We are a hope-filled, spiritual community that demonstrates the Love of Christ in practical ways that build relationships, serve the world around us, and encourage spiritual growth.
We strive to provide a safe haven for exploring issues of faith, where all are welcome, wherever they are on their spiritual journey.
For directions to Christ the Lord Church, go to our Contact Us page by clicking here
For Covenant Group Look, Book, Took, go to the Faith Formation page and scroll down to sermons or covenant groups.
We are a Christ centered community in the heart of West Contra Costa County. Our parishioners come from all walks of life. Our dynamic community is based on the fundamental principles of the Anglican Communion: Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. At Christ the Lord Church, we welcome questions and embrace new ideas. Come discover warmth, fun, joy and a loving, supportive community at church.
For more about who we are, see below!
Want an easy and cost free way to contribute to our ministry? Click here for more info (Scroll to the bottom of the Contact us page) Or click here for PDF with instructions.
We strive to provide a safe haven for exploring issues of faith, where all are welcome, wherever they are on their spiritual journey.
For directions to Christ the Lord Church, go to our Contact Us page by clicking here
For Covenant Group Look, Book, Took, go to the Faith Formation page and scroll down to sermons or covenant groups.
We are a Christ centered community in the heart of West Contra Costa County. Our parishioners come from all walks of life. Our dynamic community is based on the fundamental principles of the Anglican Communion: Scripture, Tradition, and Reason. At Christ the Lord Church, we welcome questions and embrace new ideas. Come discover warmth, fun, joy and a loving, supportive community at church.
For more about who we are, see below!
Want an easy and cost free way to contribute to our ministry? Click here for more info (Scroll to the bottom of the Contact us page) Or click here for PDF with instructions.
From our Vicar, the Reverend Susan Champion
Along with all the people of our church, I welcome you to our web page and to Christ the Lord Church. I am the Rev. Susan Champion, also known as Vicar Susan or Mother Susan, and I am the priest at Christ the Lord Church. I've been here at Christ the Lord Church for five years now, after serving in New York, Oregon, and Hawaii. I'm married with two grown children, and two grandchildren. My passions are building Christian community, camping and hiking, gardening, reading, classical guitar, yoga, the environment, and the Red Sox. The fact that our deacon at Christ the Lord Church loves the Yankees is a sign of my commitment to love ALL my neighbors!
This summer, shortly before Nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai died, I was blessed to visit one of her Greenbelt Movement sites in Kenya, the village of Tumu Tumu. I am passionate about what I learned there, including the ways the members of the Greenbelt Cooperative are caring for the environment and the ways they show love to all their neighbors. If you'd like to see some pictures of my time there, click here
I'd also love to tell you more about my time there...just ask me!
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, you will be welcome here in our loving, supportive community at Christ the Lord Church. We especially welcome spiritual seekers, LGBT people, or any others who may have felt alienated from other churches. As a community of disciples, we seek to embody Christ's love and peace in today's often stressful and fractured world. We'd love to have you join us in this endeavor and look forward to getting to know you and all the wonderful gifts God has given you. For questions or pastoral needs, contact me personally at vicarsusan@hotmail.com. In case of pastoral emergency, call me at (510) 245-7542. For general church and pastoral information, please call our office at (510) 724-9141.
This summer, shortly before Nobel prize winner Wangari Maathai died, I was blessed to visit one of her Greenbelt Movement sites in Kenya, the village of Tumu Tumu. I am passionate about what I learned there, including the ways the members of the Greenbelt Cooperative are caring for the environment and the ways they show love to all their neighbors. If you'd like to see some pictures of my time there, click here
I'd also love to tell you more about my time there...just ask me!
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, you will be welcome here in our loving, supportive community at Christ the Lord Church. We especially welcome spiritual seekers, LGBT people, or any others who may have felt alienated from other churches. As a community of disciples, we seek to embody Christ's love and peace in today's often stressful and fractured world. We'd love to have you join us in this endeavor and look forward to getting to know you and all the wonderful gifts God has given you. For questions or pastoral needs, contact me personally at vicarsusan@hotmail.com. In case of pastoral emergency, call me at (510) 245-7542. For general church and pastoral information, please call our office at (510) 724-9141.
From our Deacon, the Reverend Vicki Gray
Born in the Bronx and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and University of Maryland, I come to the work of ministry from the background of a retired Foreign Service officer, community organizer, and political scientist. I find the link between faith and politics not only justified, but necessary. For both politics and religion concern themselves with social relationships, how we relate to one another, how we will shape our societies. And good politics, like good religion, seeks to shape a just society. In my opinion the major issues facing the church today are: to live into the Social Gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that will increase justice through institutional change; reinforce a sense of community and solidarity among God’s people; open the church’s doors to the marginalized; and, in so doing, be a source of new energy for those of us in the church and an icon of relevance for our un-churched neighbors, especially spiritually inclined young people and those who, for too long, have generally gone unseen and unheard – e.g., my transgender sisters and brothers, the homeless in our cities, and the victims of economic and environmental injustice. I seek to speak for them with authenticity and integrity and, with my sisters and brothers at Christ the Lord, to share the love of Christ with everyone in our community. A widow, married for 33 years to the former Mimi Geiger, I am an avid gardener, an even more avid Yankee fan, a poet of sorts, and never met a book I didn’t like. I can be contacted at vgray54951@aol.com
Who are we?
We are a congregation that belongs to The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of California, one of 87 local congregations in the Bay Area. The Episcopal Church is part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, which numbers over 60 million throughout the world. We are a diverse and welcoming congregation.
What do we believe? We believe that a mature and contemporary faith depends upon three factors: the Bible, the traditions of the Christian community as handed down by believers, and human reason as aided by the Holy Spirit. We are a progressive Christian congregation.
What do we do? We join for Eucharist weekly at 9:30 am on Sunday with music and a choir. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer liturgy is our primary liturgical resource but we also make use of Enriching Our Worship and other liturgical elements. The weekly readings follow the Revised Common Lectionary. Our hymnal repertoire includes the 1982 Hymnal, Gather, and other music offerings.
Eucharist is offered to all baptized Christians. Laying on of hands and prayers for healing of mind, body and spirit are available at every Eucharist.
What will happen if I show up on Sunday?
You will be greeted warmly by one of our Ministers of Hospitality, who will hand you a Sunday Bulletin. The Bulletin will guide you through the service, and will include a copy of the readings that will be read during the first part of our service by lay ministers. The readings are all from the Bible, beginning with an Old Testament reading, then a Psalm, then a New Testament reading and finally, a reading from one of the four Gospels. Our readings are from the weekly Revised Common Lectionary. The sermon will incorporate some aspect of the readings you will hear that Sunday.
If you have young children you will be asked if you would like them to stay in the nursery for the first part of the service, or stay with you. Sunday School aged children and youth will be asked if they would like to join the class or remain with you. Either way, all children and youth are together in the sanctuary when the second part of the service gets underway, known as the Eucharistic Prayer in preparation for communion. Of course, you can also have your very young children stay in the nursery during the whole service, if you prefer.
You will sit wherever you find it comfortable in our sanctuary. You will of be invited and encouraged to stay afterwards for coffee and fellowship, an invitation you may choose to decline, of course.
It all starts by you coming to visit…we'd love to meet you and welcome you to Christ the Lord Church!
The congregation offers many areas for learning, service, fellowship, fun and worship. We attempt to live up to Christ's commandment to love God and our neighbor, grounding all our works in our mission statement, "Sharing the love of Christ with our community."
Among others, we are involved in social ministries to the hungry, the homeless, and newborn infants and their mothers. Here is a list of the social ministries CTL people are currently involved in and/or lead:
In addition, we join together with St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and Pinole United Methodist for our annual Good Friday Prayer Walk.Making our building and sanctuary available to others is another way the CTL community shares the love of Christ in the community. Here is the list of those groups currently meeting on a regular basis at Christ the Lord:
La Casita Preschool, a bi-lingual English-Spanish Montessori preschool, uses our building during the week for the school year and for most of the summer months. La Casita offers high quality preschool opportunities for children in a caring environment, and Christ the Lord Church provides a weekly chapel program for their students. You can learn more about La Casita at their website at http://www.la-casita.org/
You can also contact them at lcbms@sbcglobal.net or
510-724-1724.
Other outside groups that rent space from us include:
Traffic School (once or twice a month)
Hispanic Realtors' Group (once a month)
Gay and Lesbian AA meets every Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Food Addicts Anonymous meets every Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Gamblers' Anonymous meets every Monday at 7:30 p.m.
A Passion for Hospitality: We have a special passion for hospitality, which we enjoy at coffee hours, potlucks, picnics, and other events with each other. We also eagerly share our hospitality with others, and we especially look forward to making you feel welcome and at home, whether you come for a one-time visit or become part of our community.
We are a congregation that belongs to The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of California, one of 87 local congregations in the Bay Area. The Episcopal Church is part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, which numbers over 60 million throughout the world. We are a diverse and welcoming congregation.
What do we believe? We believe that a mature and contemporary faith depends upon three factors: the Bible, the traditions of the Christian community as handed down by believers, and human reason as aided by the Holy Spirit. We are a progressive Christian congregation.
What do we do? We join for Eucharist weekly at 9:30 am on Sunday with music and a choir. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer liturgy is our primary liturgical resource but we also make use of Enriching Our Worship and other liturgical elements. The weekly readings follow the Revised Common Lectionary. Our hymnal repertoire includes the 1982 Hymnal, Gather, and other music offerings.
Eucharist is offered to all baptized Christians. Laying on of hands and prayers for healing of mind, body and spirit are available at every Eucharist.
What will happen if I show up on Sunday?
You will be greeted warmly by one of our Ministers of Hospitality, who will hand you a Sunday Bulletin. The Bulletin will guide you through the service, and will include a copy of the readings that will be read during the first part of our service by lay ministers. The readings are all from the Bible, beginning with an Old Testament reading, then a Psalm, then a New Testament reading and finally, a reading from one of the four Gospels. Our readings are from the weekly Revised Common Lectionary. The sermon will incorporate some aspect of the readings you will hear that Sunday.
If you have young children you will be asked if you would like them to stay in the nursery for the first part of the service, or stay with you. Sunday School aged children and youth will be asked if they would like to join the class or remain with you. Either way, all children and youth are together in the sanctuary when the second part of the service gets underway, known as the Eucharistic Prayer in preparation for communion. Of course, you can also have your very young children stay in the nursery during the whole service, if you prefer.
You will sit wherever you find it comfortable in our sanctuary. You will of be invited and encouraged to stay afterwards for coffee and fellowship, an invitation you may choose to decline, of course.
It all starts by you coming to visit…we'd love to meet you and welcome you to Christ the Lord Church!
The congregation offers many areas for learning, service, fellowship, fun and worship. We attempt to live up to Christ's commandment to love God and our neighbor, grounding all our works in our mission statement, "Sharing the love of Christ with our community."
Among others, we are involved in social ministries to the hungry, the homeless, and newborn infants and their mothers. Here is a list of the social ministries CTL people are currently involved in and/or lead:
- Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) http://www.gripcommunity.org/
- Heifer International www.heifer.org
- SHARE/Manna Basket
- Open Cathedral
- Layette Outreach
In addition, we join together with St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and Pinole United Methodist for our annual Good Friday Prayer Walk.Making our building and sanctuary available to others is another way the CTL community shares the love of Christ in the community. Here is the list of those groups currently meeting on a regular basis at Christ the Lord:
La Casita Preschool, a bi-lingual English-Spanish Montessori preschool, uses our building during the week for the school year and for most of the summer months. La Casita offers high quality preschool opportunities for children in a caring environment, and Christ the Lord Church provides a weekly chapel program for their students. You can learn more about La Casita at their website at http://www.la-casita.org/
You can also contact them at lcbms@sbcglobal.net or
510-724-1724.
Other outside groups that rent space from us include:
Traffic School (once or twice a month)
Hispanic Realtors' Group (once a month)
Gay and Lesbian AA meets every Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Food Addicts Anonymous meets every Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
Gamblers' Anonymous meets every Monday at 7:30 p.m.
A Passion for Hospitality: We have a special passion for hospitality, which we enjoy at coffee hours, potlucks, picnics, and other events with each other. We also eagerly share our hospitality with others, and we especially look forward to making you feel welcome and at home, whether you come for a one-time visit or become part of our community.