC, alongside with the existing activities, has done in regards to the areas identified above under the leadership of the session:
1. Development of Small Groups: (‘Small groups’ not only encompass ‘study-type’ groups, but ‘fellowship-type’ groups as well)
In July, 2007, after the completion of the townhall forum meetings, the session went over and compiled the results, then identified four main areas in which CUPC felt were important to address in the immediate and near future. These areas were themes that emerged from all of the different age/generation/language groups. The four main areas were:
1. Development of Small Groups
2. Leadership Training
3. Care
4. Development of Japanese-speaking Ministries
In 2007/08, here are some of the NEW things that CUPC, alongside with the existing activities, has done in regards to the areas identified above under the leadership of the session:
1. Development of Small Groups: (‘Small groups’ not only encompass ‘study-type’ groups, but ‘fellowship-type’ groups as well)
CEF initially took much time in defining what small groups were and defining the different kinds of small groups. They identified the existing small groups, and other small groups that might meet the needs of those who aren’t involved. They did a survey after worship later in the year to ask for member/friends input.
CUPC has seen the ‘birth’ of new small groups this year: Lenten series (6-week), Advent series (4-week), a regular study group during the TNF (Tuesday Night Fellowship), and the Outdoor Fellowship. The response has been good, and groups will most likely continue grow and develop in the future.
The Japanese-speaking group, with the leadership of Hiroko Suzuki, has decided to meet monthly for an intergenerational, inter-lingual activity from September. Meant mainly for ‘fellowship’ purposes, it gives people in the Japanese-speaking group have fellowship with one another, as well as others from the congregation. It will also serve as an opportunity to invite people not involved with church. So far, they have had an outing event, bowling, picnic lunch at Stinson Beach, and Afternoon Tea together.
Young Adult (Women) Study Group – There has been a growing need for a fellowship/study group for our young professionals. One individual began working on developing a young women’s group in 2008, and currently the responsibility has been passed on to Pastor Grace. There is a small ‘covenant’ group ready to begin in March/April of 2009.
2. Leadership Training
Early in 2008, the Pastor assessed the current leadership and identified the strengths and growth areas. Looking quite extensively into church-related and secular leadership resources, she has found how difficult it is to find something that perfectly ‘fits’ into what we need at CUPC. The Pastor has and will continue to look for appropriate resources and opportunities.
Since the fall of 2008, we have two additional pastoral staff at CUPC. Both our parish associate and our church intern, have brought gifts which will contribute with the leadership training at CUPC.
Stewardship Series – since the middle of 2008, the Stewardship and Interpretation Committee, had various ‘Moments for Mission’ during worship to educate the congregation about the gifts of the people of CUPC that has contributed over the years. Beginning to see how our many gifts (financial and non) and how we can effectively use them is one of the first steps of leadership development.
Deacon-led Worship – Later in the year, the Deacons led the worship where the focus was around gifts and their assessment. The congregation was asked to identify which gifts they may possess, as well as which gifts they would like to develop further. As with the above, this was yet another step in furthering leadership and its development.
Pastoral Partner Program training – Since November, both the Pastor and Parish Associate have worked with the Deacons in preparing for the Pastoral Partner Program – where lay leaders are trained and empowered to offer pastoral care to the members/friends of CUPC. The pilot program will be implemented in 2009 as one of the fruits of this kind of leadership development.
Commission Lay Pastor (CLP) Program – In early 2008, 2 individuals have been a part of the CLP Program offered through the Presbytery of San Francisco. This 13-month program seeks to train lay leaders to do specific ministries within the life of the congregation in which they belong to which not only utilizes their gifts/passions, but greatly benefits the ministry of the congregation.
3. Care
Facility additions – This year, we have added the upstairs bathroom which has been talked about for years. A handrail was also added to assist persons walking from the doorways to the vertical lift. These two projects have hopefully contributed to the needs of our aging members/friends. A new playground was also constructed to meet the needs of the children at CUPC.
Organized visitations – The Japanese-speaking group has decided to visit the Japanese-speaking members/friends who are homebound on a regular basis (once every two months).
Pastoral Partner Program implementation – see above under ‘Leadership Development’.
4. Japanese-speaking Ministries
Leadership – Since the fall, the Japanese-speaking ministries have a church intern whose focus is with the Japanese-speaking. This falls in line with the Town-hall meeting results for the hope of a paid staff position in this developing area.
Partnership – one individual is in contact with other ministry organizations that work with Japanese-speaking students in order to partner with them. This will hopefully foster and facilitate relationships with the students, as well as joint ministry opportunities with those who are focusing on ministering to them.
Monthly fellowship gatherings – see above under ‘Small Groups’.
Organized visitations – see above under ‘Care’.
As you can see, the leadership at CUPC has been busy!! As we wrapped up the forum, some additional areas were identified as important to develop for the future, which were not (fully) addressed in the above. They were:
Emergency information for members/friends, as well as developing emergency procedures
Taking a look at how the church can develop/redevelop our ministries toward men
If you have any additional suggestions and comments to add, please feel free to contact the Pastor or anyone on the session. If you would like to see the actual hand-outs from the 2/22/09 forum (which include the above, and the actual results from the 2007 town-hall meetings), please contact the church office.
The leadership of CUPC would like to thank all of you who participated in the focus groups in 2007 and the ‘wrap-up forum’ this past February. Your voices continue to be important and help the leadership to effectively discern God’s will and way for us as a community of faith. Keep us in prayer, and keep the voices coming!
