Dearest OPCC Friends and Family:
 
It’s been too long since we’ve communicated by “official” letter from your OPCC leadership. Early in March, April and May we sent several letters, frequently, and have settled into new and alternative formats of connecting with one another.  Yet, this most recent update is important, and we want to make sure everyone is kept up to date. 
 
We will offer an outdoor, in-person Sunday evening prayer service beginning Sunday October 4 at 5:00pm in the OPCC Main Courtyard. Limited attendance and reservations required.
 
Johnson County continues to be in “the red zone,” many of our children continue to school from home, and scientists and health experts are still very concerned about community spread. OPCC’s addition of an in-person option does not change the danger of this virus or your own personal risk factors. Please remember this.
 
We realize that many will not be ready at this time to return to an in-person gathering, and we honor your decision and support you completely.  OPCC will continue to offer a virtual worship option on Sunday mornings at 10:30am. This virtual worship option will be available on our website, on our Facebook page, and over the phone (dial 913-299-9002).  The Sunday morning virtual worship option will continue to be our main worship experience and offer a fuller worship experience. The Sunday evening prayer service is in addition to the Sunday morning experience, with a different format and focus.  Sunday evening will include communion.
 
When any of us begin to participate regularly in a faith community we take on a certain covenant with one another, to respect and love one another the way Christ teaches us. We celebrate this unspoken covenant with one another each and every time we share in communion. Returning to an in-person faith experience in the midst of a global pandemic means we are engaging in an expanded covenant with one another.  Please read this covenant here. This covenant of behavior is designed to extend God’s compassionate care to all who are part of our community.  If you plan to return to OPCC in any capacity, please read the covenant on the reverse side of this letter.  By returning to our building, indoors or outdoors, you are demonstrating your agreement to each of the principals and actions outlined in this covenant.
 
To ensure social distancing, even outside, there will be limited attendance at the outdoor gatherings on Sunday evenings.  If you are interested in attending you will be required to make a reservation each week by contacting the church office ([email protected] or 913.677.4646) by 3:00pm on the Friday prior to the Sunday.  A new reservation is required each week.  Please be considerate of one another, have grace if the reservations are full, and we will do our best to make sure everyone who wants it has a chance to experience in person. 
 
As I’m missing you, here’s a quote that is resonating with me today:
The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed. – Paul David Tripp
 
I deeply hope that you are doing well physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Six months of uncertain times is taxing and draining, to say the least.  I trust we are all doing the best we can to find our way through this experience together with compassion and grace for one another; I give thanks to God for each of you and the ways you have creatively and compassionately stuck with one another, cared for your neighbors, and supported your church.  We hope you too have felt supported, and God’s love.
 
Blessings and perseverance,
 
Rev. Laura Ann Phillips, and The Leadership of Overland Park Christian Church

As we concluded our series celebrating our 70th year of ministry, we concluded with the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood about the man and TV Show, Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian Minister and committed to the neighborhood that he created through his TV program. We too, at OPCC, are committed to the neighborhood and community we have created in these 70 years of ministry, and so we invite you to take this Sunday (or this week) to pray for our neighbors.  

You are asked to walk a route of your choosing, or specifically around the church building, to pray for all the people in the homes and buildings you pass. You are invited to walk prayerfully, only speaking if you need to communicate something important to each other (ie. safety concerns). Feel free to smile or wave at passersby but try to remain present with God in prayer. 

As you walk, picture the Holy Spirit going before you, sweeping through each home you pass. 

Before you go, join the whole church in praying together:

God, you know all the families and people that live in homes we will pass. You know the inside of their homes and the inside of their hearts.
You know what they most need and what they most want.
We pray your complete peace upon them. 
We pray your holy healing into their hearts and homes.
Open their hearts that they might receive your Love and Grace.
Bring to them all they need to be the people you created them to be.
May the peace of Christ live in their hearts, homes, and in this neighborhood. 
Bless each of these your children, hold them in your care, surround them in your love, and lead them to the peace only Christ can bring. AMEN 

Covering our Community in Prayer From Home

If you find yourself unable to physically take a walk we still invite you to cover our community in prayer from your home. Take out a physical map, or pull up a map on your phone and choose a neighborhood; it might be your own neighborhood, or you might choose to pray over the neighborhood directly around the church at 75th & Conser. We have provided a map of a neighborhood right around the church for you if you do not have access to one.
 
Take 15-20 minutes to pray over it. Put your hands over the entire page / screen and pray, breathing in God’s peace after each statement.
 
God, you know all the families and people that live in this area.
You know the inside of their homes and the inside of their hearts
You know what they most need and what they most want.
I pray your complete peace upon them.
I pray your holy healing into their hearts and homes.
Open their hearts that they might receive your Love and Grace.
Bring to them all they need to be the people you created them to be.
May the peace of Christ live in their hearts, homes, and neighborhoods. In Christ’s name I pray. AMEN 
 
Now trace your finger along the roads on the map.

• If you’ve been on these roads, try to imagine the buildings & homes along the way. 
• Pray for the people and places your finger passes.
• Picture the Holy Spirit sweeping through each home, bringing peace as you pray. 

 
Close by praying over the entire map again: God, bless each of these your children, hold them in your care, surround them in your love, and lead them to the peace only Christ can bring. AMEN ​

Dearest OPCC Friends and Family:
 
I pray you have recently seen God’s presence, even in the soupy humidity of a midwestern summer. I deeply hope that you are doing well physically, emotionally, and spiritually – at least as well as we all can be. We are all doing the best we can to find our way through this experience together, and I give thanks to God for each of you, and the ways you have creatively and compassionately stuck with one another, cared for your neighbors, and stood with your faith community. 
 
I see God’s presence each and every time I see your name pop up on a comment of the worship experience on Facebook and our website.  I see God’s presence when I receive a card of prayers for my family and their health concerns. I see God’s presence when our OPCC Food Pantry and OPCC Coronavirus Committee continue to share resources with our wider community in need. I see God’s presence every time our OPCC leadership meet virtually to discern next steps and what these coming months at OPCC look like.
 
As OPCC looks to our future, our OPCC Board named a task force to help guide these decisions. Dr. Kathy Kinder, Emerson Hartzler, Alan Felton, and Lee Sprinkle have faithfully considered best practices as advised by public health policies, other worshiping communities, and our local authorities. Your OPCC Board also continues to meet virtually for its regular monthly meetings, along with additional weekly check-ins to stay abreast of ever-changing information. This task force along with our OPCC Board and staff, we togetherrecommend continuing our physically distant, but spiritually connected, community through the end of November 2020.
 
Whew. I had to take a deep breath just writing that. Through November? 
 
This decision was not made lightly; it was regular prayerful discernment that encouraged us to stop waiting for when we get “do things the way we used to,” and instead move forward in hopeful expectation, together.
 
Beginning August 3, our church will revisit the Unraveled worship theme that we used in September. These six NEW stories of Seeking God When Our Plans Fall Apart, certainly seems relevant these days!  When the world around us has unraveled into strands, when we lay threadbare, vulnerable, and anxious about what it means to be church when we can’t be at the church building, we need a word of hope woven into our lives. Not only do these stories in our Bible remind us of the hope found even when their Biblical world Unraveled, these stories remind us that the hopeful question has never been “how do we go back?” The hopeful, faithful question has always been, “how do we move forward?”
 
The way that we move forward is rooted in our 70-year history of building and supporting community; OPCC will continue growing into the new future that God has planned for us, but our grief at being unable to worship as we were for the time being has prevented us from faithfully moving forward. Taking this bold step in continuing with a physically distant, but spiritually connected, community through November, and looking for this newness to which God is calling us for the rest of this year, is the most faithful response we can have. 
 
There is a time, a period of acknowledgment and grief that there is no going back to the way that things were. Just like for the early church following Jesus crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, there’s no going back to what it was like to be with Jesus in Galilee. There is a time for grief, and a time to acknowledge the intensity of all that we’ve been through, but even with these moments of pause and reflection, we look forward with hope, because we know God continues to do a new thing within us, and continues to resurrect new life in completely unexpected ways. 
 
The anxiety of “week-to-week” and “month-to-month” is incredibly taxing on staff and leadership, and this new approach allows for more creative energies to bring us together in new ways, rather than just waiting, waiting, waiting. Planning to worship as a physically distant, but spiritually connected community, into the future opens up the opportunities to explore more options as they safely and responsibility become possible:
 

• In-person, outside, socially-distant gatherings/worship might be organized
• Sharing and teaching of technology can make connection possible for those who had previously lacked those capabilities
• Drive-in worship experiences, reminiscent of our history become possible
• Physically distant, outdoor, congregational care or pastoral visits might be possible

 
Spending our energies on NEW ways of being with one another become possible when our energies are no longer spent worrying about getting back to the way we USED TO BE.  
 
OPCC will continue with community life in phases, much like our county and state, only when safe and with precautions. It will not look the same, but we are still the Church, and we want the community to feel just as supportive and hopeful. This decision allows us to focus our energies on creating community that may be different in many ways, but also allows you to experience many of the familiar touchstones that make OPCC feel like home. 
 
Stay tuned for more. The newsletter, emails, phone-trees, and virtual worship experiences will continue to keep you up to date on new opportunities and what’s happening at OPCC. 
 
Please know that you are in my prayers, the prayers of the entire staff, our officers, elders, and deacons.
Please remember: We belong to God, and we belong to one another.  Our ministry will continue to reflect this.
 
Blessings and perseverance,
 
Rev. Laura Ann Phillips, and The Leadership of Overland Park Christian Church

 
Barb Collins     (Board 2017-2020)
Jon Bivens       (Board 2017-2020)
Pat Gilling        (Board 2018-2021)
Alan Felton      (Board 2018-2021 & Task Force)
Theresa Krebs (Board 2019-2022)
Terri Bookless (Board 2019-2022)
Gretta Earnest            (Board 2020-2023)
David Collins               (Board 2020-2023)
 
Dr. Kathy Kinder          (Task Force)
Emerson Hartzler        (Task Force)
Lee Sprinkle                (Task Force)

Join us each week on Wednesdays at 11am Central for live prayers with our General Minister and President, the head pastor of our denomination, Rev. Teresa Hord Owens.
​
Check here right at/shortly after 11am when we will share the video.