NOTE: Meeting locations are as follows: Oaks - is the meeting room next door to the presbytery office; St.Andrew - refers to the Board Room of St. Andrews on the second floor, directly above the presbytery office; Ladue - refers to Ladue Chapel; WG - refers to Webster Groves Presbyterian. Contact the office at 314-772-2395 if you are unsure where you will be meeting.

Presbytery Gathering

Thurs., Feb. 7 th - 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

(Registration/Fellowship Begins at 12 p.m.)

This half - day gathering will include the Installation of Rev. Dr. Craig Howard, as Presbytery Leader, and will be packed with information by offering six different training opportunities for the leadership of each congregation.

All are welcome!

Teaching Elder, Ruling Elder, Deacon, Treasurer, Finance Team Member, and interested congregation members or even friends of the congregation, we have created these learning opportunities with you in mind! Visit our Gathering Page and Register Today! Click Here.

Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner at Virginia Schools

Eligible schools in Virginia are adding dinners to their breakfast and lunch programs. “I am incredibly happy doing this. I see us as education intervention. You can’t be hungry to learn. And students need hot, nourishing food, something many do not get at home."

Whether students are staying for activities, doing homework or just stopping in to eat before walking home, the food here is homemade, the kids love it, and thanks to a relatively new federal government program, it’s free to students at any school that qualifies.

Read complete article here.

Uprooting Hunger - Hunger Action Team

The next sixteen months the presbytery will work toward establishing Certified Hunger Action Congregations. This  handout will be helpful to your congregation, as we journey together in the year + ahead. If you have any questions, email:  [email protected]

John Knox Presbyterian Celebrating 60 Years

Dr. Alan Krummenacher, former pastor, will be the guest pastor, Sunday, January 20, 2019. The service will begin at 9:30 am. There will be no Sunday School that day. We will serve brunch after the service at 11:00 am. We invite all members of the Presbytery as well as friends and former members and families to join us. Please RSVP to Kim Chandler, office administrator, at 314-921-5833 or [email protected]. Any questions may be directed to Marilyn Lange at [email protected]. Directions can be found here.

Feed Hungry UKirk College Students

UKirk - Support Presbyterian campus ministry in St. Louis with homemade Sunday dinner! UKirk gathers on Sunday evenings at Trinity Presbyterian - 6800 Washington Ave - for dinner, fellowship, and worship. (We gather to be fed in body and spirit!)

Dinner begins around 7:15 (once students have arrived) and worship begins around 8 p.m.

Full details and to sign up to participate in this ministry, click here.

Share the Pics!

If you are ordaining and/or installing Deacons, Elders, Trustees or others to service, would you share that joy with us? It is easy to do, by emailing those photos to [email protected] or even texting 573.578.3960 if using a smart phone.

(At left we recognize, with joy and thanksgiving, Barbara Duemler on being ordained as a Ruling Elder this past Sunday! And, also to RE John Anglin for being installed to a new term, at the Presbyterian Church of Washington, with Rev. Pat Gruber)

Save the Date for Rev. Susan Hayes Installation

Installation of Rev. Susan Hayes at St. John’s United Church of Christ 15370 Olive Chesterfield 63017 on January 20, 2019 at 3 p.m.

The Rev. Mike Trautman (First, Ferguson) will be preaching. Clergy who wish to participate in the opening processional are invited to robe and wear (red) vestments. Directions can be found here.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration

This celebration will be held Sunday, January 20 at 3 p.m. at the John Edson Anglin Performing Arts Center at East Central College, Union, Missouri. All are invited to the celebration, which will feature keynote speaker Rep. Bruce Franks, Jr.  Musical performances will also be featured. Refreshments will follow. The event is hosted by Neighbors United - Undoing Racism, along with the Civic Engagement Committee at East Central College.  Directions found here.

Reclaim MLK 2019 

Oak Hill Presbyterian will host this annual community-wide event, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, January 20, featuring Faith for Justice, the City Ministry Initiative, Action St. Louis, and Close the Workhouse as they teach us how to carry and continue the legacy of Dr. King. The schedule will include a Teach-In beginning at 4 p.m., followed by fellowship/conversation at 5 p.m. and finishing in worship at 6 p.m. There will be free food and childcare provided. Please consider bringing a side dish to share or donating to help with food.

Oak Hill Presbyterian is located at 4111 Connecticut St., St. Louis, Missouri 63116. Directions can be found here.

Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Celebration

at University of Missouri-St. Louis

On January 21, 2019, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., at the Touhill Performing Art Center you will be treated to a morning of inspirational presentations by Bree Newsome, filmmaker, musician and activist; Justin Andrews, KMOV reporter; Brian Owens, soloist and St. Louis Symphony artist in residence; and, the St. Louis Children’s Choirs.

Parking is also free. Light refreshments are also served following the ceremony.

Complete details of the day can be found here. If you plan to attend, registration is strongly suggested and you may do so by clicking here.

Horn and Alphorn Free Concert

Thomas and Tricia Jöstlein offer a program for horn and alphorn with tenor Derek Dahlke and keyboardist Andrew Peters on Sunday, January 20 at 4:00 p.m.. The concert takes place at Second Presbyterian Church, 4501 Westminster Place in the Central West End, St. Louis, 63108. The concert is part of the Couts Music Series and is free to the community. For more information call 314-367-0367 or  www.secondchurch.net .

Children's Community Choir

Registration Rescheduled for Winter Weather

If your child likes to sing, our new children's choir will give them the opportunity to share their talents with other kids in our community and have a great time! Prospective Choir members would be children from 1st grade to 5th grade. Rehearsals would be from 10 a.m. until Noon on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month, starting January 26, 2019. After registration at 10 a.m. on Jan. 26th, we will plan to rehearse at 10:30 a.m. 

This choir is sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church, located at 285 E. Springfield Rd., Sullivan, Missouri For more info call 573- 468- 6364 or email: [email protected]

Seeking Bass Section Leader

Second Presbyterian Church in the Central West End of St. Louis has an opening for a bass section leader. The choir rehearses Wednesday evenings from 7:15-9:15 pm, and sings for the 11:00 am Sunday service each week from September through May. For further information, or to schedule an audition, please contact Andrew Peters, Organist/ Minister of Music at [email protected] or 314-367-0367.

Why is a " Thank You " so Important?

Instead of multiple form letters for the annual stewardship campaign, the Stewardship Team chose to send personal, handwritten thank you notes to every member and friend of GPC. In that note, the recipient was thanked for a personal contribution they made to the congregation over the course of the last year. Read the Stewardship Blog here.

Reverend Samuel B. McPheeters

The Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy History Team has donated a historic biography of Reverend Samuel McPheeters to the Mercantile Library in St. Louis. Reverend McPheeters was pastor at the Pine Street Presbyterian Church in St. Louis at the start of the Civil War. 

McPheeters' brother, Dr. William McPheeters, was in the Confederate Army, and pro-Union members of the congregation questioned Samuel's loyalty to the Union. A small group from the congregation, along with the Union authorities in St. Louis, who were governing the city during the War, worked together to take over the church.  An order of banishment forced McPheeters to vacate his pulpit. He traveled to Washington, D.C., to seek assistance from his friend, Edward Bates, President Lincoln's attorney general. Bates could not rescind the order since Missouri was under martial law, but he arranged a meeting with the president. Lincoln rescinded the order and McPheeters was back preaching at Pine Street Presbyterian Church in January of 1864. Later that year, the Presbytery of St. Louis barred him from preaching. 

Pine Street Presbyterian Church (now Westminster Presbyterian Church) was established in 1844, when fifty members of First Presbyterian Church left to form Washington Avenue Presbyterian Church. Its first services were held in a tobacco warehouse on 6th Street. A church building was built on 8th and Washington. The church merged with Westminster Presbyterian Church in 1851. In 1853, it became known as Westminster Pine Street Presbyterian Church.

Joining Hands Peru Partnership

May 25 to June 2, 2019

The next Joining Hands Peru Partnership Reflection and Action Trip will be May 25 to June 2, 2019. Based on double room occupancy and at least 6 participants, the cost will be about $1,000, plus round-trip St. Louis-Lima air fare/trip support preparation expenses (estimated $1,400), and personal expenses (passport, meds, souvenirs, etc.)

Those interested may contact Ellie Stock ([email protected]) or Mark Strothmann ([email protected]) for an application or more information. Deadline is February 28, 2019 with $500.00 deposit. Application for financial assistance is February 15, 2019.

Complete Details found here.

What about a Trip to Scotland!

From historic Edinburgh to the Isle of Iona and on through majestic Highland scenery….. Scotland has so much to see, so many stories to tell. It’s my pleasure to share all this with our visitors. But it’s our focus on Scotland’s sacred heritage which makes a trip with Scotus Tours so special. Why not join one of the open tours in 2019? Click here to learn more about the tours offered.

Shift 2.0 Conference

May 20-22, 2019 (St. Charles, MO)

Dr. Phil Maynard, a certified coach, an Endorsed coach (UMEA), a certified Conflict/Mediation Coach, and licensed trainer/facilitator, will help you "d iscover the key shifts that all churches must make if they are going to have a fruitful ministry in the next century… Rural, urban, black, Hispanic, Anglo, Asian, multicultural, liberal, evangelical… they all need to think through these key shifts to figure out a path forward.” -Paul Nixon, Coach/Consultant Sponsored by Omaha Presbyterian Seminary Foundation. Details coming soon at www.omahapresbyterianseminaryfoundation.org