"For those who don’t know what to say when the world is grieving.”
If you don’t know what to say, choose silence.
In doing, we amplify those voices that are most
prone to being drowned out by the noise of the world.
Maybe it’s not your voice you need to hear today.
You don’t have to know what to say.
Release the expectation that you should be
articulate and wise in the midst of global terror,
when really, you’re just confused and scared or feel nothing at all.
Silence can be sacred too.
You don’t have to understand it all, to be afraid.
To notice that the air feels heavier this week.
That your body feels different.
Go slow. Pay attention. And rest.
Solidarity is not the same as exhaustion.
INHALE:
I can listen in this silence.
EXHALE:
I am more than a voice
Centering Prayer used by Antiracism Ministry Team on Monday, February 28
From Black Liturgies on Instagram by Cole Arthur Riley
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Foothills Presbytery’s
Mission and Outreach Committee
Mission Trip Team Leaders Needed
Foothills Presbytery’s Mission and Outreach Committee is looking for people interested in possibly leading teams from presbytery congregations on mission trips. There are two different opportunities:
1- Assemble Gift of the Heart kits (clean-up buckets, hygiene kits, School kits). This mission opportunity is near Little Rock, AR at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center. The team leader(s) would need to organize and oversee the mission trip. This is an opportunity for different age groups to work together. There are opportunities for side trips in the area.
2- Tornado Recovery - This mission trip opportunity is located near Madisonville, KY in response to the tornadoes that ravaged the area in December 0f 2021. The team leader(s) should know about construction and be able to organize and oversee the mission trip.
If you are interested, or for more information, please contact Peggy Swann at [email protected] or 864.287.4014
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We are grateful for the outpouring of prayers and calls from congregations and individuals asking how they can help. As the violence continues, the number of people being displaced internally and fleeing to neighboring countries increases by the day. And in the midst of the chaos, there are sibling churches and ecumenical partners who are already providing assistance with basic items for survival. Our first priority as PDA is to provide funding to these partners on the ground. While the scale of this crisis is new, receiving refugees from Ukraine and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe is not which means we have trusted, established partners with the knowledge and expertise to carry out this important work.
We are hearing that the reformed churches in Ukraine and the region are also feeling called to join in the humanitarian response. PDA, therefore, anticipates that our response will include both financial and technical assistance as the network of faith communities providing humanitarian assistance grows in the months ahead.
As we pray for an end to this violence, we ask the U.S. Government and our European allies to make a commitment to the Ukrainian people for a peaceful solution. We don’t know how long it will take, but we know that they will need help with the rebuilding of their country so that those who are fleeing now may one day return home safely.
To support our response, designate gifts to DR000156 or text PDAUKR to 41444
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Mister Rogers Day 2022
March 20
PC(USA) ministries prepare for 2nd annual celebration of Presbyterian minister and TV icon
by Rich Copley | Presbyterian News Service
LEXINGTON, Kentucky — The inaugural Mister Rogers Day was a beautiful day in the neighborhoods of many Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations.
On March 20, 2021, Presbyterians across the United States paid tribute to the ordained Presbyterian minister and iconic children’s television host through acts such as distributing care packages, hiding rocks painted with uplifting messages in local parks, and hosting neighborhood gatherings — observing COVID safety protocols, of course — with many participants donning Rogers’ trademark cardigan sweater. Read More
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CANCELED: CAMP DAY!
On Thursday, February 17th, CSM made the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming March 12 Camp Day. The Youth, Camp, and Campus team of CSM will be exploring other opportunities for providing outdoor ministry through Foothills in the near future.
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SC5 Presbyteries Retreat
(For Ministers, Educators, & Church Leaders)
October 24–26, 2022
Montreat, NC
Theme: Leadership Development Is Great And All That, And What I Really Need Is Some Time Rest, Refresh, & Renew!
How are you feeling these days? Really feeling? Energized, excited and engaged in ministry? Or are you dragging your feet into the pulpit? Contemplating the communion table might be a nice nap location? Or are you mentally designing an escape hatch in your office for that next visit with the pastor? Where is your spark for ministry? Is it possible to lead from a place of wholeness? Is there room for creativity, imagination, and play? How can you experience the fullness of life and living and leading? as Children of God?
See more details HERE, including leadership, registration, accommodations, and daily schedule.
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Future Church Initiatives
In February 2020, Foothills Presbytery decided to commit energy, staffing, and proceeds from investment funds to Future Church Initiatives:
- Faithful Innovation
- The Road Ahead
- Legacy Partnership Project
You can learn about these initiative from the links below.
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Faithful Innovation Learning Communities
Discover the unique story God wants
to tell through your congregation
At the 119th Stated Meeting of Foothills Presbytery, we had the opportunity to learn about what Faithful Innovation is and how we might begin to experiment with future church initiatives from the Rev. Sheryl Pyle-Kinder.
Each church participating in the Faithful Innovation Learning Communities (FILC) will identify a Guiding Team of 4-7 congregation members. The pastor(s) will also participate alongside the team. The team will attend three training days where they will engage in the spiritual practice of action reflection. Between training days, the team will meet monthly with a trained coach who will support and encourage the team in their work. The team is the conduit through which the congregation as a whole is invited to participate in FILC.
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Western Region Gathering
9:00 am
Monday, March 7
by ZOOM
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Music Ministry Leader's
9:00 am
Wednesday, March 9
by ZOOM
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Educator's
12 noon
APCE SHARE
Monday, March 14
at the Foothills Presbytery office
*Bring Your Lunch
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Youth Roundtable
12 noon
Tuesday, April 5
126 Augusta Street, Greenville
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Join us for our third online Day of Learning on March 29 to learn how to build a planned giving program right-sized for your church needs and how to engage your congregation in giving.
10:00 a.m. PDT/1:00 p.m. EDT
Ellie Johns-Kelley, Ministry Relations Officer, and Karl Mattison, Vice President for Planned Giving Resources will present Good, Better, Best: Right-sized Planned Giving Programs.
Discover various models of planned giving programs and get tools that range from a very basic practice to starting the conversation to a full plan that demonstrates to donors that your session is prepared to receive and steward their legacy.
1:00 p.m. PDT/4:00 p.m. EDT
Olanda Carr, Senior Ministry Relations Officer will be in conversation with Rev. Dr. Brandi Casto-Waters of Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia on Having the Talk and Making the Ask.
Their presentation will cover practical tools for an active congregation to use for conversations about planned giving, as well as encouraging congregants to make legacy giving a part of their lifetime stewardship.
All programs will be online through the Zoom platform; you will receive a link to join a few days before the program.
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Antiracism Ministry Team, Foothills Presbytery
Resources we have found challenging and inspirational:
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We are excited to announce that our
Since 1948, Camp Fellowship has provided unique summer programs for children & youth of all ages. We strongly believe camp is for everybody and work diligently to create exceptional programs that engage campers and guests in faith formation, community building, personal growth and development, and fun! Join us this summer for our 74th summer on the lake!
Foothills Presbytery has limited
need-based scholarships available.*
Also, Fellowship is offering a discount of $25
for the first 30 registrants from Foothills churches (CODE IS: Foothills25)
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March 25 @ 3:00 pm - March 26 @ 9:30 pm
All is on go for the March 25-26 session of Lay School. Registration materials can be found HERE. For those who did not attend the Oct. 2021 session, note particularly that the school is now a two-day event, ending with worship Saturday night.
We hope that you will register for this session.
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SC5 Webinar:
MAKING LIFELONG FAITH FORMATION
A REALITY IN EVERY CHURCH
TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022
9 am – 3:30 pm
Westminster Presbyterian Church
1715 Broad River Rd, Columbia, SC
John Roberto will present seven essential elements that seek to address the challenges the church faces today in nurturing faith of all ages. Then participants will engage in models for putting these elements into practice.
The event will be available in person and by zoom.
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Welcome back! We are so excited to have you back at our communities for this year’s Ambassadors Meetings, which provide an overview of our ministry, explain the importance of charitable care, and introduce you to the Mother’s Day Offering materials your church will receive.
WHO ATTENDS?
Pastors and ambassadors are encouraged to attend. Church members who wish to become an ambassador to support PCSC’s ministry – particularly through the Mother’s Day Offering – are welcome to join us, too!
WHAT IS THE MOTHER’S DAY OFFERING?
The Mother’s Day Offering has been collected in South Carolina Presbyterian Churches for more than 60 years and is used solely to provide charitable care for residents who had outlived their resources. This vital ministry would not be possible without the support of churches and donors.
WHEN ARE THE MEETINGS?
This year we have 5 in-person dates, plus a virtual option. If you are unable to attend your Presbytery’s meeting, you are welcome to register for another meeting.
VIRTUAL MEETING!
Wednesday, March 30 • 7 pm
Join us via Zoom using your computer, smart phone or tablet.
Foothills Presbytery
Thursday, March 31 • 10:30 am
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Presby Youth Day will be hosted on Saturday, April 2, 2022! Join us on campus at the Cornelson Center for a time of worship and liturgy followed by a campus tour. PC is also hosting "Pack the Pondo" that afternoon with food trucks, a women's lacrosse match at 1:00, and a men's baseball game at 3:00. Following the campus tour, we encourage groups to purchase lunch at the food trucks and check out the sporting events at their leisure. Registration for Youth Day is free. Costs for lunch will vary.
To register, or if you have any questions, email Perrin Tribble at: [email protected]
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Please plan to join the Upstate CROP Hunger Walk on Sunday, March 20th (Greenville Technical College at 2:30 PM and virtual options available.) The event helps to fight hunger locally and around the world through the programs of Loaves & Fishes of Greenville and Church World Service.
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Year-Long and Summer Internships
Find life in ministry that crosses linguistic, cultural, and political borders.
Frontera de Cristo is happy to assist interested individuals in creating year-long and summer internships, as well as shorter-term volunteer opportunities. Through these experiences, people join together from both sides of the border to serve in bi-national ministry. You can join our bi-national team of young adult interns for a summer or year-long ministry experience. Share the gifts you bring to the table and discover new ones as you serve alongside our mission co-workers and partner ministries here in DouglaPrieta.
Interns range in age from late high school and undergraduate students seeking a summer of service, to young adults in between phases of life, to seminary students pursuing a life-long career in ministry work. What all interns have in common is a desire to embody God’s love and justice to the people of Agua Prieta and the migrants who pass through our border community. Interns live in a shared Frontera de Cristo apartment in Agua Prieta and utilize bicycles as their main form of transportation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Then, when you are ready, please complete the full intern application form and submit it to [email protected].
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Event Details
This year's theme is "Building Bridges for Smaller Congregations: Offering Help, Hope, and Healing."
Our keynote speaker is Rev. Dr. Jonathan C. Augustine - a pastor and professor, as well as an author and advocate. He is part of a group of national leaders who speak for the equality of all human beings, while advocating for policies of diversity, including, and belonging.
Workshop presenters include:
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January/February 2022 Horizons magazine is available online!
Laugh and Sing for God Is With Us
About This Issue
Laughing? Singing? Two years into a global pandemic, the encouragement to laugh and sing might seem, well, laughable. Even before Covid-19, it wasn’t easy to remain joyous when injustice, natural disaster and our mortal nature mean we’ll never have enough days with those we love in the world we love.
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Birthday Offering: While Birthday Offering projects and donation amounts have changed, Presbyterian Women’s commitment to improving the lives of women and children has not. Support the Birthday Offering so PW can continue funding mission projects for the next 100 years. Give as you have been blessed, generously and as led by the Holy Spirit.
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Empowering Young People Toward Beloved Community
April 6th; 12 - 1:30 pm Eastern
This presentation will build upon the ethnographic and theological research in Rev. Dr. Williams' book, Church in Color to highlight practical steps congregations and other organizations can take to resist racism and embrace Beloved Community in the work of youth and young adult ministry.
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Synod of the South Atlantic
African American Clergy
and Educators Virtual Retreats
After much prayer and discernment for the need to remain connected, we will host a few more gatherings for African American Clergy and Educators. If you would like to receive information regarding these events, please submit your direct contact information at
PLEASE PLACE THESE PARTICIPATION DATES ON YOUR CALENDAR
the link for connection will be sent closer to the date of the event
April 29th
(following the Stated Synod Meeting)
July 15th
October 28th
In the past, we have hosted an African American Clergy and Educators Retreat at Epworth by the Sea on Saint Simons Island (GA) around the second week of September. The plan for an in-person retreat of this nature in 2022 is up for discussion. If you are interested in providing dialogue for this discussion, contact Rev. Cecelia D. Armstrong via email at [email protected].
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Eastminster Presbyterian
2240 Woodruff Road,
invites you to participate in a
Poverty Simulation with them
on Sunday, March 27, 3:00-5:00
The Poverty Simulation opens people’s eyes to the human cost of poverty. The power of this unique learning resource is that it creates, like nothing else, insight into the state of chronic crisis that consumes so many working poor families. Participants experience one month of poverty comprised of four fifteen-minute weeks. Afterwards, in the debriefing, they share insights of extraordinary vividness and intensity.
Participants are placed into families made up of one to five members. They receive an envelope that describes their demographics, their income/resources, and their bills. They interact with “vendors” (trained volunteers) who sit at tables around the perimeter of the room. During the course of the simulation, they may deal with a mortgage/rental company, school, pawnbroker, banker, employer, and others. To get from “home” to one of the vendors requires a transportation ticket. This is just the first of many challenges the participants experience within the two-hour time period.
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At the Festival of Homiletics, May 16–20, 2022, you’ll hear respected and thoughtful speakers present on the theme After the Storm: Preaching and Trauma.
The advantages of registering now:
- Enjoy early-bird pricing! Prices go up on February 15, 2022.
- In-person attendance will be limited—act now to ensure your space.
To get the most out of the Festival of Homiletics, purchase the recordings for full access to on-demand content you can view anytime:
- All sessions in audio and video formats
- Bonus sermons and lectures from top speakers
- Private social networking with other pastors and leaders
of Homiletics, May 16–20, 2022.
We’re excited about the superb thinkers and teachers who will present on this year’s theme, “After the Storm: Preaching and Trauma”
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Union Presbyterian Seminary offers travel seminars for our students. Those travel seminars are, also, open to the wider community. (In fact, we think having participants from outside the Seminary adds a depth to the travel seminars that is invaluable.)
There are two upcoming travel seminars scheduled this first half of 2022.
SCHEDULE
New dates: Spring 1 semester, February 22-March 2
New dates: Spring 2 AND May Term, May 5-11
To view a FULL list of upcoming opportunities, visit:
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2022 Montreat Youth Conferences
June 5–August 6, 2022
A Montreat Youth Conference affirms youth in their calling to be and to shape the church of Jesus Christ.
Our desire is to help youth come to know and believe that they are the beloved of God and to be a place where authenticity, community, connection, and God’s truth thrive. We seek to be an inclusive space where each voice can be heard and where each heart can be molded; where change is invited, challenge is expected, and where all are embraced.
We have spent the last year, and more, in a season of disconnect through our challenges and circumstances. God calls us to be connected in all aspects of life. Through the stories of Mary and Martha, Jacob and Esau, Jeremiah, and many others, we are reminded that we are all inter-connected in God’s intentional actions. Join us as we explore the many ways that we can reconnect to live out God’s call.
Youth leave Montreat knowing that:
Their faith matters.
They are loved as they are.
They are part of a community of faith.
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For more information Contact:
Rev. Brandon Ouellette, Institute Director
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Good Stewards of God's Grace
A PC(USA) Leader Formation Webinar
March 30, 2022; 7:00-8:30 pm (eastern)
Registration Deadline: March 23, 2022
“Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received” (1 Pet. 4:10). As spiritual leaders in the congregation, deacons and ruling elders have vital gifts to offer in the leadership of worship. This webinar will help to equip ruling elders and deacons for particular roles and responsibilities as worship leaders in a variety of settings, including: the Service for the Lord’s Day; services of ordination, installation, and commissioning; the extended service of communion; and other ministries of compassion and care with those who are sick, homebound, or hospitalized.
This event is provided for free for participants and is funded through your per capita dollars. It does not come without cost, however. Knowing the diversity of language within the PC(USA), this webinar will be provided in several languages with interpretation based on requests made through the registration process. As a result, there is a registration deadline of March 23, 2022, in order to be able to have time to arrange for those services. This event will be recorded and will be available in English following the event. Registration is not required for access to the recording.
Register for the webinar by March 23, 2022, HERE
Regarding Ruling Elders
To stay connected to resources for ruling elders and the Regarding Ruling Elders monthly series of articles, subscribe to updates here.
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Mediation Skills Training Institute
or Church Leaders
Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders
- March 14-18, 2022 (online)
- May 9-13, 2022 (online)
- June 13-17, 2022 (in person)
- August 1-5, 2022 (in person)
- November 14-18, 2022 (in person)
- The June session will be held in Fort Mill, South Carolina; the August session will be held in the Chicago area; and the November session will be held in the Phoenix area. Please check our website for updates.
Everyone Has to Deal with Conflict
Conflict is normal and inevitable – whether in the home, school, community, church or workplace. Leaders in all walks of life often have a responsibility to help others work through their conflicts.
The Mediation Skills Training Institute presented by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (LMPC) is designed to equip church leaders with the skills necessary to deal effectively with interpersonal, congregational, and other forms of group conflict. The five-day institute also includes a component on congregational mediation and consultation, placed within the context of family systems theory.
Although focused primarily on the church setting, the skills learned are directly transferable to other settings. Thus, managers in business, attorneys, experienced mediators, and others in leadership will be enriched by the training as well.
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Available Jobs
postings on our
website.
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Presbyterians and the Civil Rights Movement
Feb 24, 2022
In 1963, on the heels of the national crisis precipitated by the Civil Rights marches in Birmingham, Alabama, the 175th General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) mandated the creation of the Commission on Religion and Race (CORAR) as “the focal point for race relations and liaison with interfaith and ecumenical efforts.” Under the leadership of Gayraud S. Wilmore, the Commission was responsible for the design, coordination, and implementation of a comprehensive race-relations strategy for United Presbyterians.
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Mark your Calendars for these Upcoming Events |
2022
March
3 Committee on Ministry meeting by ZOOM
4 - 6 PYC Retreat at Montreat
7 CRE Advisory Committee meeting
9 Music Leaders Gathering by ZOOM
10 Committee on Shared Ministry meeting at Fourth
14 Educators Gathering
24 Committee on Preparation for Ministry meeting
25-27 SC Lay School
28 Foothills Presbytery Staff meeting and Antiracism Committee meeting
May 20 - 21, 2022
November 01, 2022
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