The Gospel Project

Name: The Gospel Project
Start: 2026-01-31T18:00:00-08:00
Location: 4915 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA, United States, California 92604

Schedule

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026 at 06:00 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

4915 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA, United States, California 92604 | Irvine, CA

THE GOSPEL PROJECT
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Meal at 6:00pm/Worship at 7:30pm
Irvine United Congregational Church (IUCC) is stepping into an exciting new rhythm of worship and community in 2026. The Gospel Project is a monthly gathering created by the church, exploring the powerful connection between theatre and ministry. This series is not about two separate worlds collaborating from a distance, but about storytelling, embodiment, music, testimony, scripture, and sacrament working together to tell the truth, expand welcome, and deepen community.
IUCC has long been shaped by a love for the arts and a belief that the Spirit works through shared imagination and honest expression. Over the years, the church has felt this calling grow stronger: that theatre’s tools—story, movement, voice, presence, ensemble—are also tools the Spirit delights in using to help communities listen more deeply, see one another more clearly, and practice belonging in real ways.
IUCC is grateful to share that the Southern California Nevada Conference awarded a 2026 grant to support this vision. This seed funding allows the church to begin boldly, compensate artists fairly, and create something that extends beyond Sunday mornings into a participatory, creative, table-centered worship experience.
Every Gospel Project gathering will begin around a shared meal in Plumer Hall at 6:00 PM. IUCC will always break bread together first, because belonging is not just named, it is practiced, shared, and passed from hand to hand.
Beginning in 2026, IUCC will welcome friends across the Conference to travel to Irvine on the last Saturday of every month. All are welcome. Worship will begin at 6:00 PM in Plumer Hall with a community meal, followed by a worship service where artistic voices lead the arc of the night.
The pilot gathering, Queer Bodies & Sacred Texts: From Makeup to Mystery, takes place on January 31, 2026. This evening will include powerful acting that tells the truth of human experience, testimonials shared as lived faith, music and spoken word offered with full-hearted presence, and dance as prayer in motion.
Reverend James Fouther will lead praise and worship with joyful energy and grounded faith, representing the National Church and the Western Region Generosity Office. Fuse Dance Company will offer a pas de deux titled T-Shirts and Tanks. A staged scene from John Brittain’s Rotterdam will be presented with honesty and care, naming the ache of being misread. Guest artists Oscar Aguilar and Salem Strikes will bring music and spoken word into the arc of the evening. Johnny Eberhardt, performing as Cucu Chanel, will open and close the night with a message of hope, inclusion, and faith.
IUCC’s Pastor of the Arts and Stewardship, Craig Tyrl, preaching will reflect both deep gratitude for the church’s 33-year history of being Open and Affirming, and gentle challenge toward the church it is still becoming. The pilot theme, Showing Up as Our Truest Selves Before God, names the heart of the evening: an invitation for people to bring their whole selves—questions, stories, identities—into sacred space without fear, trusting that transformation begins where we are fully seen and truly welcomed.
IUCC hopes friends across the Southern California Nevada Conference will make the journey to be part of this emerging story. This is not only a chance to witness meaningful worship, but to help shape it. IUCC believes that sacred community is strengthened when people show up, listen, create, and welcome one another with courage, trusting that God is still speaking and still creating in us.
Thank you for the many ways you continue to care for the Church, take risks for new life, and make room for the Spirit’s work in community.
Warmly,
Irvine United Congregational Church