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EMerge is a newsletter of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area. Through most of the year it is published weekly and distributed to congregations, teaching elders, ruling elders, church members, committees and friends of the presbytery. Please send submissions and address corrections to office@ptcaweb.org.
December 8, 2017
  
Presbytery news  
 
CPM needs ordination exam readers
Ordination exams The Committee on Preparation for Minitry is seeking three ruling elders and three teaching elders to read Ordination Exams in 2018.  If you're interested please contact either of CPM co-chairs, the Rev. Lisa Johnson at pastorlisaj@gmail.com or the Rev. Luke Roske-Metcalfe at ljroske.metcalfe43@gmail.com, for more information.
 
Boundary training offered
in January by Committee on Ethics
Boundaries 1 The presbytery's Committee on Ethics will be host to a Level 1 boundaries training, entitled "To Bless the Space Between Us," on negotiating interpersonal boundaries, ethics, power dynamics, confidentiality, and self-care in a ministry context. This training is required for all teaching elders when they join the presbytery, and is also appropriate for other church leaders. The training is slated Monday, Jan. 22, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at  Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Blooming. The complete announcement is at "Boundaries." Registration can be completed at "Boundaries Training."
 
Clearwater Chrysalis planned
at Clearwater Forest in February
The Rev. Denise Dunbar-Perkins, a member of the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area who has been a local, national and international speaker, teacher, preacher, and workshop and retreat leader, will be the keynote speaker at Clearwater Chrysalis, when the women's winter retreat takes place at Clearwater Forest Friday through Sunday, Feb. 23-25. Chrysalis is a balanced, faith-building program of Clearwater Forest, a Presbyterian camp and conference center in the heart of Minnesota lake country. The vision of Chrysalis is to nourish and support the body, mind and spirit in community with other women. Details can be found in the flyer at " Clearwater Chrysalis."
 
Jeff Japinga Jeff's Jottings
St. Nicholas
 
Jeff Japinga
Executive Presbyter
 
This note: it has been a startling and difficult week on many fronts. Words like tax plan, Jerusalem, revised travel ban, sexual harassment, all are calling up deep emotions. There is deep division. We are polarized in significant ways. I admit: I started two or three different Jottings trying to say something about that, and realized I wasn't ready to speak well about these issues on a short deadline. And so I hope you'll receive this Jottings, this originally planned Jottings, with the invitation, as we anticipate the coming of the Prince of Peace, to continue to reflect with me on how we think and speak and live in the world today. Thank you.
 
I did not leave my wooden shoes by the fireplace this week. Too much going on, I guess.
 
For those who don't know, this past Wednesday, Dec. 6, is the annual commemoration of Saint Nicholas, known as Sinterklass in my Dutch heritage and language. My particular Dutch tradition holds that, on the evening of Dec. 5, Sinterklaas leaves presents, including in the form of chocolates or an orange, in the shoes of Dutch children. We leave our shoes -- often a ceremonial wooden shoe -- in front of the fireplace or near the door for Sinterklass.
 
The complete Jottings can be found at "Sinterklaas."
Around the presbytery   
 
Christmas Tea planned by AHPC alumni
Christmas Tea Alumni of the former Arlington Hills Presbyterian Church have planned their annual Christmas Tea Thursday, Dec. 14, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Presbyterian Church of the Way in Shoreview, Minnesota. The invitation noted the event includes cookies, bars and tea sandwiches. The complete flyer is at "Christmas Tea."
 
Spirit of Life offers
special Christmas programs
Spirit of Life Apple Valley Christmas is in the air and music is too at Spirit of Life Presbyterian Church in Apple Valley. The Advent season continues with music this Sunday, Dec. 10, when the choir performs one selection from the upcoming Christmas pageant, "Shout the Good News!" The complete announcement from Spirit of Life can be found at "Christmas Programs."
Resources, conferences ... 

 

Presbyterian leaders advised
of 2018 Walton Award nominations
Tim McCallister, associate in the offices of Mission Program Grants and Racial Ethnic Schools and  Presbyterian mission Colleges, advised mid council leaders last week of the procedure for making nominations for 2018 Walton Awards. Funded by the $3 million gift of Sam and Helen R. Walton in 1991, award recipients in the 2018 round will receive one-time grants of up to $50,000.  The nomination form for the grant "includes several questions that will be important for follow-up and for understanding how [a nominee] is meeting certain goals," McCallister wrote. McCallister's complete letter can be found at "Walton Award." Nomination forms are available at "Nomination Form."
 
Ecumenical Advocacy Days
to address 'A World Uprooted'
The website for next spring's Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) in the nation's capital notes, "We live in a time of upheaval and uprootedness -- a world in which each year millions of people cross borders in  Ecumenical Advocacy search of more secure and sustainable lives, while white supremacist ideologies continue to impede the fight for justice and peace for all of God's people." EAD, the website notes, "is a movement of the ecumenical Christian community, and its recognized partners and allies, grounded in biblical witness and our shared traditions of justice, peace and the integrity of creation. Our goal, through worship, theological reflection and opportunities for learning and witness, is to strengthen our Christian voice and to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues." EAD is planned Friday, April 20, through Monday, April 23. Details can be found at " Ecumenical Advocacy Days."
 
Latest Board Connections
notes the BOP's special lapel pin
New Connections The latest edition of Board Connections, a newsletter from the Board of Pensions, highlights a lapel pin commissioned by the Board to celebrate its 300 years of service. The Board recently distributed the pins to all active and retired members of the Board's benefits plan. The complete newsletter can be found at "Connections."
 
Sand Bur Consulting plans
bi-vocational  ministry incubator
Increasingly, congregations can no longer afford a full-time, fully-supported pastor.  And pastors are needing to wrestle with tough questions about sand bur bi vocational how to sustain themselves while being faithful to their sense of call.  The Sand Bur Consulting's Bi-vocational Ministry Incubator provides a safe space where pastors can dig deeper into these questions, hone skills for doing ministry in a different way, develop tools to guide a congregation into making a transition into a more shared model of ministry, and find the courage to explore options. The Incubator, which includes monthly day-long gatherings, takes place over eight months and offers skill-building, peer support and mentoring. A brochure is available at " Incubator."
 
Presbyterian Church Educators APCE plans 2018 annual
event in Louisville
The 2018 annual event of the Association of Presbyterian Christian Educators is planned Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 at the Galt House in Louisville. The event promises interactive plenary sessions that will engage and challenge attendees, mini-plenaries, resource-filled workshops, and worship with spirit and imagination. Complete details can be found at " Annual APCE Event."  
 
Winter Pastors School set
in February; now in new location
Winter Pastors OPSF The 2018 version of Winter Pastors School, the annual winter education event of Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation, is slated Feb. 5-8, and this year takes place at Calvin Crest Retreat Center near Fremont, Nebraska. The featured speaker is Gene T. Fowler, a pastoral theologian and church pastor who currently serves the Irondequoit Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York. More complete details can be found at " Winter Pastors School."
 
Registration opens for NEXT
Church gathering in February
NEXT new logo Registration for the 2018 NEXT Church national gathering is open. Titled "The Desert in Bloom," the event takes place Feb. 26-28 in Baltimore. The gathering features church leaders, both pastors and lay people, sharing stories of their experiences of ministry, new ideas, and conversations about ministry in today's environment. Creative worship centers us around God's presence. Details and a link to registration can be found at " NEXT Church 2018."
 
Presbyterian Clergywomen
plan conference at Montreat
clergy women The National Association of Presbyterian Clergywomen will conduct their triennial conference at the Montreat Conference Center in Montreat, North Carolina, April 23-26. Conference details and registration information can be found at " Triennial Conference."
News of the wider churh  

 

Nelson issues statement on recognition
of Jerusalem as Israel's capital
J Herbert Nelson General Assembly Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson II issued a statement this week from the Holy Land -- where he is traveling with a delegation of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders -- criticizing President Trump's decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to instruct the U.S. State Department to begin planning to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Nelson's statement is similar to one issued by the National Council of Churches, which had been in contact with him earlier. Nelson's statement opens, "Moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be a grievous mistake. For Christians concerned with peace and justice, Jerusalem must be a city shared by three faiths and two peoples." The complete statement can be found at "Jerusalem." 
 
Co-moderators call for 'deeper
cultural shift' on sexual harassment
In an open letter to the church this week, the Revs. T. Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston, co-moderators of  the  sexual harassment 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) cited "concrete tools for addressing these issues" surrounding sexual harassment, abuse and gender bias. They "strongly encouraged" Presbyterians to "use these [tools] in your ministries." They listed resources for setting policies, teaching, and preaching. A "deeper cultural shift," the co-moderators wrote, includes coming to terms "with all the ways we victimize and objectify people, including actions that are often less noticeable." There complete letter can be found at "Deeper Cultural Shift."
 
Faith leaders launch Poor People's Campaign, affirm call to serve poor
Anderson speaks The Rev. T. Denise Anderson, co-moderator of the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), added her voice to the many faith leaders present for the launch of The Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival in Washington, D.C. Owing its name to the Poor People's Campaign instituted 50 years ago by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the call seeks to unite "tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation's distorted morality." The complete Presbyterian News Service story by Gregg Brekke can be found at "Poor People." (Photo of Anderson speaking at the launch event for the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Photo by Nora Leccese)
 
Maxim, Johnson announce
for co-moderators of 2018 GA
Maxim Anderson Here we go: The first team to stand for co-moderators of the 2018 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has emerged. Eliana Maxim, far right, associate executive presbyter of Seattle Presbytery and a vice moderator of the Way Forward Commission, announced on Facebook and Twitter Dec. 3 that she will stand for co-moderator along with Bertram Johnson, who is minister of justice, advocacy and change at Riverside Church in New York. Both are PC(USA) ministers and people of color. The complete Presbyterian Outlook story by Leslie Scanlon can be found at " First to Announce."
 
Presbyterian Mission Agency CFO departs
Earline Williams After four-and-a-half years of service to the Presbyterian Mission Agency, Earline Williams, deputy executive director and chief financial officer, has embraced a new season of service with her family in Philadelphia. "My service with the Mission Agency has come to an end," said Williams. "I am grateful for my time in Louisville and for the people I have served alongside." The complete announcement from the Presbyterian Mission Agency can be found at " Williams Leaves."