IN GENERAL NEWS ITEMS ARE ABBREVIATED AND CAN USUALLY BE CLICKED ON TO FIND MORE INFORMATION. THIS IS OUR QUICK NOTES PHILOSOPHY THAT ALLOWS YOU TO SCAN WHAT MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO YOU.

Billy Norden from the RCA Board of Benefits Services will be hosting an in person meeting at New Brunswick Theological Seminary on Wednesday, October 11 at 10am for clergy and church staff/treasurers to discuss Health Savings Accounts, Self-Employment taxes and in general be available to answer related questions.

RSVP to the synod office at rsmatoffice@gmail.com or 848-237-1794

JOB POSTINGS

• CLOVER HILL REFORMED CHURCH, SEEKING PART-TIME PASTOR (ABOUT 24 HOURS/WEEK)

Clover Hill Reformed Church, a traditional, homey congregation with an active core of about 30 congregants, is seeking a part-time pastor.

Like many churches who have had a long-time pastorate (ours was almost forty years), our path forward has had many twists and turns. Almost eight years after this pastor’s retirement, we have completed a full self study and are looking forward to our next season. We have active ministry teams that oversee all the work of the church led by a group of committed servant leaders. We are committed to each other, our community and God, and need the support of a pastor who will help translate these commitments into action, growth and ministry.

The part-time position would be about 24 hours and involve leading worship, pastoral care, and working with our teams to develop new strategies for outreach. The pastor will be president of our Consistory. The candidate should be ordained, or eligible for ordination in either the RCA or one of our denominational partners (the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Church of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Christian Reformed Church in North America.)

Clover Hill Reformed Church is in Hillsborough New Jersey, which is in central New Jersey, almost equidistant between Philadelphia and New York and about 30 minutes from both the Princeton and New Brunswick Theological Seminaries. The church is located in a rural/suburban area with one of the top school systems in the State. The current parsonage is a vintage farmhouse and is adjacent to the church. 

Workload and compensation will be negotiated with the successful candidate.

Our church profile can be found here: https://www.cloverhillchurch.org/job-opportunities

To apply, please email our Search Team Chair, Marilyn Fineman, at m2fineman@gmail.com (posted Sept 22, 2023)

• Lisha's Kill Reformed Church, in the small upstate NY city of Schenectady, seeks a minister of Word and sacrament. They hope their new pastor will be excellent preacher of bible-based messages who is also is a good spiritual leader with a focus on church growth. From their profile: "We believe God has a plan and will lead us to the right person to not only be a wonderful pastor leading church worship services, but also focusing on strengthening our members and overall health and well being of our congregation." Interested candidates should email the search committee chair, Robert Farquharson, to request the church profile. rfarquharson77@me.com (posted September 19, 2023)
• Plainview Reformed Church is seeking a full time Minister (posted Sept 15, 2023)
• RCA Chief Financial Officer (posted Sept 7, 2023)
• Grace Reformed Church, Edison NJ (posted August 25, 2023), Pastor, part-time

HiTOPS Faith Initiative

SAVE THESE DATES: October 6 and October 13 from 12 noon-1:30pm on Zoom

FOCUS ON FAITH AND GENDER: Sponsored by RCHP Care Committee and HiTops Faith Initiative

ALL ARE WELCOME! Sign up for Zoom Link with church secretary, Lisa Berman, reformedchurchhp@gmail.com.

The HiTOPS Faith Initiative seeks to build affirming spaces within faith communities for LGBTQ+ youth and their families. We invite you to participate in a two-part series on October 6 and 13 that focuses on gender and sexuality and addresses theological concepts and scriptural references often used against members of the LGBTQ+ community. We also provide stories we’ve collected that share people’s lived experiences within faith communities. The Faith Initiative series creates a non-judgmental space with opportunities for questions, concrete examples of welcoming congregations, and enhances your journey of becoming an affirming community.

This training will be facilitated by Deborah Jodrey and Thomas Foley. Deborah Jodrey (she/her) is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and has been consulting with HiTOPS for over a year developing and piloting this training. Deborah also works as a Director of Faith Formation at a congregation in PA and is passionate about creating spaces of belonging within faith 

communities. Thomas (he/they) is the Senior Education Manager at HiTOPS and is a former classroom teacher, a certified school counselor, and a licensed therapist. He is working toward his PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision and has a considerable amount of experience researching and working with youth, particularly with queer and trans youth.  

Robin Suydam, a member of the Regional Synod, is a board member at Creation Justice Ministries as a representative of the RCA. There are many resources available on their website.

Hello Regional Synod of the Mid-Atlantics!

I’d like to share with you the following resources and info from Creation Justice Ministries. As you know I sit on the board of CJM as a representative of the RCA. Each month they offer resources to be shared with our church networks. I will be attending CJM’s October board meeting in Washington DC and participating in their 40^th Anniversary Celebration while there. I’m grateful to the RCA for allowing me to represent us in this important work.

Sincerely,

Robin