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07741 November 14, 2007
Presbytery and synod news
by Jerry L. Van Marter Presbyterian News Service
EAGAN, MN - The Synod of Lakes and Prairies has approved participation in a sabbatical grants program for small church pastors in partnership with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Board of Pensions (BOP). The BOP has allocated $300,000 annually for the sabbatical program, which is open to pastors serving churches of less than 200 members. The synod will receive $30,000 annually for 10 grants of $3,000 each.
The program has been endorsed by the executives of the synod's presbyteries. The Rev. Bart Brenner, interim executive for South Dakota Presbytery, is developing procedure guidelines and application forms for the grants within the synod.
CHIPLEY, FL - At its Fall meeting at Korean First Presbyterian church in Fort Walton Beach, FL, the Presbytery of Florida received a gift of $1,000 for use by smaller congregations in the presbytery.
The gift was presented by members of Yosu Presbytery in South Korea, one of Florida Presbytery's international partners.
Florida Presbytery's other international partner is the Presbytery of the Western Cape in South Africa.
EAST SYRACUSE, NY - At its Fall meeting, the Synod of the Northeast approved an ambitious program for church growth in the synod entitled the "Faithful Servant Initiative."
The initiative commits up to $2.4 million - 25 percent of the synod's liquid assets - over the next 10 years to new church development and church redevelopment in the 22 presbyteries and 1,100 congregations that make up the synod. The initiative calls for the allocation of up to $100,000 per year specifically for new church development, adding that amount each year towards the development of at least twelve new congregations by the end of 2010; up to $80,000 per year for church transformation grants, which may be apportioned among six to twelve congregations per year, for a total of eighteen to thirty by 2010; a pool of $20,000 per year for new church development coaching, church transformation coaching, and for scholarships to send teams to New Church Development and Church Transformation events.
The synod also has more than $3.5 million circulating as loans to its congregations for a variety of church development purposes.
SEATTLE - Presbyterians from Kent, WA, and Juneau, AK, have been named recipients of this year's Helen Hamilton Peacemaking Award by the Synod of Alaska-Northwest.
Phil Heft, a member of First Presbyterian Church in Kent (Seattle Presbytery) was honored for his peacemaking activities around the Iraq War. He's a leader in Veterans for Peace and People for Iraq. A member of the synod's peacemaking committee, Heft has also traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to learn first-hand about issues there and PC(USA) efforts to help.
Judith Maier, a member of Northern Lights United Church in Juneau (which is Presbyterian and Methodist), is an educator, activist and community organizer in the Alaska state capital. She has helped bring dozens of international students to Juneau for exchanges, founded a children's library in Paraguay while serving with the Peace Corps, organized a group in Juneau that advocates for peace in the Middle East, and last summer did short-term volunteer service in Tanzania.
MINNEAPOLIS - The Rev. Darrell Guder, dean of academic affairs and professor of missional and ecumenical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, will speak at the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area's Church of All Nations on Jan. 13.
Guder will speak on the contours of "the missional church in a multicultural world."
IOWA CITY, IA - At the request of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Iowa City, the Presbytery of East Iowa has formed a Special Task Force for Abolishing Torture.
The task force's purposes are to promote awareness within the presbytery of the resolution on the subject adopted by the 2006 General Assembly of 2006;support the principles and activities of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), which the PC(USA) endorses; and encourage East Iowa Presbyterians to become actively involved at the local level in denouncing torture.
PORTLAND, OR - From Australia to Zaire, anyone with an internet connection can tune into the worship services of Cascades Presbytery's First Presbyterian Church of Portland, thanks to the congregation's streaming audio system.
At a cost of about $1,000 a year, the church's Sunday morning service is broadcast live and then rebroadcast several times during the week. Listenership has quadrupled since the system was installed in late-2003.
"Our live broadcast over the internet is the easiest and most efficient way to reach people on a worldwide basis," says Grant Keltner of the church's web committee. Every continent except Antarctica has been represented over the years. In the last seven months, listeners have tuned in from Australia, Brazil, France, Japan and India.
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