This year the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18th and concludes with Easter Sunday on April 5th. During this time, weekly gatherings are being offered for those who wish to pause, reflect, and be intentional about their spiritual practices. Find out details HERE.
Sign up to Volunteer with Our Food Pantry
Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28
Fourth Saturday of every month
Our Food Ministries invite members of the congregation and the public to volunteer with our monthly food pantry. You are welcome to volunteer in different ways: On Fridays, volunteers help receive and set-up the food pantry (10 AM – 11 AM), and on Saturday, volunteers will facilitate food distribution (8 AM – 10:30 AM). If you are interested in serving through our ministries, click HERE.
Humorous, Poignant Film Screening About the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict
Sunday, March 15 at 1:00 PM
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church’s Peace in Palestine (PiP) small group is screening a film with an unusual perspective on Israeli/Palestinian relations, Coexistence, My Ass. It happens at church after worship/fellowship time on Sunday, March 16 at 1 P.M., with a brief time for discussion afterward. The film follows an Israeli woman, Noam Shuster Eliassi, who grew up in the only village in Israel where Palestinians and Israelis intentionally live together. Shuster Eliassi uses standup comedy as a vehicle for educating people about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and pushes her audiences to face difficult truths that aren’t always funny but do remind us that another reality is possible. If you are interested in attending, for planning purposes, please contact Dan Strauss danjeffstrauss@gmail.com, but you may also just show up the day of the screening.
February 27 – March 1
Monte Toyon in Aptos CA
The Bishop’s Confirmation Retreat is designed for youth ages 12 to 17. Youth who have been through the Confirmation process or who are interested in starting the process are welcome. There will be games, worship, creative activities, and sacred time together.
It is asked that each church who sends youth also send adults to help chaperone this event.
Registration is open until February 20 and the cost is $200 per youth, $150 per adult.
CLICK HERE to register for the retreat
To read the full message from the California-Nevada Conference, please click HERE
Surveys open now through February 15
The Council of Bishops is inviting United Methodists across the connection to help discern the future of the Church through a denomination-wide survey (open now through Feb. 15, 2026) and a series of churchwide webinars on Wesleyan identity and vision.
To take the survey, please click HERE
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Webinars and Recordings
UMCOM will host three churchwide webinars in order to help us discern our Wesleyan identity and new vision:
January 24, 2026, 7am-9:30am PT (10am-11:30am ET): Wesleyan Theology, “Love Boldly” (Recording will be available later this week at ResourceUMC.org)
February 21, 2026, 7am-9:30am PT (10am-11:30am ET): Wesleyan Misson, “Serve Joyfully”
March 21, 2026, 7am-9:30am PT (10am-11:30am ET): Wesleyan Leadership, “Lead Courageously”
To register for webinars, please click HERE.
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Various Locations Beginning in March
In the last two decades, churches have seen enormous change in the areas of stewardship and funding mission and ministry. After many decades during which the practice of stewardship hardly changed at all, churches have struggled to keep up. All this in the context of a world that changes rapidly, and culture often pushes back against.
Rev. Dr. Ken Sloane, Director of Stewardship and Generosity at Discipleship Ministries, has come to travel to various Districts of our Conference to share his view of the changes we have been through, where we have adapted well and not so well, and what he sees we need to be open to in the days that are ahead.
These workshops will occur at a variety of locations across California and Nevada. Two of the locations in the Bay Area are listed below:
Monday, March 23
9:00 am
San Jose, Korean UMC of Santa Clara Valley
1001 Ginger Lane, San Jose, CA 95128
Tuesday, March 24
9:00 am
Daly City UMC, Daly City
1474 Southgate Avenue, Daly City, CA 94015
To register, click HERE
For questions, please contact Rev. J. Martin Lee (martinl@calnevumc.org), Executive Director of Connectional Ministries, California-Nevada Annual Conference.