harborchristianchurch

Ministry Spotlight

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:16:48 GMT

Ministry Spotlight

We are so excited about this summer’s Blue Theology program. We are filling up our calendar with visits from around our region and general church. It is going to be a beautiful and full summer of ecological connection and education. If you are interested in joining us as a volunteer, you will be able to attend some fun field trips, lead activities, prepare food, purchase items, prepare the church for visitors, help make schedules, take photographs of events, and so much more!

Last year’s volunteers had a blast joining in with our trips to the Long Beach Aquarium, the Back Bay Science Center, the Muth Interpretive Center, the Marine Mammal Rescue Center and more! Our volunteers also helped us offer wonderful hospitality to our visitors with potlucks, BBQs, and Karaoke nights!

If this sounds like your kind of fun, please plan to attend our 2023 Blue Theology team meetings beginning on Sunday, March 19 @ 12 pm in the Ackelson Room. Other team meetings will be on April 16, May 21, and June 18. All of these meetings will be at 12 pm and all meetings will be hybrid, meaning you can join us in person or on zoom.

Summer is coming! And so is Blue Theology, for its second year at Harbor! Volunteers are needed for this ecological ministry. Read below to learn how you can get involved.

Ministry Spotlight - Blue Theology 2024

Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:06:03 GMT

Get to know our Blue Theology groups and new intern for the Summer

Harbor Christian Church is proud to announce that we will be hosting another summer of Blue Theology. This year will mark our third summer hosting groups from all over the country.

This year we welcome two groups, both from California. Our first group is coming from University Church in Malibu and will be with us June 22-28. Our second group is coming from First Christian Church of North Hollywood and will be visiting August 3-10. The youth pastors from each church shared a little about their churches and the youth groups that will be attending. You can find their reflections below, along with pictures of each group.

Also for the first time at Harbor, we will have an intern for the summer helping us with Blue Theology . Her name is Natalie Alderton and she currently attends Pepperdine University. We are very excited to welcome her to Harbor and look forward to working with her and learning from her over the next three months. Natalie has also written a brief introduction of herself and the reasons she chose Harbor and Blue Theology below.

As always, we appreciate the continued support from the congregation and wanted to let you know that there will be volunteer opportunities for those interested in becoming more involved over the summer.

Intern Intro - Natalie Alderton

Hi! My name is Natalie, and I am so excited to serve as the Blue Theology intern this summer! I was born and raised in Carlsbad, splashing around in the San Diego waves before I could even walk. I spent the past four years in Malibu, studying English and sustainability at Pepperdine University. Hence, saltwater has always been in my veins. I didn’t grow up Christian, but it was the ocean, singing of God’s glory, that drew me into a relationship with Jesus. I have always felt the most connected to God in nature, and my prayer for my life is to help others discover the same joy. The love I have for this beautiful blue globe led to my vocational passion of creation care—to mend our broken relationship with the land in partnership with God. I was thrilled to discover Harbor Christian Church’s passion for this very topic. Blue Theology is such a special program, and I can’t wait to see what the summer holds!

Malibu - June 22-June 28

This was shared from Joel Foster

Joel W. Foster (he/him)

Youth and Family Minister

UCC | Malibu

https://www.uccmalibu.com/

University Church is in Malibu California, on Pepperdine University’s campus. We are situated within the Santa Monica mountains and up the hill from a rich ocean ecosystem. The University Church Youth Group affirms that you are created, loved, and invited: You are created by God, and this God who created you knows you, loves you, and sees you completely for who you are. This is true now. This has always been true. This will continue to be true. This God who created you is best known through Love: Love for God, Love for others, and Love for yourself. This God who created you desires for you to cooperate and co-create alongside God, to make this world look more like one that can be labeled the Kin-dom of God.

We see our collaboration with God in the world as an active call to pursue justice and redemption. This extends to our human neighbors and non-human neighbors. The daily concern and anxiety in our students' lives about the climate crisis led us to Blue Theology. We see in the person of Jesus a life that is present with those at the margins, and this includes our planet today.

N. Hollywood - August 3rd - 10th

This was shared from:

Taulau Tupua

Associate Pastor of Youth & Mission

First Christian Church of North Hollywood

https://www.fccnh.org

First Christian Church of North Hollywood is on the corner of Colfax and Moorpark in Studio City. Just a few blocks away from Universal Studios. Currently, Rev. Dr. Jonathan Hall serves as the Senior Pastor and Taulau Tupua serves as the Associate Pastor of Youth & Mission. The church hosts a wide variety of events and opportunities that help nurture the wider community including Human Needs, Men on the Corner, and Youth Group to name a few. This summer, the high school group from FCCNH is coming to Harbor Christian Church for Blue Theology. There are a multitude of reasons for choosing Blue Theology at Harbor but the main reason for doing so was because of the youth’s desire for making sustainable changes in Southern California. The group recently got a chance to visit Harbor for Pentecost Sunday and they are excited to venture together this summer!

Living Coast Ministry: Celebrating the International Day of Biological Diversity

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:14:33 GMT

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Harbor Christian Church has teamed up with Disciples Home Missions (DHM) to promote our ecological spirituality ministry called Living Coast Ministry. DHM equips and empowers Disciples to change the world, by engaging in coordinated missions on behalf of the whole church. Our partnership with DHM allows us to greatly expand the reach of Living Coast Ministry and truly make it a nationally recognized program.

Read about Pastor Ryan's writings on the International Day of Biological Diversity!

Living Coast Ministry

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:04:22 GMT

Harbor’s ecological spirituality program gets a new name and look before entering its fourth summer !

Harbor Christian Church is proud to announce that we have rebranded our ecological spirituality ministry from Blue Theology to Living Coast Ministry. We feel that Living Coast Ministry does a better job of describing the heart of our ministry as we enter our fourth year of service.

A very talented member of our church, Gabriella Earnhart has been generous enough to help us redesign and rebrand our ministry. She has her own branding and social media business called Sunflower Design Co. Please check it out at the link below. https://www.instagram.com/thesunflowerdesignco/

Thank you Gabriella for your beautiful work with Living Coast Ministry. See her excellent work above.

Please also visit our updated Living Coast Ministry website that Justin has been diligently working on for the last number of weeks. Thank you Justin. The link is below.

https://www.harborchristianchurch.com/living-coast-ministry

This summer we are welcoming three groups from all over the country to be staying with us in our newly remodeled fellowship hall. Our first group will arrive on Saturday May 31 and is coming from White Oak Pond Christian Church all the way from Kentucky. The following week we welcome a local group from Filipino Community United Presbyterian Church in Azusa. And finally on June 28th we have a group arriving from Maryland led by an old friend and former member of Harbor, Maria French. Maria is currently the Associate Pastor and will be leading a youth group from First Christian Church Hagerstown.

All of these groups will be experiencing a week of deep connection to the Earth through visiting with our environmental partners such as Crystal Cove, Huntington Beach Wetlands and the Back Bay Science Center. They will also come together as a group as they will live together as a small village during the week responsible for their own cooking and cleaning.

We will also have a new partner this year that was introduced to us by Ron Lauzon. Algalita Marine Research and Education specializes in studying plastics in our waters and the impact that has on the environment. It will be exciting to welcome a new partner and experience for our Living Coast Ministry theologians.

This year we will also be welcoming back our amazing intern from last summer to help us lead our groups through these amazing environmental outings as well as the nightly worship service. Natalie Alderton recently graduated from Pepperdine University and we are thrilled to have her back again this summer.

There will be volunteer opportunities with Living Coast Ministry this summer. We will need help setting up the space for the groups including bringing in air mattresses as well as the necessary bedding. Any help with cleaning up and setting up for the groups would be greatly appreciated.

Also please let us know if you would like to participate in any of the activities during the week including outings and worship. We will also be hosting a potluck the Sunday after church during the weeks we are hosting groups. Please see Heather Earnhart about ways to contribute and participate during these potlucks as we meet and welcome the groups that will be visiting with us.

Thank you Harbor for your continued support of Living Coast Ministry. It truly is a team effort and would not be possible without all of your contributions. Please see Pastor Ryan if you would like any additional information about volunteering or participating in Living Coast Ministry this summer. Looking forward to a great summer.

Blessed Tomorrow Documentary for Living Coast Ministry

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:32:31 GMT

Harbor had a very successful Summer hosting three Living Coast Ministry groups from all over the country. Our first group visited us all the way from Richmond, Kentucky. Our second group came locally from Southern California, the Filipino Community United Presbyterian Church in Azusa. The final group we hosted came from Hagerstown, Maryland led by a long time friend of the church Maria French.

Living Coast Ministry had such a positive impact on all of our visitors that we were asked to be a part of a documentary series called Blessed Tomorrow. Chad Snellgrove, the Minister of White Oak Pond Christian Church from Kentucky, introduced us to an organization called Blessed Tomorrow. Blessed Tomorrow describes itself as a "coalition of diverse religious partners working to advance climate solutions in faithful service to God”.

Blessed Tomorrow is doing a series of documentaries that are being released this spring to promote ideas around bringing faith to the climate change discussion. Living Coast Ministry was asked to be a part of the series. Living Coast Ministry will be the featured organization for Blessed Tomorrow’s episode about the Oceans. The director of this series, Dayna Reggero joined Pastor Sadie, Pastor Ryan and Living Coast Ministry’s assistant director Natalie Alderton to discuss how we are using ecological spirituality to reach young people.

The conversation around ecological spirituality talked about how all the ecosystems of this planet have a vital role to play in the thriving of the whole Earth. We use the concept of the Body of Christ, where we all have a role to play in the thriving of the Church and expand that beyond humanity to include all living things on this planet.

We are very excited that Living Coast Ministry is being recognized for its powerful message of experiencing God and the spirit through the natural world. Please visit the brief video clip below where Pastor Sadie is being interviewed by the Director of the Blessed Tomorrow documentary. Harbor will let you know when the full documentary is available.

Check out our Instagram post that previews the upcoming documentary here .

Living Coast Ministries: Natalie Alderton Reflects

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:32:29 GMT

Natalie Alderton: Assistant Summer Director of Living Coast Ministry for 2024 and 2025

There’s something about the smell of fresh soil. Rich and grounding, I breathe it in deeply. It feels like a reminder that I am home. I can’t help but sink my hands into it, even though traces of the near-black earth stick under my fingernails for days.

I’m working in the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy native plant nursery with a few Living Coast students from Maryland. Our hands-on service project is to transplant young cordgrass plants into bigger containers. Hundreds of these plants are stacked according to different life stages. They will eventually be planted in the wetlands to provide habitat for the endangered Ridgway’s Rail, a marsh bird who depends on the precious few wetland ecosystems left in coastal California. The bird builds its nest in cordgrass, which both protects it from predators and allows the nest to rise and fall with the tides without being washed away.

I fall into the rhythm of our task naturally, a cycle of scooping soil and loosening root balls and tucking the little plants into their new homes. It is quietly meditative, and this air is healing. My mind wanders as my hands move.

Fragments of scripture and story rise up in my mind. I think about the good soil in the parable of the sower. I see a picture of the Garden of Eden, where humankind works without toil, serving and protecting the ground. I hear the name Adam, a reminder of the soil-people that we were made to be. I remember the command to build gardens right where we are, even when the place feels like foreign ground.

This, I think to myself, is what it looks like to co-work with God. This is what it looks like for the kingdom to come on earth. With each scoop of soil, we are preparing space for new life to flourish, which will become home to a whole host of creation. We act with the faith that our small contribution could be magnified into something greater.

I couldn’t think of a better metaphor for our work with Living Coast Ministry.

We start by preparing good soil—crafting stories and creating connections and building spaces. We forge bonds with educators and advocates, with organizations that will connect us back to our roots and help us envision a better future. We craft a web of programming centering around the heart of the Back Bay and the body of the Pacific Ocean and the lifeblood of our watershed. We write worship with the soul of the Spirit which connects all things.

We prepare in faith for the arrival of our saplings. They are green and healthy, but they will thrive with new ground to explore and question and connect with. Gently, we take their webs of roots and soil and place them in new containers, where they might continue to root down and grow. The new soil gives nourishment. The rain is the gift of wisdom which connects heaven and earth. The air is the breath of life and Spirit. The Sun is the miraculous light by which one grows.

Then, our paths diverge. We have to trust that these saplings, these youth will return to their native lands and root down there. That they might be a home and a haven for the vulnerable. That they might serve and protect the fragile creation around them. That they might build gardens of their own, right where they are. This is the body of Christ. We are creating a web of stewards bound by the same mission, propelled by the same faith.

We act with faith in things unseen, in the seeds we plant deep in the earth and scatter across the land. We act with the faith that our work might outlive us, bearing fruit beyond what we witness. We act with the faith of resurrection—the faith that new life is here and now, if we only choose to grow it. This is what it means to be a Living Coast.

I am honored to have served in this ministry amongst this special community. You all are the good soil which makes this program possible, and for that, I thank you. My prayer is that we will continue to invest in Living Coast, because “all is like an ocean, all is flowing and blending; a touch in one place sets up movement at the other end of the earth.”

Let’s live as if it were so.

In faith,

Natalie

1 Luke 8:4-15

2 Genesis 2:15

3 Genesis 2:7

4 Jeremiah 29:5

5 Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Living Coast Ministry Featured On The Green Lectionary Podcast

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 21:29:19 GMT

Hear from Pastor Ryan in a podcast by Creation Justice Ministries!

I was given the opportunity to be interviewed by Derrick Weston from Creation Justice Ministries about our ecological spirituality program called Living Coast Ministry.

We explored the idea of the body of Christ encompassing all of the natural world instead of only humanity. We also talked about how the youth are craving connection to God's creation and how most people are disconnected from the Earth and the harm that causes.

I hope you enjoy listening and please pass this along to your friends.

-Pastor Ryan Cullumber

Listen to the podcast HERE!