You Are Connected
Christian Church in Arizona
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If you were to visit our Regional summer camp for youth and children, you would see lots of happy new faces. If you were ever a camper, or served as a volunteer, you probably remember looking for the recognizable faces first. Rev. Allen Cunningham has been one of the most recognizable faces in this program for over 45 years. When he announced that this would be his last camping season as a volunteer, people of all ages shared their memories of his ministry, and how the connections in that space made a difference.
At the heart of what we do together is to create spaces where connections can be made, and the body of Christ can be extended in mission and ministry throughout many places in this world. Our region is blessed to have many recognizable faces around us. We share some of their stories, how they have taken what they’ve received and are sharing it with others. We are also blessed as happy new faces become connected and help to support the many more spaces our Region helps to create.
At the heart of what we do together is to create spaces where connections can be made, and the body of Christ can be extended in mission and ministry throughout many places in this world.
This year, the Interregional Disciples Women’s Retreat, the National Hispanic and Bilingual Assembly, and several more gatherings of the National Benevolent Association and Christian Church Foundation have found space here in our region for celebration, and connection. We’ve made plans to create space for all of our congregations at our next Regional Assembly on November 2 – 3, 2018, at Saguaro Christian Church, Tucson. We hope you will join us there and become connected.
Whether you’ve visited a recent event, served on a regional or local congregation’s leadership team, or participated in some other way, you are connected. We also need you to help to keep us connected. The Annual Fund gives us the opportunity to help support the work of our Region in creating spaces for all, new and recognizable faces alike. Do you want to help make more connections possible? Please give now, no matter how large or small you might believe your gift, we are thankful for it as it helps us to extend our connections with you and others.
Your financial gift to the Region maintains our connections to each other and supports the vital ministry we share. Please use the button below make a gift, and see more of your connections through the Christian Church in Arizona. We are grateful for the ways that we are all connected.
You may also mail your gift marked “Annual Fund” to the Regional Office at:
Christian Church in Arizona
PO Box 1121
Chandler, AZ 85244
RJ Howard wrote “I’ve known for a while, but I think it was at this camp that it really sunk in that what makes camp special is not the traditions, curriculum, location, or any of those components. The most crucial part is the people and the shared bonds that manifest.” RJ served as a Disciples Peace Fellowship Intern during the summer of 2017. His journey began here in Arizona, but took him all over the country. Some of the locations are familiar to Disciples, like Bethany, West Virginia. Not quite so many have heard of Wetumpka, Alabama, but he was there, too.
In the young adults who were children of our Region, it is easy to see how deeply we are connected. Many of you know RJ, who unloaded the pumpkins you bought at First Christian Church of Scottsdale. Maybe you remember him from camp as the very tall counselor the youngest kids used as a jungle gym. Or maybe you don’t know him, but you know others like him: children who grow into faithful teenagers who grow into faithful young adults. They reflect our best connections—connections that grow ever deeper and create new life.
The most crucial part is the people and the shared bonds that manifest.
After his summer as a DPF intern, RJ moved to Dallas to serve for a year in National Benevolent Association’s (NBA) XPLOR program. Over the course of the year, XPLOR residents serve in a local ministry and discern their vocation. Several Tucson churches partner to host an XPLOR site housed at FCC Tucson, welcoming residents from across the country. This, too, is one of the many ways we live out our call to be connected to each other as Disciples of Christ.
We are connected in many ways, but one of the things that most strongly binds us together is the Region, the Christian Church in Arizona. Together, we celebrate our commitment to creating new generations of faithful Disciples of Christ who live out deep connections in Arizona and beyond.
Your financial gift to the Region maintains our connections to each other and supports the vital ministry we share. Please use the button below make a gift, and see more of your connections through the Christian Church in Arizona. We are grateful for the ways that we are all connected.
You may also mail your gift marked “Annual Fund” to the Regional Office at:
Christian Church in Arizona
PO Box 1121
Chandler, AZ 85244
“Blessed be the tie that binds,” we sing. Undoubtedly, some of us sing the old hymn more than others. It remains a reminder that we are connected to the larger Church and a faith we share with God’s children the world over. In our own corners of the Arizona Region, in our own congregations of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we often forget our own deep connections to each other, and the transformation they create.
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Stephanie hanging out with her family group the last day of CYF Church Camp 2012.
Many people in the Arizona Region recognize Stephanie Sager. Stephanie grew up at Saguaro Christian Church, serving there in VBS, as a member of the Board of Directors, and eventually as an elder. She also served the region on the Youth Council and is returning to Arizona this summer for her second year as a Chi Rho camp counselor. Her Arizona Youth Council leadership and connections led her to Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, where she received the Disciples Leadership Scholarship. The scholarship provides her with full tuition as well as funding for two mentorship opportunities. This summer, that mentorship opportunity is serving as a youth intern at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Sulphur, OK.
We could count the connections of Stephanie and the Arizona Region if we liked: three years of Youth Council, four camps just this summer, four General Assemblies, one college—but where would we stop counting?
We could count all the people connected to Eureka College? What about the Disciples Leadership Scholarship? What if we tried to count the kids at camp, both the ones she camped with and the ones she will counsel? Could we count the counselors, the teachers, the pastors, the elders, the deacons, and all the other adults in Arizona who were a connection along Stephanie’s way?
Stephanie and other Arizona Youth at EPCOT during General Assembly 2013 in Orlando, FL.
Instead of counting, let us remember that in our own corners, in our own congregations, we are deeply connected to one another. We are connected through the Region at Arizona camps, retreats of all sorts, assemblies. We are connected through congregational transformation. We are connected in Arizona as we search for new pastors and congregations develop new ministries. You are connected. You are connected to people you will never meet and places you will never visit. You are connected to generations before you. And you are connected to Stephanie, one of the young adults of the Christian Church in Arizona.
Delta Zeta
All of the Chapter Presidents from Region 16 of the Delta Zeta Sorority at the Annual President’s Leadership Academy in Dallas, TX.
Costa Rica Mission Trip
On a mission trip to Costa Rica with other Disciples Students from Eureka College.
With Sharon Watkins
Stephanie and other Disciples Leadership Fellows from Eureka College with General Minister and President Sharon Watkins.
With Chi Rho Campers
Stephanie playing Apples to Apples with some of the Chi Rho campers at Church Camp 2016.
Over the course of the year, the Region will share the many ways we are connected in ministry to each other. Today, we invite you to invest in your connections to the Christian Church in Arizona with a gift to the Region’s Annual Fund.
We are grateful for the ways that we are all connected
Connect the Dots Chalice