“God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.'”
Genesis 9:12,13

We are just over a month away from hosting our Regional Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Arizona, on October 23-24! The final preparations are kicking into full gear, and I am so excited for our greater church family to come and see how God is moving among us. The care and love we show to one another is the same hospitality we are preparing to extend to 200+ fellow disciples!

The theme for the event is “Celebrating our Gifts.” From storytelling to worship and workshops we will have opportunities to celebrate and deeper explore what equips each of our congregations for ministry. Each congregation is unique and has found a niche and purpose. For us, it is reminding older adults of our value and purpose and that God continues to have need of us. We are a people with passion and skill, and we offer relationship and the living presence of Christ to everyone we encounter.

On Sunday we will take the time to register our congregation for the event. It is free of charge and even if we are just planning to volunteer for a specific task, we all need to sign up. Hard copy forms will be handed out if you prefer to write your information down and our fantastic office will finish the online registrations for us. We will also have digital stations available for those who wish to register online or with assistance on your cell phone.

Most importantly for our hosting responsibilities, sign-up sheets for all the volunteer needs will be available as well.

The event kicks off on Friday night with a time of music and storytelling. Our very own Ginger Lanier will be one of the storytellers! Erin Cash, the director of the Thriving Congregations project we have been participating with, will be the keynote presenter and will also preach during our regular 9:30 a.m. Sunday worship (a perk of being the host congregation)!

This Sunday we will also begin a new series called “Unlikely Heroes” which is fitting with the theme of celebrating our gifts. We will journey with Noah and his relationship with God and the story from flood to bow in the clouds. Genesis 9:8-17 will be the read text if you wanted to prepare in advance! I look forward to worshipping with you online or in person. Brett

P.S. If you wanted to register for assembly on your own, go here: https://azdisciples.org/regional-assembly/