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The weekly newsletter from the
Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys
January 30, 2019
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We are congregations who seek to be a collective expression of the Body of Christ, joyfully participating in Christ's ongoing life and work. "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing."
(I Thessalonians 5:11)
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Congregation of the Week of February 3-9
First Presbyterian Church of Blue Earth
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Clerk of Session: Cindy Peterson
Secretary/Treasurer: Connie Hedland
Visitation Minister: Russ Steele
Moderator: Rev. Michael Roys
Session Members: Connie Hedland, Debby Johnson, Jo Kraayenhof, Roy Lindokken, Cindy Peterson, and Tom Plocker
Prayers for our church as we continue to recover from damage to our church building last summer. Heavy rains in June resulted in a wet basement which caused a severe mold issue. A hail and wind storm in late summer damaged the church roof. As we were unable to get the roof replaced before winter, it will be reroofed this spring. The basement will be mold free soon. It has been a long, slow process and a lot of hard work. The building is 122 years old.
Our 5th Sunday Pocket Change Mission Offering continues to be an important part of our church's outreach. The mission committee decides where the offering goes and the church budget adds $100 to each offering. Some projects include: making personal care kits for the CADA House in Mankato and packing BUC Bags, which are weekend food bags for elementary students. We have provided scholarships to send city kids to Youth for Christ camps and helped friends and neighbors in need. We donate to the local food shelf and purchase gas cards which are given to the county Veterans office to distribute to Veterans. This past year we purchased animals for families through the Presbyterian Giving Catalog.
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Minnesota Council of Churches CEO Rev. Dr. Curtiss DeYoung to Speak at Presbytery Meeting
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Rev. Dr. Curtiss Paul DeYoung is the CEO of the Minnesota Council of Churches. Previously he was the Executive Director of the historic racial justice organization Community Renewal Society
in Chicago and the inaugural
Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul.
DeYoung earned degrees from the University of St. Thomas and Howard University School of Divinity. He is an ordained minister in the Church of God and a member of the Park Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis. He is an author and editor of twelve books on reconciliation, interfaith social justice activism, racism, and cultural diversity including
Coming Together in the 21
st
Century: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity
and co-author with South African Allan Boesak,
Radical Reconciliation: B
eyond Political Pietism and Christian Quietism
. He was on the editorial team for
The Peoples’ Bible
(Fortress).
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Curtiss will be giving the sermon and leading a keynote address entitled: Re-writing the Script, Transforming the Future."
We will be collecting an additional offering at this meeting to support the Minnesota Council of Churches. MCC is committed to building Christian and Interfaith unity through the work of justice, serving as advocates and activists for reconciliation. We are twenty-five communions of
the Mainline Protestant Church, Historic Black Church, Traditional Peace Churches, and the Greek Orthodox Church, representing over one million Christians in Minnesota and maintaining strong interfaith partnerships.
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Worship Resources for Lent
The Season of Lent
The season of Lent is a time of prayer, fasting and self-examination in preparation for the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord at Easter. It is a period of 40 days — like the flood of Genesis, Moses’ sojourn at Mount Sinai, Elijah’s journey to Mount Horeb, Jonah’s call to Ninevah to repent and Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness. (The Sundays in Lent are not counted in this reckoning of the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter, as every Lord’s Day is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In the early church, Lent was a time of preparation for the celebration of baptism at the Easter Vigil. In many communities of faith it remains a time to equip and nurture candidates for baptism and confirmation and to reflect deeply on the theme of baptismal discipleship.
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Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Sundance Film Festival
Almost-completed documentary about Flint water crisis will be shown to some festival attendees
By Rich Copley | Presbyterian News Service
Signs guide Flint residents to bottled water in “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City,” a new documentary from Story Productions, a ministry of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. (Photo by David Barnhart)
LOUISVILLE — Somewhere in the swirl of movie stars, auteurs, paparazzi and snow at this year’s
Sundance Film Festival
you could find the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
“Flint: The Poisoning of an American City,” a nearly-completed documentary about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan by
Story Productions
, a ministry of
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
(PDA), will be shown as a work-in-progress preview at a screening room in Park City, Utah, this weekend.
“Flint” is the latest film directed by David Barnhart, PDA’s associate for Story Ministry, whose other credits include “Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence” and “Locked in a Box,” which looks at the U.S. immigration detention system.
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Presbyterian Foundation offers free webinar series
Themes include boosting stewardship, talking about money
Susan Herman | Special to Presbyterian News Service - January 8, 2019
LOUISVILLE
The
Presbyterian Foundation
is offering a series of five webinars in 2019 on engaging church givers in stewardship and money-related conversations.
Pastors, business administrators, stewardship chairs, treasurers, session clerks and others involved in the financial life of the church are invited to register. The webinars are free. Sign up for the whole series, or just topics that interest you the most.
Rob Hagan and Karl Mattison will present the webinars. Hagan is a
Ministry Relations Officer
for the Presbyterian Foundation. Mattison is the Foundation’s Vice President of Planned Giving. They have teamed up many times to educate church leaders on financial topics and say they’re excited to offer webinar participants tools for building generous, vital communities of faithful givers who want their resources to change people's lives for Jesus Christ.
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Book Study: Rebuilding the Foundations
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Join the Presbytery in a book study of Rebuilding the Foundations: Social Relationships in Ancient Scripture and the Contemporary Culture by John Brueggemann and Walter Brueggemann, Westminster John Knox Press. Next chapters to discuss: 5 & 6.
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2019 Presbyterian Youth Triennium
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Get Ready for the 2019 Presbyterian Youth Triennium - a gathering held every three years for high school age students in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Youth from all churches (across sponsoring denominations) come together for this life changing, life giving, faith growing gathering! Five days that help form a younger generation of active Presbyterians. Five days that shape the leadership gifts and deepen the discipleship awareness for a generation who are already achieving a strong presence in this church and in this world!
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Event Essentials
DATES: Monday, July 15 - Sunday, July 21 (includes travel days)
LOCATION: Purdue University - West Lafayette, IN
AUDIENCE: High School Age youth entering freshman through graduated seniors
THEME: "Here's My Heart"
REGISTRATION FEES: Anticipated Cost - $625.00 to $650.00
(Registration fee includes all programming, food, lodging and travel)
Deadlines
FEBRUARY 4: Registrations due, along with $250.00 payment for each participant
MAY 6: Final Payment Due
Questions?
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Pastoral Leadership Opportunities
First Presbyterian Church, Fulda
- Solo Pastor, 3/4 time up to full-time
Faith Presbyterian Church, Silver Lake
- Part-time Solo Pastor
Hope Presbyterian Church, Spicer
- Solo Pastor
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Upcoming Events
Big Tent - August 1-3, 2019 in Baltimore
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Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys
4055 Abbott Drive
Willmar MN 56201
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