‘Tis the Season – Guide to Incline Village Churches

By: Kayla Anderson – Originally published in IVCBA’s Live.Work.Play Magazine

For many people, the holiday season means a time when we celebrate cultural traditions; reflect and set goals for the following year; tune into our religious beliefs; and help our fellow neighbors. Here are how two East Shore churches do all these things and bring support to the Incline Village community during the holidays and beyond:  

The Village Church, 736 McCourry Blvd., Incline Village 

As a member of ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, The Village Church runs a Christian preschool and a K-5 academy for families with kids ages 6 weeks to 5th grade; operates a thrift store at the corner of Mays and Southwood in Incline Village (with very friendly staff); and keeps a food box ministry available all year long with bankers boxes full of non-perishable food. 

Some of its year-round support groups include a ministry to those who are grieving called Griefshare that meets Mondays at 5pm for 13 weeks a few times a year as well as Alcoholics Anonymous on Thursdays at 7pm. The Village Church also keeps a Care Chest, providing medical supplies and durable medical equipment like wheelchairs and walkers to the community and supports the Sierra Community House as well as Sierra Senior Services. 

“During the holiday season we participate in the Winter, Warmth, and Wellness program, and continue to offer all our programs,” says Pastor Jeffrey Ogden. 

https://www.thevillagechurchnv.org/ , Sunday Services at 8am and 10am 

Cornerstone Community Church, 300 Country Club Dr., Incline Village

The non-denominational Christian church found on the corner of Highway 28 and Country Club Boulevard hosts a variety of groups for all ages. It has a midweek kids afterschool program every Wednesday from 3:15-4:30pm, weekly men’s & women’s Bible study groups, and a group for moms of school-aged kids called Mama Bears (which meets from 10am-12pm and includes childcare).

It hosts a youth program every Sunday evening from 5:30-7:30pm for middle and high schoolers as well as its Sunday Worship Services every Sunday at 10am. As far as serving the community, Cornerstone works alongside and financially supports other nonprofits like Young Life, Foster the City, Real Choices Women’s Center, Reno/Sparks Gospel Mission, Awaken, Serve With These Hands, and Springs of Redemption Rehab Ranch.

Cornerstone keeps a benevolence ministry that helps people in need and it loves to support community activities like IVGID’s Trail of Treats [and Terror] and the Local Heroes 4th of July Celebration, putting on a special Veterans Recognition social prior to the Flag Retirement Ceremony in that same period. 

As far as during the winter months, Cornerstone Senior Pastor Brandon McCaughey says, “Our church loves to support those in need during the holidays. Every Christmas season we identify those in our community who have had major difficulties (major illnesses, accidents, or significant hardships) and collect funds for the month of December, including at our Christmas Eve services, in order to bless them and help with whatever they have gone through this year. We have a prayer team that faithfully prays for those in our church and in our community and we also offer Biblical counseling for those in need of spiritual direction and wisdom.”

Cornerstone also hosts several events for families this Christmas season. A Night in Bethlehem is an interactive family Christmas event that will transport participants back to Bethlehem. On Friday, December 13th from 5:30-7:30pm, families will get to make take home projects from their carpentry booth, metal shop, painters square, and pottery shop. They will learn about the Christmas Story with a live interactive reading and get to taste foods from biblical times. 

The church will also be hosting special Christmas Eve services at 4pm and 6pm on December 24th. Cornerstone will sing Christmas carols, hear a message of hope from the Bible, and close each service by lighting candles and singing worship to the Lord Jesus. All are welcome, but space is limited, so it’s best to go early. Overflow parking is available at the UNR Lake Tahoe campus kitty corner to the church. 

https://www.cornerstonecommunity.net/ , Sunday Services at 10am and 5pm (beginning December 1)

Saint Francis Of Assisi Catholic Church, 701 Mount Rose Hwy, Incline Village, 

St. Francis Catholic Church in Incline Village was founded in 1965 with the original church built by parishioners. As of last school year, St. Clare’s Mountain Montessori Catholic School at St. Francis had 48 students, teaching preschool through high schoolers. 

St. Francis supports the community in many ways–everything from offering its space for public concerts (such as Handel’s “Messiah” in December) to hosting Incline High School’s “We the People” program.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society also now has a chapter at St. Francis Church. It helps the broader community (without regard to race, sex, religion, etc.) in three ways: 1) Home visitation- Meeting with neighbors in need, Vincentians make holistic assessments of needs (physical and spiritual) and help directly (using funds donated by parishioners and members) with costs of rent, groceries, utilities, health care, transportation, etc.), or by referral to local agencies with the resources to address issues that the conference cannot; 2) Members of St. Vincent de Paul deliver bakery goods, deli foods, and vegetables to various locations in the North Shore year-round to those in need on a weekly basis; 3) St. Vincent de Paul sponsors special food distributions of meat, dairy, vegetables, and staples in partnership with Catholic Charities and from the conference’s own funds, in connection with the Winter Warmth and Wellness program in October and Toys for Tots in December. 

In addition to the work of the St. Vincent de Paul group, St. Francis Church invites everyone in the community as well as visitors to any of these events and regular weekend Masses:

https://sftahoe.org/, Mass Schedule: Saturday: 5:00pm (English); Sunday: 9:00am (English), 11:30am (Bilingual), 5:00pm (Spanish); Daily Mass: Tuesday – Friday at noon

Sundays from 12:30pm – 2:00pm: Youth Group Meeting; Thursday, Dec. 9 & 16, 4:30pm-6:00pm: Holiday Grief Support Group; Thursday, Dec. 16, 6:00pm-8:00pm: Twenty-Somethings Group; Sunday, November 17, time TBD: “Becoming Catholic” meetings begin; Thursday, Dec. 19, 10:00am, St. Clare’s Christmas Pageant: St Clare’s Tahoe – Christmas Program; Friday, Dec. 20, 6:30pm-8:30pm, Tahoe Philharmonic’s Classical Orchestra and Chorus presents Handel’s “Messiah”; Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 3:00pm- 4:00pm: Children’s Christmas Mass; Tuesday, December 24, 2024, 10:00pm- 11:00pm: Christmas Eve – Vigil Mass;  Wednesday, December 25, 2024, 9:00pm – 10:00pm: Christmas Day Mass (English);  Wednesday, December 25, 2024, 11:00am-noon: Christmas Day Mass (Bilingual).

St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 341 Village Blvd., Incline Village

St. Patrick’s hosts a number of community groups on its campus weekly, including the: Sierra Community House’s food distribution program, the Knitter’s Guild, the North Tahoe Community Choir, Cafe Conversacion (for English language learners), Alcoholics Anonymous, Girl Scouts, Military Officers of America, and more. It also takes up collections for local, national, and international relief organizations. In the fall, it collected in-kind donations for the Winter Warmth and Wellness event as well as financial donations for the Community Thanksgiving Celebration 2024 and hurricane relief efforts on the East Coast.

St. Patrick’s Christmas services will be on December 24th which includes a family-friendly pageant service at 5pm and a candlelight service at 9pm. Each year around Christmas it sends out a list of local organizations to its congregation with information about them, encouraging parishioners to donate to the organization with which they most resonate.

https://www.tahoeepiscopal.org/, Sunday Services at 10am

North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, 700 Latone Ave., Tahoe Vista

The Tahoe Jewish Community, a partnership of North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation and Temple Bat Yam, supports the Jewish residents, visitors, and supporters of Jewish life in the Tahoe Basin and the Northern Sierra. Through North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation (NTHC), it hosts various groups of co-creators of community from a religious school to a B’nai Brith Youth Organization Tahoe Chapter and book club. Additionally, it holds ritual gatherings to mark Shabbat and holidays to enjoy meals together, connect, and support each other through life’s journey. In the coming months, it will be launching a Women’s Mussar (Jewish Soul Traits) Circle and parenting conversations to support parents in navigating the rise in antisemitism. 

The “holidays” is a bit different for a Jewish community as the bulk of American society considers the winter season as “the holidays”.  While Hannukah falls around this time, it is considered a minor holiday for NTHC. It strives to support the wider community by taking part in winter clothing drives, a food drive in advance of Thanksgiving, and volunteering through United for Action to be a source of advocacy to strengthen the community. https://www.tahoetemple.org

Here are other worship services available in Incline Village/Crystal Bay; visit their websites for more information: 

New Life Church, 918 Northwood Blvd., Incline Village, https://www.newlifeincline.org/, Sunday Services at 10am. Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, December 24, 2024 5:30pm

Open Door Foursquare Church, 754 Mays Blvd. Building 6 Stes. 12 & 7, Incline Village, https://inclinevidanueva.org/, Sunday Services at 10am, bilingual