By Rachel Clement, Director of Finance I love the stewardship theme for the year! When I first heard it my reaction was “Of course!” Of course the stewardship committee would chose a theme that fits this church so well. You couldn’t be more welcoming. To me this theme is more than welcoming Read More...
Just a few short months ago, I wrote a column for this very newsletter about Christian Community Camp. I wrote about taking my daughter and the way I initially pictured camp—being on vacation with 100 of your closest co-workers; about seeing people eating breakfast in their pajamas who you typically only see on Sunday mornings
At an oval conference table, my clergy colleagues pulled up a chair and glanced at the agenda. Hmm. Stewardship season again? At the head of the conference room table, a tall white haired elder with broad shoulders and a booming voice took his seat.
By Rev. Chuck Pickrel, Director of Student Ministries Every summer, hundreds of (Disciples of Christ) children, youth, and adults make their way to a magical place not far from the heart of Kansas City. They will play, eat, listen, and worship together. New friends will be met, old friends will be hugged, Read More...
By Dr. Mike Graves, Guest Preacher When back in 1999 I felt led to have my ordination recognized by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I never could have imagined the role our church would play. The Committee on Ordination and Standing that I met with was incredibly supportive, comprised of several Read More...
By Barbara George, Director of Membership Development “Welcome to our Church Family.” This is what I say to individuals as they make their commitment to membership at Country Club Christian Church. We certainly are a family; like-minded people of faith, in fellowship together, a community who expresses caring and concern for one Read More...
A former colleague of mine had a saying taped to his door at the seminary, “A drop of ink may cause a million to think.” There’s no doubt in my mind, the written word can touch people. In this case, I have no illusions that this article will reach a million people, but a modest number counts all the same. Besides, the topic itself is rather small, about 20 pounds in this case.
This past month we held a family celebration at Tall Oaks Conference Center, our region’s camp in Linwood, Kansas. The eldest of our four generations had been volunteers at Tall Oaks long years ago and they love to return to its familiar beauty and relive the memory of friendships that the camp evokes.
Lao Tzu, the eastern philosopher proclaimed hundreds of years ago: “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
Theologians distinguish between two broad streams of thinking about God – kataphatic and apophatic. You can’t use these in Scrabble, but they are worth knowing. The former focuses on what can be known about God, whereas the latter stresses what can’t be known.
I had never been to Kansas City. A vivacious and beautiful young single woman in a brown Oldsmobile sedan picked me up from the airport. The next thing I knew I was seated at a restaurant on the Plaza and there was a large Texas state flag hanging on the wall behind our table. For two days I met with various committees from the church. They packed a lot of the saints onto those committees.
By Lindsay Howes, Director of Children's Ministries We kicked off our new and exciting First Friday programming last month and just held our second event on Mar. 3. First Friday is a time for 3rd-5th graders and 6th-8th graders to come and enjoy community, food and fun. Last month we had a Read More...
Tom Long who used to teach at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta says that for a lot of church-going folks, the Christian year with its different seasons is about as interesting as sitting down in a Chinese restaurant only to discover it’s the year of the rooster. Who cares? The answer in the latter case is the Chinese. It’s a traditional way for them to mark time. The answer in the former case is obvious enough too, Christians, a way for us to mark time.
The smooth functioning of any church depends on the willingness of its members to volunteer their time and talents to keep the various ministries going. Each volunteer makes a decision about their area or areas of involvement based on their own interests and the needs of the church.
For the uninitiated, FaithPub consists of the potent combination of three things: beer, testosterone and spiritual conversation. Lots of bars feature the first two items, with the latter often focusing on Tom Brady’s latest heroics, that sort of thing. But in this case, FaithPub is a men’s group ministry of our Read More...
