A new church is born!

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Our merged church is now Garden Community Church! The name was chosen in a ranked-choice vote of the congregation during our first annual meeting as a merged church Feb. 1.

The congregation also approved draft vision, values and mission statements; new Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation for the new church; a 2026 budget; and new officers, members of the new Leadership Council, committee chairs, and team leaders.

Revs. Rick King and Riz Prakasim are the moderators of Garden Community Church and Brian Knapp is vice moderator. Other officers are Jane Husman, clerk; Jym Hubbell, treasurer; and Patti Holmes, assistant treasurer.

At-large members of the Leadership Council are Yvonne Lewis, Judi Klotz, Lynne Meyer, Lynne Bradbury, Ruth DeYoe, Kim Spear, Janet Liliemark, and Sally Schroder.

Youth Group at mid-year

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The Youth Group has reached the midpoint of the program year and celebrates the successful merging of our two groups from Falcon Heights and New Life churches into one! With the guidance of a wonderful leadership team, we have met twice a month (first and third Sundays) to share a meal, build community, and foster spiritual exploration among the youth in grades 7-12.

Some highlights from this fall’s activities were State Fair parking, leaf raking for church members, and a robust Christmas party with our traditional Secret Santa gift exchange. In addition, with funding from the Outreach Team, we assembled Blessing Bags for distribution to the homeless and made a monetary donation to the food shelf at the Roseville Area School District. We look forward to an exciting 2026 with more food, fun, and service opportunities, including a summer mission trip, possibly to Alaska!

Our table has room for more; new participants are always welcome.

Worship, meetings at Garden Avenue

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As of Sunday, Jan. 4, we are worshiping together in the Garden Avenue church building in Falcon Heights each Sunday at 10:15 a.m. Come in person or attend via livestream (New Life’s Facebook page or YouTube channel or Falcon Heights’ YouTube channel). All church meetings and activities are also moving to the Falcon Heights location.

The holy work of resistance

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December 18, 2025

By Rev. Riz Prakasim

“Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
–Deuteronomy 27:19

Dear Church,

Scripture speaks with unmistakable force about our responsibility toward those who are vulnerable. God does not bless indifference or neutrality. Instead, we are commanded to protect the dignity of those whom society pushes to the margins. Today, these words confront us as we witness the persecution of Somali communities by the current political administration. Policies and rhetoric that target Somalis with suspicion, intimidation, and cruelty are not simply political missteps, they are moral failures that stand in direct opposition to the heart of God.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” When policy becomes a weapon, when leaders normalize harm, resistance becomes more than an option: it becomes holy work. Holy resistance is the courageous refusal to participate in systems that degrade human life. It is the spiritual discipline of saying “no” to injustice so that we may say “yes” to God.

Our Presbyterian heritage affirms this calling. The Belhar Confession, part of our constitution proclaims:

“We believe that the church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need… witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

To stand by our Somali neighbors today means naming the truth plainly: what we are seeing resembles “administrative ethnic cleansing,” the intentional use of bureaucracy and fear to marginalize an entire people. This is not merely a political concern. It is a spiritual crisis that tests whether we will live out our faith or retreat into silence.

Martin Niemöller’s warning echoes through history:

“First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

Niemöller, who once supported the Nazis, later recognized the devastating cost of his silence. His words remind us that injustice gains ground when good people remain quiet.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to speak before there is no one left to speak. We resist not out of anger, but out of love. Love for God, love for neighbor, and love for the vulnerable communities God entrusts to our care. Resistance is holy work because it aligns us with the God who liberates, heals, defends, and lifts up the oppressed.

May we be a church that chooses courage over comfort, justice over fear, and holy resistance over complicity, trusting that God walks beside us as we stand with our Somali siblings in faith, hope, and love.

In Resistance,
Rev. Riz

Effective at any size!

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December 11, 2025

By Rev. Rick King

A lot of ink (literal and virtual) has been spilled over the years on the small-church/large-church debate. Some say the age of the megachurch is past, others contend that large churches will be the only survivors when this reformation-revolution is complete.

What do YOU think? Some believe megachurches are inherently awful, just because they’re big, but much of this is opinion, not always borne out by the facts.

Yet there are pitfalls to the larger church. Retired United Methodist pastor Michael Slaughter, who in 1979 transformed a healthy, small, rural UMC located on the outskirts of Dayton, OH, into an effective megachurch, said the challenge with large churches is that they tend to produce Christians who are more like the surrounding culture: drawn by prestige, size, power and influence.

In other words, exactly the opposite of Jesus’ values. Slaughter said they had to work continually to overcome this tendency, and they did it by a huge emphasis on service and social outreach. In fact, they made serving in these ministries, along with service in community organizations, a requirement for membership there.

Carey Nieuwhof says we will likely continue to see large churches get larger, and multisite churches such as Eagle Brook will continue to experience explosive growth, as churches that are effective expand their mission through stronger churches merging with struggling ones.

One demographic trend we see is that millennials and others seek tighter connections in church communities—and that holds regardless of whether a millennial is part of a very large or a very small local church. Nieuwhof predicts that future large churches will probably become large by means of organizing thousands of attendees into much smaller gatherings, with decentralized, shared leadership.

Yes, the gathered church will continue to experience metamorphosis in response to cultural changes. But what makes a church of whatever size effective to a large extent transcends size.

The one difference? Resources. Often, small churches are challenged in this area, while large churches are often well-resourced.

Our merged church is starting out with an abundance of resources from combining those of two churches. What will we do with that abundance?

What do YOU envision we could be and do in our wider community?

Interim Joint Board approves Bylaws

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The Interim Joint Board has reviewed and approved an updated draft of the Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation for our new church. This version incorporated a huge amount of feedback from our recent Bylaws Town Hall, and from many other individuals in our newly-merged congregation. The Board recommended this updated version to the congregation for approval at our upcoming Congregational Meeting on Feb. 1.

Note: Prior to Feb 1, we are also conducting a technical review via an attorney and via experts from the Minnesota Conference UCC, and from the Presbytery. If they recommend technical changes, we’ll incorporate those, and share one more updated version prior to our Feb. 1 congregational vote.

Draft Bylaws as approved by IJB 12/16/25

Draft Articles of Incorporation as approved by IJB 12/16/25

Blue Christmas service Dec. 21

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For many people, the holiday season is a time of loneliness, sorrow, alienation, anxiety, and chaos. On the longest night of the year, a Blue Christmas gathering offers a space to claim those feelings and find hope in the compassionate love of God. All are welcome to join us as we gather in the Falcon Heights Church sanctuary on Sunday, Dec. 21, at 4 p.m. There will be candlelight, music, silence, readings and time to reflect.

Congregational meeting Dec. 14

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The Interim Joint Board of the yet to be named church of the united congregations of Falcon Heights UCC and New Life Presbyterian Churches has called a congregational meeting for December 14, 2025. The meeting will be held in the Sanctuary of New Life Church immediately following worship. The action item is the election of the Nominating Committee to determine a slate of candidates for the Leadership Council of the merged church. All active members have the privilege and responsibility of attending the meeting and voting.

Food ministries at our churches

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The Keystone Foodmobile will be in New Life’s parking lot from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18. The Foodmobile is at New Life the third Thursday of each month.
 
A small food pantry has been set up in the Falcon Heights lobby, to the left of the welcoming table, for anyone who is in need of food. If you wish to donate, please place food items directly on the shelf and organize by category if possible. Anyone who’s in the building can take what they need. Otherwise, food pantry hours are Monday from 1 to 3 p.m. and Tuesday 10 to 2 p.m. Please spread the word if you know someone who may be in need.

Donate food for other programs–Every Meal at Falcon Heights Elementary, the Department of Indian Work food shelf, and the food shelf at Roseville Area High School–in the marked areas by the Falcon Heights coat rack. The RAHS food shelf needs non-perishable foods, and can accept a small amount of winter clothing (such as hats, gloves and coats).

Giving Trees for winter warmth

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With the arrival of winter, both our churches are collecting new, warm outerwear for people in need in Interfaith Action programs. Bring donations to the Christmas trees in the church entryways this coming month.


Falcon Heights is collecting new mittens, gloves and hats for all ages for its Mitten and Hat Tree. The items will be donated to the Department of Indian Work.


New Life is collecting new winter wear such as hats, gloves, mittens, scarves, jackets, snow pants, and boots for children ages 3 months to 18 years. They will go to families in Project Home, an emergency shelter for unhoused families. Bring donations to the Giving Trees between Nov. 30 and Dec. 28.