Please join us on Fridays to have lunch and study the bible!  Lunch is provided!

When: Fridays

Where: Defremery Park at the park benches (We will be inside the Defremery Park building if it’s cold or raining).

When: 12 PM to 1PM

A Day in the Park is COMING on May 19, 2012 from 12-5pm!!!

Our annual Day in the Park is a chance for us to join our community in hosting a beautiful afternoon of fun at the park! We will have lots of food, healthy snacks, jumpers for kids, face painting, crafts, and relays as well as booths from local non-profits in the community to promote health and wellness in West Oakland! Over the past few years it has been an amazing experience of bringing fellowship and fun to the community in West Oakland, and it has been a true blessing just to be a part of this unique event!

This year, the Breathmobile will be screening and treating kids for asthma, The West Oakland Health Center will be taking blood pressures and giving out health information, and folks from People’s Grocery, OBUGS and City Slicker Farms will be there with goodies too!! We are excited to present this annual event and can’t wait to see you all there!

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HOW CAN I HELP?

While Convergence is hosting A Day in the Park, this event is not about a particular church serving the community. It’s about the community serving the community. So we welcome and encourage those who are not a part of our church to partner with us and get involved with the West Oakland neighborhood and beyond. What does that look like? We invite you to volunteer your time, donate goods or monetary gifts, or contribute to the day in whatever way is meaningful for you. Invite your family and friends and join us today!

WANT TO VOLUNTEER?

If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out a survey here to get connected! We always need lots of volunteers to help run this major event, and there are countless areas to get involved! Let us know in what areas you are interested in helping!

-Volunteer Link:
http://goo.gl/1CXlb

I CAN’T VOLUNTEER OR BE AT THE EVENT, CAN I DONATE?

YES! If you are interested in contributing or partnering with Convergence in making Day in the Park happen, but unfortunately cannot be there in person to attend or volunteer, you can also consider financially contributing to Day in the Park! We want to give many different ways for you to get involved, for more information check out our donation page:

http://www.razoo.com/story/A-Day-In-The-Park

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QUESTIONS? CONCERNS?

If you have any questions, please email Becca Hu at rebeccacrafthu@gmail.com

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING ALL OF YOU THERE!

Life groups at Convergence are smaller sized mid-week gatherings that meet in members’ homes.  To get connected with a group, you can contact individual life group leaders and request more information.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25

Vision: Holiness. Many interpret holiness purely from a moral perspective, but it also encompasses a life that is growing closer to God.  We make holiness the overarching vision for life groups because it is the greatest commandment (love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength).  We value growing deeper in relationship because it is necessary for us to grow in our relationship with God.

Purpose: We gather in groups with a shared mission to pursue God, to love one another, and to serve others (surrounding community, city, region, and world).

Why Life Groups: As individuals, left in an individual context, we have a tendency to think much about ourselves.  Community forces us to consider others and moves the focus and attention away from ourselves, or at a minimum, illuminates how much we think of ourselves. It also moves us away from constantly living out of our own desires and limitations by allowing us to consider others interests as well as our own.

Community also gives us a greater picture of God; as C.S. Lewis notes, “By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity. I want other lights than my own to show all his facets.”. In essence, we need one another to have a more whole view of God.

Fall 2011 – Summer 2012 Life Groups!

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Life Group Leaders: David Luoh and Becky Chiang

Day and Time: Mondays at 8pm

Location: Emeryville

Contact: David at david@convergeoakland.org or call (510) 463-1011 for details on meeting location.

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Life Group Leaders: Kevin and Rebecca Hu

Day and Time: Thursdays at 6:30pm

Location: West Oakland

Contact: Kevin at kevin@convergeoakland.org or call (510) 463-1011 for details on meeting location.

A word from life group leader, Kevin:

The theme of our life group focuses on the intricacies of our everyday relationships.  Birthed out of the disparity between our public and private lives, our hope is to examine our hearts in the context of a loving and encouraging community while exploring the depths of who we are in light of the gospel.  We work towards complete authenticity, embracing uncomfortable topics and conversations in hopes of developing deeper and healthier relationships.

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Life Group Leaders: Ryan and Meghan Lamberton

Day and Time: Thursdays at 7-9:30pm

Location: West Oakland

Contact: Ryan at rmlamberton@convergeoakland.org or call (510) 463-1011 for details on meeting location.

Here’s what life group leader, Ryan, says about his group:

The vision for this life group meeting in West Oakland grew out of conversations with members about their life stories and desire to pursue God within the context of authentic community. We are a diverse group of people who is seeking to live out the gospel in the multiple contexts which we daily inhabit. Currently we are studying the words of Jesus from the famous Sermon on the Mount. Our meetings begin with a meal every Thursday at 7pm followed by prayer and study. Our Life Group has committed to being present at the monthly Family Fun Night from 6-8pm and participating in What Now America service on a monthly basis.

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Life Group Leaders: Jeff and Laura Chou

Day and Time: Thursdays at 7:30pm

Location: North Oakland/Emeryville

Contact: Jeff at jeff@convergeoakland.org or call (510) 463-1011 for details on meeting location.

Life group leader, Jeff, wants to share this about his group:

The vision and theme for the Emeryville/North Oakland group was born out of conversations with members regarding their lives, spiritual vectors, and a commonality in yearning for a back-to-the-basics freshness of faith into action.  We’re currently studying the book of James and seeking daily, practical application into our specific contexts at work, school, church, family, and communities.

In May 2009, a group of us from Convergence Church began planning a free afternoon event that would invite the entire community. Being new to Oakland ourselves, our hope was to create an event that would allow the community to come together and give us an opportunity to meet some people in our city. With the help of local supporters and volunteers, we were able to host this free event with over 400 people attending. We’ve since held the event annually with overwhelming community feedback and had over 800 people attend in 2011.

We are a faith-based community located in West Oakland and we believe that partnering with our communities to bring positive change in our city is part of living out our faith. Our hope is that these events will bring joy to the communities, bring laughter to children and their families, break down the walls that separate us, and inspire others to be catalysts for change.

This year we’re looking to bring over 1,000 people together for an afternoon of activities, games, raffles, good food and community. We’ll be grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, have jumpers and entertainers for the kids, team games and relays for all ages, face painting and arts and crafts, educational activities, raffles, a photo booth, music all day and more! We’re also adding a new element this year that promotes public health and wellness by providing healthy snacks, resources such as a public health booth and The Breathmobile® to treat kids with asthma.

We are very excited and invite you to join us in this journey! Any contribution is appreciated!

A Day in the Park! – Razoo

2: John 13-15

3: John 16-18

4: John 19-21

5: 1John

6: 2John; 3John

7: Rev 1-5

8: Rev 6-11

9: Rev 12-18

10: Rev 19-22

2: Luke 19-20

3: Luke 21-22

4: Luke 23-24

5: Eph 1-3

6: Eph 4-6

7: Col; Philemon

8: Philippians

9: Acts 1-3

10: Acts 4-6

11: Acts 7-8

12: Acts 9-10

13: Acts 11-13

14: Acts 14-16

15: Acts 17-19

16: Acts 20-22

17: Acts 23-25

18: Acts 26-28

19: 1Timothy

20: Titus

21: 1Peter

22: Heb 1-6

23: Heb 7-10

24: Heb 11-13

25: 2Timothy

26: 2Peter; Jude

27: John 1-2

28: John 3-4

29: John 5-6

30: John 7-8

31: John 9-10

Thank you so much friends at Convergence Church for your incredible generosity toward me and my students at MLK. We have made use of the money you’ve donated for so many classroom items and projects, including: books, notebooks and paper, markers, crayons, pencils, supplies to make a volcano, recess equipment like jump ropes and balls, photos and compassess to create a neighborhood map, materials for a science experiment and much more! Your gifts have been such a blessing to our little classroom and words can’t express how grateful I am.

Thank you Convergence for stepping up to invest in Lindsey and her wonderful students!

My very first engagement with ministry was at the Halloween Family Fun Night in October 2010. I was new to the Convergence/Oakland community and experienced firsthand the heart of this community embracing and loving on this city through Family Nights. In this past year, I have experienced what it means to find and create community through this ministry and how we reflect the heart of God in our diversity. My favorite aspect of Family Nights is having the opportunity to create space for families to eat together, play games, and take time to experience the core of what it means to be family. I’m humbled to see God’s love bringing restoration to our Oakland families.

Happy Anniversary Family Fun Nights! Here’s to many more in the year to come! Our upcoming Family Fun Nights will be November 17 and December 15, 2011. Contact Jenn@convergeoakland.org to take part in loving our Oakland families!

1: Rom 8-10

2: Rom 11-13

3: Rom 14-16

4: Matt 1-4

5: Matt 5-7

6: Matt 8-9

7: Matt 10-12

8: Matt 13-14

9: Matt 15-17

10: Matt 18-20

11: Matt 21-22

12: Matt 23-24

13: Matt 25-26

14: Matt 27-28

15: Mark 1-3

16: Mark 4-5

17: Mark 6-7

18: Mark 8-9

19: Mark 10-11

20: Mark 12-13

21: Mark 14

22: Mark 15-16

23: Luke 1

24: Luke 2-3

25: Luke 4-5

26: Luke 6-7

27: Luke 8-9

28: Luke 10-11

29: Luke 12-13

30: Luke 14-16