A SPANISH CLASS FOR ANYONE

Our 2021 Spring Class starts in less than two weeks on March 22! This year’s Spring Class is meant to equip us to live better together with our Spanish-speaking church members, friends, and neighbors. Whether you don’t know any Spanish but are eager to press into the lives of Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors, or you took 3 years in high school but are too shy to ever use it day to day, this is a class for you. Even if you’re a fluent Spanish speaker, we’d welcome you to join and be an encouragement to those seeking to learn. All levels of Spanish-learners are welcome to join and grow in both the knowledge and confidence that are needed to have real and regular Spanish conversations.

The format will be 6 class sessions, held every other week (2nd and 4th Mondays of each month) at 7:00 pm in-person, in the Schlieder backyard. These class sessions will be a hybrid of a lecture-based learning approach, interactive activities and language learning exercises, and real conversations that pair Spanish-learning and Spanish-speaking church members together.

In preparation for the class, there will be no book assigned to read. Everything will be covered in the sessions and the only materials you’ll need will be something to write with, a notebook, and the willingness to press into the unfamiliar!

REGISTER HERE

OUR ANNUAL COMMUNION SERVICE - ONLY DIFFERENT

This Sunday, we will be resuming our annual tradition of holding a communion service on the spring daylight savings Sunday. However, while it’s usually held in the evening, this year’s service will be held at our normal Sunday service time of 10:00 am. While we usually share a full-on meal together, we will only be taking the elements of the bread and the cup together. What will mark this service as unique, though, is an emphasis on the sacraments and what they mean for our lives together as Christians. Come ready to learn and to worship.

An optional lunch will be held outdoors at the Schlieder home after the service. Information to follow on the church’s Slack channel. For questions, please email office@crossofgracesa.org.

¡CONFIDENT CONVERSATIONS!

A SPANISH CLASS FOR ANYONE

Our 2021 Spring Class starts on Monday, March 22nd! This year’s Spring Class is meant to equip us to live better together with our Spanish-speaking church members, friends, and neighbors. Whether you don’t know any Spanish but are eager to press into the lives of Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors, or you took 3 years in high school but are too shy to ever use it day to day, this is a class for you. Even if you’re a fluent Spanish speaker, we’d welcome you to join and be an encouragement to those seeking to learn. All levels of Spanish-learners are welcome to join and grow in both the knowledge and confidence that are needed to have real and regular Spanish conversations.

The format will be 6 class sessions, held every other week (2nd and 4th Mondays of each month) at 7:00pm in-person, in the Schlieder backyard. These class sessions will be a hybrid of a lecture-based learning approach, interactive activities and language learning exercises, and real conversations that pair Spanish-learning and Spanish-speaking church members together.

WHY A SPANISH CLASS? WHY NOT SOMETHING “MORE THEOLOGICAL?”

Because language is theological. The Bible tells us that at Babel (Genesis 11), a common language became an opportunity for sin. In response, God divided up the languages of men. Language wrongly unified, so it was rightly divided. Due to the effects of sin, language separates men and women from one another. Yet, at Pentecost (Acts 2), language was redeemed as the message of the gospel was spoken to all gathered in Jerusalem in their own familiar language. The Spirit of God caused the preaching of the gospel to be heard in the native languages of divided peoples so that they’d all become united in Christ. Apart from Christ, common language exalted self and sin, and divided languages divided us. In Christ, every step we take into the uncomfortable territory of a new or unfamiliar language is a truly unifying, Babel-reversing, Savior-exalting step.

CHILDCARE WON’T BE PROVIDED, BUT KIDS 10 AND UP ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CLASS.

Attendance will be capped at 12 participants. Men, women, and older kids, English and Spanish speakers alike may join. This class is a chance for us to learn a language, but more than that, it is a chance for us to love our city, our church, and our neighbors as we become equipped to more confidently live life together with them through the words we share. It’s our prayer that you’d be filled with both the knowledge and the confidence you need to take a step toward real conversations and real life together with our Spanish-speaking church members and neighbors.

REGISTER TODAY

In preparation for the class, there will be no book assigned to read. Everything will be covered in the sessions and the only materials you’ll need will be something to write with, a notebook, and the willingness to press into the unfamiliar!

REGISTER HERE

OUR ANNUAL COMMUNION SERVICE - ONLY DIFFERENT

This year, we will be resuming our annual tradition of holding a communion service on the spring daylight savings Sunday. However, it will be different this year. While it’s usually held in the evening, this year’s service will be held at our normal Sunday service time of 10:00am. While we usually share a full-on meal together, we will only be taking the elements of the bread and the cup together. What will mark this service as unique, though, is an emphasis on the sacraments and what they mean for our lives together as Christians. Come ready to learn and to worship.

An optional lunch will be held outdoors at the Schlieder home after the service. Details to follow.

REGISTER TODAY FOR STARTING POINT - A TWO HOUR CLASS FOR GUESTS

If you’ve been visiting for any length of time and would like to learn more about what we believe as a church and how those beliefs take shape in the life of the church, this class is for you. The aim is to help you discern if this is the church family the Lord is calling you to. We want to help you in that process. If we discover together that this isn’t the church for you, we want to help you find another church. If by the end of the class you believe this is where the Lord is leading you, then we’d love to take steps to welcome you as a member.

Click here to register.

FEBRUARY 28 IMMEDIATELY AFTER CHURCH AT THE HOULTON HOME. LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED.

REGULAR MORNING SERVICE - NO DINNER

Building on a tradition we inherited from our sending church, Cross of Grace Santa Ana has held an annual communion service on the springtime daylight savings Sunday. Normally, this would include switching our morning service to an evening service and partaking in a Communion meal together as a church.

This year, we’ll be continuing this tradition, yet during our regular morning meeting time and without a formal shared meal during the service in light of continued Covid restrictions. We hope to resume the fullness of the tradition next year.

Nevertheless, this service will be a unique opportunity to consider the meaning and significance of the sacraments Jesus left us with; to learn about how communion should function in our lives as Christians and to learn about the community that the communion meal illuminates.

Let’s feast for the glory of Jesus and the good of our souls.