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World Communion Sunday, one of The United Methodist Church’s six churchwide Special Sundays with offerings, calls on us to reach out to all people and model diversity. It is observed on the first Sunday in October (Oct 7, this year) and provides funding for:   World Communion Scholarships (with at least half the annual amount going to ministries beyond the United States), the Ethnic Scholarship Program, and the Ethnic In-Service Training Program.   The treasurer of the General Council on ...

Our faith calls us to welcome the stranger, express hospitality, and serve the least of our brothers and sisters. A great resource to help develop this aspect of our Christian walk is "Faith on the Move," a presentation by Dr. David Vasquez-Levy, President of Pacific School of Religion, on Sunday, Sept. 30 at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Merced.   Eleven faith groups, including Wesley Foundation of Merced and United Methodist Church of Merced, are participating in this ecumenical ...

United Methodists in the California-Nevada Annual Conference are “passionate” about disaster relief and recovery, according to Conference Disaster Response Director Sonja Edd-Bennett. Her metric? People declare their passions “with their feet, and with their checkbook,” she says – the latter illustrated by the sums  given to disaster relief through the Conference so far this year: $76,000 to the Conference’s Disaster Relief Fund, $107,000 to Puerto Rico disaster relief (through the Annual ...

By the Rev. Felicisimo “Fel” Cao Director of Camping and Retreat Ministries and Young People’s Ministry California-Nevada Annual Conference   Would you be surprised to find a 35-year-old young adult in Young People's Ministries? You just might!   Our Book of Discipline 2016, Paragraph 256, article 3 states in part, "Young People's Ministries – The term young people is inclusive of all persons from approximately twelve through thirty years of age in the United States and thirty-five in the ...

Cal-Nev’s Michelle Chun Is One of Ten Young People Selected   WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Council of Bishops has selected 10 (ten) young adults as part of its continued strategy to lead The United Methodist Church (UMC) into living more fully in Christian unity and deepening interreligious relationships.   The 10 participants selected for United Methodist Ecumenical and Interreligious Training: Young Adult Network (UMEIT: YAN) will be trained in group leadership skills, the history and theology of ...

Rev. Elizabeth (Liz) Marrero is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as coordinator of the Western Jurisdiction’s Hispanic/Latino Ministry work. Commissioned at the Peninsula-Delaware Conference session in June 2018, she is based in the California-Nevada Conference Center in West Sacramento, Calif.  The position relates to the denomination’s National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry. She recently sat down with California-Nevada ...

Registration for NorCal Chrsitmas Institute (CI) 2018 opening soon! Visit norcalci.org for more information! NorCal CI 2018 Theme: When the Fight Calls WHO WE ARE: We are a loving community unified by faith, putting into practice the connectional aspect of the United Methodist Church in youth, young adults, and their respective communities through year round activities culminating in an annual retreat for the five days after Christmas. WHY WE EXIST: We exist to strengthen the lives of youth and ...

On Saturday, August 25, 2018, La Trinidad UMC and Peace UMC in San Jose are holding a mobile health clinic in partnership with the Lion's Club. The mobile clinic will offer screening for hearing, vision, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Representatives of Gardner Family Health Network will be present to provide information about the medical and dental services their clinics offer. We look forward to serving the community in three languages - English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Although a Korean United Methodist Church said farewell to their children and youth ministry director last June, they have now gained new families and friends in another district as a result of his new appointment. Pastor Peter Hyun Ho Park, a newly appointed local pastor at Grace United Methodist Church in San Ramon, had been the Director of Children’s and Youth Ministry at Berkeley Korean UMC in Oakland for the last five years. What began as a casual conversation between Pastor Park and Rev. ...

On September 1, 2018, join us at El Sobrante UMC for a day of celebrating the power and importance of singing together as we honor the opening of The Center for Congregational Song (CCS), the resource and outreach arm of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (THS). Our plenary speaker will be the Rev. Donald Schell, founder of Music that Makes Community and co-founder of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco. Other events will include worship, a presentation on the CCS,...

How can we extend unconditional welcome and acceptance in a world increasingly marked by bigotry, fear, and exclusion? How can we create spiritual communities that are big enough for everyone? What is the path forward in days that seem more hostile to diversity? Pastor John Pavlovitz, author of A Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community, will address these questions on Sunday, August 19, at Los Altos United Methodist Church as the guest preacher at the 5:00pm ...

Sonja Edd-Bennett, director of disaster response for the California-Nevada Conference, has the following update as it relates to the fires and our efforts:   Carr Fire (Redding/Shasta) – This is currently the most aggressive and dangerous fire in Northern California. As of 6 a.m. Saturday morning, officials report about 80,000+ acres burning and just over 28,000 people evacuated with no identified date for repopulation. Over 500 homes have burned with many more having been damaged. Though not ...

Please join us on September 1, 2018 at El Sobrante UMC, 670 Appian Way, El Sobrante, CA, for a day of celebrating the power and importance of singing together. This event is one of the last of many events during a year-long nationwide tour to celebrate the opening of The Center for Congregational Song (CCS), the resource and outreach arm of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. The leadership will include some of the most skilled and forward-thinking song leaders and composers from ...

New facility at Hope's Corner will provide case management, food, showers and job training By Kevin Forestieri / Mountain View Voice  Ambitious plans to transform Trinity United Methodist Church into a hub for homeless services will move forward next month, thanks in large part to a $1 million contribution from Mountain View's largest tech company. Google officials announced the company's major financial support, which had been in the works for close to a year and kept secret until this week, ...

This is the third year the Fijian Youth Summer Camp has been held attracting campers from a diverse group of youth in the California-Nevada Conference and beyond.    “FJY18” acronym for Fijian Youth 2018, was held form July 10 to 13 at Camp Lodestar.  This year’s theme was based on Mathew 5:16 “Let you light shine.”   Though run by the Fijian Caucus of the Conference, classes are conducted in English by the speakers.  This year’s speakers include El Camino Real District Superintendent the Rev. ...

The beginning of the new conference year gave First Taulanga U Tongan United Methodist Church (FTTUMC) of Sacramento much to celebrate. FTTUMC welcomed 11 new members and celebrated the baptism of two babies. In addition to welcoming the people, FTTUMC celebrated their new call as the stewards of the former Oak Park UMC building. FTTUMC and its new members will continue the ministries of Oak Park UMC, including Oak Park Fix-It Café on the 3rd Saturdays of every month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and...

What began a few years ago as a project of the Watsonville First United Methodist has turned into a backpack giveaway Sunday sponsored by the Las Santa Beclaras Circuit that includes Aptos UMC, Boulder Creek UMC, Gilroy UMC, Hollister UMC, Morgan Hill UMC, and the UMC of Santa Cruz.   Pastor Robin Mathews-Johnson from Watsonville First UMC describes the project:   We gave out about 80 plus backpacks filled with school supplies in August on backpack Sunday last year to children, youth, and some ...

A dozen people typically attend council meetings in Dixon, a small town 30 minutes outside Sacramento. On Tuesday night, some 300 people showed up to speak out against a city official’s newspaper column that celebrated “straight pride" and disparaged LGBTQ people. Councilmember Ted Hickman spoke publicly for the first time on Tuesday about his article in a local Dixon paper. He stopped short of apologizing. Pastor Catharine Morris from Dixon UMC was first to speak out against Hickman at Tuesday ...

Emma Kerr-Carpenter won unanimous approval among Yellowstone County commissioners Tuesday to complete the unexpired term of a representative in Montana’s House District 49 seat. Kerr-Carpenter served on the Conference Youth Council from 2003 to 2007 and was elected a delegate to the 2016 Western Jurisdictional Conference.  She was a Mission Intern, now called the Global Mission Fellow program, at the General Board of Global Ministries. Kerr-Carpenter served in Brazil with the Shade and Fresh ...

On June 22, The Endowment Board presented their annual grants to Board of Pensions and the Retired Clergy Association at Annual Conference Session. Board of Pensions accepted a check for $1,700,000 (a $100,000 increase from prior year), and the Retired Clergy Association accepted a check for $111,000 (a $5,000 increase from prior year). “We really wanted to express our commitment to the Conference and fulfill our mission, “ said Executive Director Cory Parish, “We were blessed to be in a place ...

Collects more than $80,000 for relief efforts of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico *By Dr. Larry R. Hygh, Jr.   Addressing more than 1,000 attendees, San Francisco Episcopal Area Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño told the 170th session of the California-Nevada Annual Conference: "I believe that God is also showing us that as a conference of The United Methodist Church we have the capacity and ability to be leaders in the church and in the world. Throughout the years, the people called Methodists have ...

"Open the Door! Art from Within" is an exhibition that is running until July 29.  Exhibition times on Wednesdays, July 11, 18, and 25 are from 6 to 9 p.m.  The Los Gatos United Methodist Church is located at 111 Church Street, Los Gatos, CA 95030 (www.lgumc.org). Presented by the Art and Spirit Program and the Sheriff’s Department of Santa Clara County the art is created by the inmates from the correctional facilities of Santa Clara County. The "Open the Door" project affirms how art enables ...

Pages and Marshals serve each year at Annual Conference Session, doing the important jobs of distributing approved materials to conference participants, including making certain the conference secretary has copies of any amendments to items (pages) and assisting participants with credentials to be admitted to the bar of the conference session and directing visitors to the visitor's section. All volunteers will be trained on Tuesday evening at 7:30. These are fun jobs that allow you to attend all...

See this report on the Sierra Pines UMC website: http://sierrapinesumc.org/exodus/report-from-umcor-west-depot-mission-trip/

The Academy for Spiritual Formation will take place in the California-Nevada Conference beginning in July. Revs. George Edd-Bennett and Jennifer Goto discuss the Academy and its benefits. To view the video, click here. For more information about the Academy for Spiritual Formation, click here.

Bishop Minerva G. Carcaño recently held a daylong retreat with the class to be ordained at the 2018 Annual Conference Session on Friday, June 22.  From left to right: Revs. Vathanak Heang, Jose Ramos, Hae-Jeong Yoon, Sandra Sanders-West, Bishop Carcaño, Jay Parr, Burke Owens, and Michelle Robbins. 

Wesley Foundation Campus Ministry of Merced received a grant from the California-Nevada Conference Board of Higher Education & Campus Ministries (CBHECM). They are a radically inclusive, intentional Christian community that welcomes people of all walks of life regardless of religion, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation and gender identity to promote living an authentic life in God. The mission of Wesley Foundation of Merced is to reach out to students in UC Merced (8000), Merced ...

Missionary Jim Perdue will be the principal speaker at this year’s Friday Mission Lunch and Saturday United Methodist Women (UMW) Breakfast at annual conference.  He works with the UMC Global Migration Team on justice and humanitarian issues facing Central American refugees.  Online lunch registration is now open.      Both the noon Friday lunch ($18) and 7 a.m. Saturday breakfast ($23) will be at Greens Market, 953 10th Street, a block from the Modesto DoubleTree where annual conference will be...

The California-Nevada Annual Conference Committee on Advocacy and Justice invites individuals, churches, and other groups to participate in the nationwide launch of the Poor People's Campaign on May 14.   The Poor People's Campaign is a movement rooted in the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  When King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, diverse groups were organizing the Poor People's Campaign in Washington D.C. to advocate for policy change around the disparity of the rich and ...

Interfaith Nevada County members and friends were seen in a prayerful, joyful march on a sunny Sunday afternoon, April 29, in Grass Valley. Stepping off from the corner of South Church Street and Walsh, they took a stroll around downtown.  They were part of an international day of interfaith marches under the banner "Interfaith March for Peace and Justice," demonstrating religious and spiritual commitments to peace and justice around the world for all people. The march ended with prayer, poetry...

Lay person Nikki Salde addresses the crowd at SFO (photo credit Kira Salde-Azzam) By Rev. Lindsey Kerr   The immigrant who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the immigrant as yourself, for you were immigrants in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. – Leviticus 19: 34   “Our faith calls us to action,” Nikki Salde declared into a microphone in a crowded SFO terminal. Salde, a member of Buena Vista United Methodist Church, was one of many Filipino ...

*By Dr. Larry R. Hygh, Jr.   “God wants our brothers and sisters on the streets housed, He (God) got this done,” says Jeff Adams, a layperson at St. Mark’s UMC Sacramento, about the church’s completion of the construction of a “tiny house.”  Adams says, “I am in no way a construction guy. Going in, I had no idea how we were going to raise the funds and pull off the technical build of a house…Somehow, someway when we needed funds, or expert volunteers, they just showed up.”   St. Mark’s partnered...

The United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR) has awarded the California-Nevada Conference a $1.3 million grant to support recovery from the 2017 wildfires that devastated parts of northern California. “The grant not only provides much needed resources to survivors and communities of the October Fires, the project is also designed to continue strengthening disaster readiness and response efforts within the Conference, said Sonja Edd-Bennett, Director of Conference Disaster Response Ministry. ...

The Rev. Laura Steed, a licensed local pastor serving as the Associate Multifaith Chaplain at the University of the Pacific (UOP), partnered with Robbie Frederiksen, the Youth and Young Adult Director at Central UMC in Stockton, CA, to take a group of 10 students to San Diego for a week-long service learning trip called Alternative Spring Break with the Sierra Service Project. Rev. Steed applied for and received two grants, one from the California-Nevada Conference Board of Higher Education and ...

Anxious to help with the recovery, a team of seventeen from five Bay Area United Methodist Churches (Los Altos, St. Paul’s, San Ramon Valley, Asbury and Lynnewood) traveled to Puerto Rico in mid-March.  Stationed at a Methodist Women’s retreat center on the South Coast in Patillas with electric power supplied by generators, they worked on two homes in a nearby town, Maunabo. The Annual Conference Session offering this year will benefit United Methodist work in Puerto Rico. (Read more)

The Immigration Task Force of the California-Nevada Annual Conference will award a $500 scholarship to a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) student who is pursuing a higher education.  The deadline for application is May 1, and the guidelines are as follows:           -        Must be active in a United Methodist Church in the California-Nevada Annual Conference;           -        G.P.A. 3.0 or higher;           -        A Graduating Senior or already in college majoring in ...

Jubilee Initiative will be hosting a meeting at Centennial UMC on April 14th to share more information about JI and how you can support the ministry in your church. The meeting will begin at 10 am and go until 1 PM with a lite lunch served. Please RSVP to Maggie Lohmeyer at mlohmeyer@umcmission.org so we can plan accordingly.

California-Nevada Conference churches collectively contributed more than $10,000 on Global Migration Sunday.  Churches that contributed to the December offering include: Almaden Hills UMC, San Jose Asbury UMC, Livermore Community UMC, Fall River Mills Creekside UMC, Sutter Creek Epworth UMC, Berkeley First UMC, Arcata First UMC, Pacific Grove First UMC, Watsonville Foothills UMC, Cameron Park Ione UMC, Ione Los Altos UMC, Los Altos Merced UMC, Merced Pioneer UMC, Auburn St. Andrews UMC, ...

People of all faiths are invited to attend     OAKHURST, CA.  The historic, “Little Church on the Hill” will be host to its first Easter Sunrise Service in more than 30 years.  Sunday, April 1st at 7:00am, all people are invited to celebrate Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith.   Over the years after its restoration, the Little Church on the Hill has been host to weddings, baptisms, memorials and numerous Veteran celebrations.  However, according to ...

The California-Nevada Conference Immigration Task Force recently gathered at the Conference Center in West Sacramento to plan its advocacy and training work.  The task force is working with a volunteer interim coordinator.    Rolland (Rolly) Loomis will serve as the volunteer interim coordinator for the Immigration Task Force through June of this year.  Loomis has been a pastor in local churches in the Desert Southwest Conference and a missionary in The United Methodist Church.  He has worked ...

This year Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church (SJUMC) will be celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of the original church on Sunday, April 22, 2018, starting with worship services at 10:30 a.m. followed by a Christ, Honoring Our Legacy, Cultivating Our Future”.   Former ministers and their families have been invited.  We are excited to celebrate this occasion with group photo and a special luncheon.   The theme of this celebration is “Rooted in you to remember those faithful...

*By Dr. Larry R. Hygh, Jr.   The California-Nevada Conference Commission on the Annual Conference Session has chosen “Testify to Love: Do All the Good You Can” as the theme for the 2018 Annual Conference Session.    "The gathering of the people called United Methodists is always a joyful and spirited time.  As we gather for our 2018 Annual Conference Session it will be good to be in the Central Valley District.  Our brothers and sisters in this district are hard-working, faithful disciples of ...

  Hosted by Sacramento Japanese United Methodist Church (SJUMC), Pentecost Circuit members packaged 18,500 meals at their Rise Against Hunger packing event on March 4.  This was the 4th year for this Lenten project.  Rise Against Hunger is an international hunger relief non-profit organization that coordinates the packaging and distribution of food and other life-changing aid to people in developing nations. Founded in 1998 their goal is to end hunger in the world by 2030.  To visit their ...

Join us at the Waller Center (1525 Waller St. San Francisco, CA 94117) for a workshop with Aesha Ash on March 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. Aesha will be assisted by Lauren Graves who will be providing creative movement activities while Aesha offers ballet in smaller groups. This is not a formal ballet class, but Aesha will do a mini intro to ballet. The class will be for grades K-5. Class time will run form 2 PM- 4:30 PM. Doors will open at 1:30 PM for students to register. The class will be donation ...

By Jayne Muraki Rasmussen, Lay Leader, SJUMC   On Saturday, February 17, the Sacramento Japanese UMC (SJUMC) hosted immigration day, a workshop sponsored by the Sacramento Pentecost Circuit and the South Sacramento UMC Coalition.  A combined group of fifty-two people came to hear immigration attorney Thomas Spaniolo speak about the latest information on the changing environment of immigration in the United States.  The English language session at 10 a.m. was followed by a hosted lunch at noon, ...

The Leadership Mission Focus Area will begin spotlighting leaders throughout the California-Nevada Annual Conference. The goal of "Leadership Spotlight" is to show who we are, "normal everyday people with a calling from God, to do God's work, in God's world." To nominate someone, a project, or mission, contact the Rev. Scott Gessford, scott.gessford@cnumc.org.  Jim Frey receives joy and pleasure from serving God and The United Methodist Church in Yreka and the Great Northern District of the ...

DACA recipient Ana Laura Mendoza and intern at Frontera Wesley Foundation in Tuscon, AZ, has created a Lenten series, "40 Days in the Desert." Frontera Wesley is the Wesley Foundation that serves the University of Arizona and the Pima County Community College network of campuses. To view the videos in English, click here. To view the videos in Spanish, click here. To receive the daily photos follow @Frontera_Wesley on Instagram, “Frontera Wesley - Tucson” on Facebook (or to receive the daily ...

Save the Date for Gathering of the Orders and the Association of Local Pastors and Associate Members January 29-31. 2019 at a location to be determined.

*By Dr. Larry R. Hygh, Jr.   Sonja R. Edd-Bennett has been named the Director of the California-Nevada Conference Disaster Response Ministry.  This is a new position for the annual conference being funded with a grant from the United Methodist Committee On Relief (UMCOR).  In this role Edd-Bennett's primary function will be to represent and equip conference engagement with long term recovery groups in communities impacted by disasters, to increase the capacity of the conference to respond to ...

Jaelin is a member of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco and has been selected to be a part of the Western Jurisdictional (WJ) Delegation to The Global Young People’s Convocation.   The Global Young People’s Convocation (GYPC) is the global event of United Methodist young people. It is held once every four years for the purpose of: -        Celebrating the mission and vitality of young people in the United Methodist Church -        Raising the joys and concerns of young people from the global ...