Christian Outreach In Action

Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’ 

DEUTERONOMY 15:11

Christian Outreach in Action (COA) is located in an old church facility on the corner of Linden and 3rd Street in the downtown area of Long Beach. The building includes a sanctuary, meeting room, kitchen, small dining room, patio and a basement. This downtown mission outpost welcomes folks and families that need a meal, a coat or shoes and/or other useful, often necessary items. Our church is frequently on hand to serve a hot meal with a smile and blessing.

Information on how and when volunteers are needed for food preparation and serving meals is available at church or by calling the church phone number: (562) 420-3393 for days and times.

Also, if you have items that can be of use, please drop them in the donation shed near the church parking lot on a Sunday before or after church services. Please put your items on the shelves that are labeled “COA”.

More information about Christian Outreach in Action can be found at their website.

www.coalongbeach.org

Grace First members create and share hand made scarves with the COA community.

Grace First volunteers cook and deliver a warm chicken dinner to COA on the second Tuesday of every month.

Long Beach H.O.P.E Project

The H.O.P.E. Project is an intergenerational opportunity to gather once a month and provide worship and prepare/share a meal with the homeless and disadvantaged in downtown Long Beach in conjunction with Christian Outreach in Action. We express our faith through acts of hospitality and kindness. Contact Terry Hopper at terryh33@msn.com to volunteer or for more information. Meets on the last Sunday of every month.

Offering of Letters

Grace First partners with Bread for the World to speak out about food security issues in our country and around the world. Each year Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters to Congress engages churches, campuses, and other faith communities in writing personalized letters to Congress. You can join your voice with others around the country calling for a world without hunger.

People write letters, usually as a group, and present them as an offering to God before mailing them to Congress. Hundreds of Offerings are held each year, resulting in tens of thousands of letters to Congress. Supported with prayer, these letters are a bold witness to God’s justice and mercy. Year after year, they continue to have a significant impact on the decisions made in Congress.

To participate in the Offering of Letters:

• Call (800-826-3688) or email your members of congress here https://secure.bread.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=401&s_subsrc=website-activist-corner&_ga=2.109906629.1946091881.1617132075-451849805.1616689344 and urge them to address growing hunger at home and abroad by making the one-year extension of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) permanent and also increase U.S. leadership and funding for global nutrition programs.

• Globally, hundreds of millions of people are on the brink of starvation. And levels of U.S hunger are now higher than during the Great Depression.

If you would like to learn more about the 2021 Offering of Letters, visit -https://ol.bread.org/?_ga=2.62803820.1946091881.1617132075-451849805.1616689344

For a Fact Sheet: Expand the Child Tax Credit to Significantly Reduce hunger, visit https://bread.org/library/fact-sheet-expand-child-tax-credit-significantly-reduce-child-hunger?_ga=2.62803820.1946091881.1617132075-451849805.1616689344

Earth Care Congregation

Grace First Presbyterian Church of Long Beach recently became a certified Earth Care Congregation of PC(USA)’s Presbyterian Hunger Program. This honor speaks to our commitment to care for God’s earth and take seriously God's charge to "till and keep" the garden.

Our Earth Care Team, a sub-committee of our Mission Ministry Team, seeks to care for God's earth in a holistic way through integrating earth care into all aspects of church life.

For more information about Grace First’s earth care program contact Rev. Jonas Hayes at jonas.gracefirst@gmail.com.

For more information on the Earth Care Congregations program visit www.pcusa.org/earthcarecongregations.

Crop Walk

Grace First members and friends participate in the annual Crop Walk (5K / 3 miles) that raises funds for hunger programs locally and worldwide through Church World Services. To find out more or make a donation visit www.crophungerwalk.org

Habitat for Humanity

Grace First Presbyterian Church is active with Habitat for Humanity LA county and we are a founding partner in the Habitat LA Long Beach Area Faith Coalition.  The Faith Coalition brings together over 10 churches and temples to raise funds and coordinate volunteer activities for local Habitat for Humanity projects. Over the years, teams form Grace First have participated in building projects across LA county. Currently, there is a Habitat for Humanity project in Long Beach to build 48 new homes in the next 2 years.  Grace First plans to have teams participate in this building project soon.

More information about Habitat for Humanity can be found at their website www.habitatla.org

Peace & Justice Ministry

God desires peace and justice for all individuals, families, communities, and nations. Founded by members Mary Buck and Ann Seufert, our efforts include the pursuit of justice and peacemaking locally, nationally, and worldwide. The Grace First Peace & Justice Ministry team engages in two main initiatives in order to serve others – raising money for worthy causes and educating the congregation and ourselves.

What We Do:

Raise Money

• Alternative Christmas Fair –  we have sold a variety of items ranging from books to vitamin packets to soup in the name of raising money for a plethora of causes

• Bread for the World – we donated money to fight hunger at home and abroad and encouraged others to get involved by writing letters to US representatives

• CROP Hunger Walk – members of our team have walked to support local organizations, including COA, while also raising money for Church World Service for hunger projects such as water purification systems and food packets

• Rising Tide – we spearheaded school supplies drives, focusing on backpacks, for the after-school program at Covenant Presbyterian Church in downtown Long Beach

Educate

• Adult Education classes – topics have included environmental conservation, foster care, trafficking, mental health and will address the issues of the Middle East, including Palestinian Christians

• South Coast Interfaith Council (SCIC) – SCIC provides the opportunity to learn about other faiths by interacting together in an casual environment, promoting tolerance and understanding between faiths

Mosaic of Peace Book Studies

Between April 2021 and March 2022, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program will be offering a series of book studies focusing on the Holy Land, inviting participants to learn from its complicated history and to struggle with its modern-day context of conflict, occupation and opposing claims.  A variety of books will be selected and participants are invited to register for one or all of the 4-6 week book study groups.  The book studies are open to all: those who have participated in past Mosaic of Peace Conference, those planning to attend the 2022 Conference and those who simply seek to better understand the historical and modern-day Holy Land.

The Lemon Tree:  An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

By Sandy Tolan

A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST
“Extraordinary … A sweeping history of the Palestinian-Israeli conundrum … Highly readable and evocative.” – The Washington Post
In 1967, Bashir Khairi, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family left fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next half century in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, demonstrating that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and transformation.

Christmas Mission Festival

The Christmas Mission Festival (in years past the Alternative Christmas Market) is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the holidays with our church family and to contribute to some of the worthy mission projects supported by Grace First Presbyterian Church. Shares for these projects make great Christmas gifts! This year’s Festival will take place in the Ministry Center on Sunday, December 8, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm.