Weekly a group from our church gather together to teach the English language to non English speakers. This service is free and for all ages. It is a conversational English language learning group offered several days during the week. We meet in homes and at church at varying times depending on the need. We welcome community members and volunteers in hopes that it will give those attending greater opportunities and lead them to know the love of the Lord.

the Raabs, working in Belgium and the Netherlands:

Scott’s church in the Netherlands is grateful to be meeting face-to-face again. They’re thankful for the technology that has made online church possible but happy to be together in person. They’ve done a good job looking out for each other during the pandemic, especially some without computer skills and some who don’t speak Dutch.

Scott says that people who might never have considered God have been confronted with difficult times and have found their way to God’s family because of the Internet. One day he had an email and a video call with a student who was struggling through the dark days. She had found the Bible she had as a child and began wondering who this God is and why she felt she really needed to find out. She’s been reading the gospel of Mark and wanted to know if she could contact Scott with her questions.

Scott and Shirley continue to meet individually and in small groups with their members and with many non-Christians. And Scott is part of a new international group that is working together to reach out to teens all over Europe. In June the group will meet together in the Netherlands. In previous meetings in Eastern Europe and in Italy there have been over 60 young people present.

In family news, Scott writes that Stephan and Natalie are doing well in Indianapolis, where Stephan has a new job. And Sean and Jill are doing well in New York, happy to have a place of their own after sharing apartments with others for a while.

For more information about the Raabs, see https://ravenraab.blogspot.com/.

At the heart of our work is the belief that no one needs to grieve alone. We offer a wide range of grief support services for people of all ages, including adult grief support groups, family camps and events, grief education workshops, and professional development trainings for those who support others in grief. We also offer school-based grief support groups for children and teens. We offer these groups on site in the schools. This creates a safe, familiar space where students can process their grief with peers who understand, while building resilience and emotional support within their own community.

The phrase Common Ground holds deep meaning for us. It honors both the physical space where our community is beginning to take root—Wrigley Coffee—and the emotional and spiritual space we share in grief. Regardless of our backgrounds, grief connects us in a shared human experience. Common Ground represents that sacred meeting place where we recognize our pain in others’ stories, and where support groups become spaces of mutual understanding, healing, connection, and hope.

www.commongroundgrief.org

At New Hope Grief Support Community our mission is to help bereaved children and families find hope and healing through connection and support.

Death happens every day, unfortunately, many people don’t have the support they need.  Since 2003, New Hope Grief Support Community (New Hope) has been serving bereaved adults, children, and families in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Our mission is to help bereaved adults, children and families find hope and healing through connection and support.  We understand that after someone dies it can bring feelings of isolation and loneliness and most people don’t know where to turn. New Hope offers community-based programs led by people who genuinely care and have experienced a death themselves. Our programs aim to break isolation, foster empathy and connection, and give grieving people an opportunity to share experiences and feelings in a safe environment free of judgment.

Our vision  is to see bereaved children and families with strong support systems living healthy and flourishing lives after a loss 

Our Values

Service calls us to use our gifts, talents, and abilities to advance the genuine well-being of our community and those we serve.

Relational connections are valued with our community, our partners, each other, and those we serve. We believe that our relationships with others are the most valuable resource we have.

Compassion compels us to stand with and embrace others in their suffering so that they may find hope and healing. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of kindness, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Inclusion builds a community that fosters a climate that is open and welcoming to diverse people, ideas, and perspectives that promote constructive discourse on the nature of diversity; and that engages staff, volunteers, clients, and the community in activities that promote New Hope’s core values.

Grief Awareness plays an important role in our work. We believe that by raising grief awareness in workplaces, schools, colleges, hospitals, social sectors, and places of worship we help break through the stigma associated with grief and help our community better understand how they can care for themselves when grief happens, and for those living with around them.

Parable was formed after 11 years of ministry to urban youth in the Los Angeles area of Southern California. Today’s youth struggle with anxiety, depression, loneliness, abuse, and many other forms of hopelessness. At Parable, we enter their space, go where they are, and tell them the stories of Jesus. It all starts with free pizza at their high school campus.

Check out their webpage: https://parablela.org/

In 2016, Stan DeWitt, Minister of Music at Grace First Presbyterian Church told the leadership that ‘the same old approach’ to children’s music wasn’t working. He suggested thinking outside the box. “What if we do something, not just for the church, but for the whole community?” Out of that discussion, and the realization that Long Beach was one of the largest cities in the United States without a civic children/youth choir, came the idea to create the Long Beach Youth Chorus. In 2017, the LBYC began rehearsals under the Artistic Directorship of Steven Clausen.

The first few years saw some remarkable outpouring from the Long Beach arts community partners: a debut performance with the Long Beach Chorale, a performance of “Carmina Burana” with the Camerata Singers of Long Beach under the baton of Dr. James Bass, and a performance with the Long Beach Symphony for their POPS! concert in 2018. Other notable performances included singing the National Anthem at CSULB men’s basketball game, two performances with the band Jelly of the Month Club, tracks on an album by Triggerman, and multiple civic performances in the city, including the Mayor’s tree-lighting ceremony in 2019.

The challenging 2020-21 season was online and virtual, but under the leadership our 2nd Artistic Director, Stevie Hirner, the Chorus continued to grow and thrive musically, hitting stride by the Spring of 2022. Since then, enrollment in the Chorus has increased six-fold. More performances with the Long Beach Symphony in the Terrace Theater happened in 2023 and 2024. With the departure of Ms. Hirner in 2024, the Chorus brought on Long Beach native, CSULB graduate and LBUSD teacher Harlee Balajadia as new Artistic Director, and performed in Carnegie Hall in June of 2026. So, as the LBYC looks ahead, we see the future as bright, indeed.

Longing for Revival
on Every Campus

InterVarsity is a campus community that helps students and faculty follow Jesus with their whole lives, for the rest of their lives.

https://intervarsity.org/