📝 From the Pastor’s Desk

Advent Greetings from the UCC and the WNCA

The WNCA is one of three Associations of the Southern Conference of the United Church of Christ, WNCA comprises 62 churches in four program districts. Professional staff, working with specialized commissions and committees, strengthen the spiritual and community life of individuals and congregations across the Association. We recently received a wonderful Advent greeting and message from our Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Tom Warren that I would like to share you.

I also invite you to receive this heartfelt message from Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, our UCC General Minister and President.

Dear Western North Carolina Association Church Family

The Advent/Christmas season is a time for gratitude, peace, and reflection. We have gratitude for the joys of our faith, our families, friends, and the simple joys of day-to.<fay living. We also find peace as we place our trust in the love that came down on that special night over 2,000 years ago. We are called also to reflect. What is next for us, the churches of the Western North Carolina Association of the United Church of Christ? Where will God call us in the coming year?

We live in a new time that presents us with many challenges. These challenges can be great opportunities for reaching out to our world in love, or if we give into the anxieties that surround us, paralyzing fear can trap us in despair. In the Gospels, Jesus said again and again to his disciples: “Do not fear.” He said this because he saw the fear in the eyes of his followers, and he knew such fear would be a great threat to the power of his gospel community.

So in our moment of widespread despair, war-torn lands, famine, violence, and largely bankrupt leadership throughout the nations, God once again calls us to embrace the birth-miracle. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has been born in Bethlehem. He calls out to us saying ”Take up your cross and follow me.” At Christmas, the call comes through the darkness with more clarity than ever.

I rejoice in our ministry together and look forward to 2026. God is doing a new thing and we are called to be a central part of it As your Associate Conference Minister, I wish you all a glorious Christmas and the happiest of New Years!!

Rev. Dr. Tom Warren Associate Conference Minister
Western North Carolina Association
Southern Conference, United Church of Christ

You can watch Rev. Thompson’s full message, wishing all a wonderful Christmas from the United Church of Christ in the video below: