Members of the Upland Church of Christ,

We want to express to you our sincere appreciation for the compassion, care and prayer you have offered other members and their families during this pandemic. From those mourning the passing of a loved one, to providing food for members as well as our neighbors, you have offered prayer for the health of others, called upon one another, participated in our online worship, devotionals, and Zoom Bible study, supported Jason and Erica with prayer and meals with the arrival of Owen, and continued to contribute financially for sustaining the opportunities for our congregation to serve our members and community. You have provided the encouragement of Barnabas as well as been a light for Christ!

We are monitoring Public Health guidelines and have already discussed a few potential scenarios for our future transition for gathering in worship and fellowship! Once we have the information for coming together, the leadership will prepare appropriately, seek congregational feedback, and keep you informed on any protocols for coming together with the love of Christ in our hearts.

As always, if you have any needs or prayers, please call any Elder!

God Bless!

Emerich, Mac, and Tom

All of us certainly miss our gathering together to worship, serve, and fellowship! However, just as you are - we are monitoring our public health officials gathering and socializing guidelines, and when we are able to gather, we will certainly transition in the best interest and welfare of our members and guests. However, that date is still uncertain. Please continue to pray, access through our website the various online devotional and bible study resources we're offering, reach out to one another, and be a light for Christ among your neighbors, co workers, friends, family, and community. Please, if you need someone to talk too, call upon your brothers and sisters in Christ! They will answer!

In Christ, 

The Eldership at Upland Church of Christ

We are sharing this Public Health Directive, and we will voluntarily support its guidance narrative. View a PDF of the directive here.

- The Elders at Upland Church of Christ

As the result of last week’s revised CDC and our State Public Health gathering guidelines, our building will be closed until at least the end of April! However, the church - it’s members are still engaged in strengthening their spiritual growth and faith with offered online streaming worship, interactive bible studies, devotionals, reading of children’s books, and various other resources for all to embrace in their daily walk! Please share these opportunities with your family and friends.

We will continue to utilize our phone notification system to keep our membership informed of significant matters involving our members, aware of services we have available, and to keep you informed on other matters related to the congregation and our community.

While we will continue to keep you informed, call upon you, and meet in prayer - please let us know if you have any needs or if just want to talk.

- The Elders at Upland Church of Christ

Good afternoon Upland family,

I wanted to give you a few updates for today. 

First is our schedule for next week. This Sunday Willard will be hosting a song service, communion thought, and devotional sermon. This will be a pre-recorded video and not a live stream; however, it will be uploaded at 10:30am on Sunday, March 29th. There will be a live stream devotional on Tuesday nights at 7:30pm on Upland’s YouTube channel. Also, Erica is recording weekly Bible story time videos for our young ones and those videos are being uploaded on Wednesdays at 2pm. All of the links to these videos can be found on this page.

Our second announcement is from Tom Laing: if you are in need of any of our canned or packaged food items from our food program pantry this upcoming week, please text or call Tom (his home number can be found in the church directory), and he will coordinate a day and time for you to come to the building, and we will have your items brought to your car.

If you have any needs at all, please call one of the elders, deacons, or ministers. We love you, are praying for you, and looking forward to seeing you soon. Have a wonderful weekend. 

God bless,

Jason Campbell, Pulpit Minister

As mentioned in Monday's update, we have added text giving as an option for you to give during this time. The instructions for setting up text giving are listed below; they can also be found on the online and text giving page.

Instructions for Text Giving:  

1. Text the word "GIVE" to 1-909-402-2302.
2. If it’s your first time, you’ll be prompted to click a link directing you to the online giving page to complete a one-time registration.
3. Click “SIGN IN” then “REGISTER FOR AN ACCOUNT” at the bottom of the page.
4. Complete contact information then click “REGISTER”.
5. Enter the "SECURE PIN" that the system texts you.
6. Select the fund, enter the donation amount, and payment information before completing your gift.
7. Click "SAVE PAYMENT" to keep your payment information securely saved for future gifts.
8. To text a donation after the one-time registration, you can give immediately without having to re-enter any of your information. Simply text the desired amount and the fund keyword to the church/organization’s text giving number.

Other Text Commands:

• "EDIT" – Make changes to your giving account and update contact information and/or update payment information.
• "REFUND" – Refund your last gift. You must text “REFUND” within 15 minutes to refund the gift. If you realized the mistake after 15 minutes, contact the church you are giving to for a refund.
• "KEYWORD" – See a list of active keywords. Keywords are the fund names that the church has set up.

Yesterday, we closed our building for gathering on the first day of the week in worship for the first time in the known history of our presence in this community! However, the church - it’s members - still worshiped in our homes to the same God that loves each of us, no matter if the building was open or closed. However, we certainly missed the personal fellowship with our brothers and sisters and look forward to when we gather together again!

We want to inform you that the building will continue to be closed until the current public health gathering guidelines are removed or revised where we can meet again. In the interim, we will continue to use the current YouTube online live streaming or pre-recorded worship format, and we will try to provide a hymn of praise and reference how to continue to give (see below). As expressed, we will also offer devotional videos, Bible study guides, a children’s story time with Erica Campbell, and other spiritual resources on the website for all to reference.

We are thankful for Jason’s preparation and presentation of God’s word Sunday morning and to him and Willard for providing additional resources to keep us connected to God’s word. Willard will present next Sunday’s message!

We also hope to present to our members the opportunity this week to connect through a new media platform where you can post prayer requests, any needs you may have, share some of your daily experiences at home and among your family, and just keep in touch.

In regards to your continued giving to the work at Upland to sustain our operational costs and continue to serve others through our ministries: you can give by using our online giving link on our website or mail your check directly to the building (if you need prepaid postage just call Tom). We will also be offering this week the ability to make your contribution via a text message through our current online giving administrator. Many congregations have also added this as a well received feature. However, we also understand that this current pandemic situation and its economic impact on our community may create a financial strain on you and your family!

We are also updating our phone notification system this week with a few new or changed numbers to ensure all receive our phone updates! So if you're a member and not receiving our phone notifications please call the office or Tom!

Again, if you have any need or have any questions please call any Elder, Deacon or Minister!

Let’s continue to love and encourage one another!

"Beloved let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God and knoweth God!” - 1 John 4:7

- The Elders at Upland Church of Christ

The scheduled food giveaway for Monday, March 23rd will NOT be taking place. All scheduled food giveaway days will be postponed until further notice.

Good morning Upland family,

I’d like to update you regarding worship services and other matters. While we won’t be meeting this Sunday at the building, there will be an online service this Sunday at 10:30am. It will be on our YouTube channel, but the link to access the live stream will be placed on the website early Sunday morning. Visit the “weekly bible studies and videos” page to access the link. This live stream will include both the Lord’s Supper and a devotional sermon. Please prepare your communion at home and be ready to take it during the live stream. If you need communion supplies, Kim King will be at the church building this Saturday, March 21st, between 10am and noon, distributing prepackaged communion supplies to anyone who has a need. I will be hosting the live stream this Sunday, and Willard will host next Sunday. We are currently testing our live stream capabilities, so if there is an error this Sunday, we do have a library of archived sermons and other study tools under our resource tab on our website.

Twice a week, Willard and I will be offering devotionals on YouTube that can also be found on our website. There is also a weekly study guide that will be posted which you can use in a personal bible study or a family devotional.

One last announcement: the leadership will be calling every member within the next 48 hours. If you need anything at all, please let us know. We love you and are praying for you. God bless.

- Jason Campbell, Pulpit Minister

The leadership has decided, based on information provided by the CDC and public health experts and their most recent public gathering guidelines, and certainly the welfare of our congregation, that we must close the building until at least March 30th. Therefore, all normally scheduled times of worship, Bible classes, Golden Age Group activities, our March 23rd community food bank distribution, and Blankets of Love ministry are cancelled until at least end of March 2020.

In the interim, and in the event there are more longer restrictive requirements for public gatherings imposed in our community, we are creating this week alternatives to attending worship in person through an online forum for this Sunday and the future as well as providing suggested alternative materials that would assist you and your families to engage in continuing spiritual growth and maintaining a connection with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

If any member or if you know of a member, especially among our seniors, that has a need, please call any elder, deacon or minster so we can assist you in meeting your or their needs. The leadership will be personally reaching out to our seniors.

When applicable we will provide further updates by phone, on Facebook and Instagram, as well as our website.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God , which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7).