Quick Notes for September 6, 2023

All past job postings have been cleared. Please resend any current postings. Note the new section just below for new job postings.


OUR EMAILS ARE FULL OF USEFUL INFORMATION, PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO CHURCH FRIENDS SO THAT THEY CAN SUBSCRIBE USING THE FORM TO THE RIGHT HERE, JUST CLICK ON IT AND SEND THEM THE LINK.
JOB POSTINGS

Grace Reformed Church, Edison NJ (posted August 25, 2023), Pastor, part-time
Dismantling racism and becoming a Revelations 7:9 "After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands" church has been lifted up as a priority of the RCA.

For 3 years, the Dismantling Racism Prayer Gathering has been led by the spirit for a deeper understanding of racism. We have prayed over our history, our testimonies, our hurts and vulnerabilities, our ignorance and privilege. We have felt the deep soul filled RUACH of the Holy Spirit as we have witnessed change, connection with each other in a multi racial prayer group.

Tuesday, September 12th, we begin our 4th year of learning, connecting, discussion and most importantly, prayer to move over the oppression of racism in our lives, our communities and our CHURCH, 1:30 to 2:30PM.


Pastor Joanne
#sheiscalled

Rev Dr Joanne Van Sant
Pastor
Friends to Friends Community Church
303 Prospect Street Ridgewood NJ 07450
201.652.3952

Chaplain 
Hope Christian Services
Wyckoff NJ
THE REFORMED CHURCH HOME GOLF CLASSIC: SEPTEMBER 12
(click on the image below for the full brochure)
DOES YOUR CONGREGATION WANT TO EXPLORE REPURPOSING SPACE FOR HOUSING?

Family Promise is hosting two meetings in our region on SEPTEMBER 14 with experienced consultants who can discuss options being undertaken around the country to repurpose church space in support of transitional and affordable housing.
 
12:00 noon, at Central Presbyterian Church, 70 Maple Street, Summit, 07901

5:30 at Shiloh Baptist Church, 515 W. 4th St, Plainfield

Geleen G. Donovan ~ Executive Director
Family Promise Union County
402 Union Avenue, Elizabeth NJ 07208
o: (908) 289-7300, ext. 11 ~ c: (908) 391-7959
Save the date… Because it’s going to be a GREAT event, filled with fun for the whole family! 
Saturday, September 30
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Drop in any time. Completely FREE event.
Free demonstrations, games, horse and wagon rides, Colonial dancing, church tours, and refreshments. Join us as we celebrate our historic Colonial roots and the church’s 255th year.
WARWICK PAINTING

"I return to Warwick, New York from Sept 8 to around OCT 20 to do more painting at the Warwick Center. During my career I have led hundreds of volunteer groups through out the Americas to both help struggling and often minority churches fix up their church buildings and following disasters like hurricanes and tornados help people rebuild their lives. 

I have need for volunteers to help paint the Warwick Center, a project I've been doing since 1995. The courtyard of the Warwick Center needs to be scraped, sanded and painted pretty badly. It is not high work. At most ten feet off the ground and much of it from the ground. In return the Warwick Center, a significant ecumenical retreat center, though owned by The Reformed Church eastern Synods, will give you free room and board. It is my task, if you haven't painted much, to teach you how to the job. It is a skill you can take home and paint your own home or church. I do all the high work unless a volunteer is a trades person used to working at heights.

The Warwick Center is located on a 460 acre tract of woods, fields with walking trails. It has a swimming pool. The food is very good for a church camp. There are churches of many denominations in Warwick which has a great shopping area downtown that draws folks from all over. It is an old historic village maybe four miles from the Center. The rooms are motel style with AC. Your volunteer expenses are tax deductible for travel and whatever. Please use clothes you don't mind getting paint on. I also need volunteers who can do concrete tasks.

If you would like to volunteer please phone 845-986-1164 and ask for Al or a secretary. Give them the dates you would like to volunteer and they will reserve you a room. Most rooms have queen sized beds for couples and some rooms for singles. Rooms have baths with showers.

Warwick is a beautiful place of dairy farms and apple orchards. It is rolling hills and in Oct becomes beautiful with the leaves changing color. For those from Penna the easiest access if by way of Scranton to Port Jervis. Warwick is 6 miles North of the New Jersey border and South of Middletown some 20 miles using routes 17A and 94 together and split at third Warwick red light staying on 94 South to towards NJ. Days tend to be cool to warm (Occasionally hot) and cool evenings. It has some elevation. On clear nights the stars are amazing.

Let me know if you would like to help or need more information.

Have a great day and hope to see you.

Peace, Paul"

Rev. Beth Scribenski passes along this information in the Classis Delaware-Raritan Summer Newsletter. Used with permission.

Update on Federal Financial Assistance 
ongoing from Pandemic 

Thank you Rev. Liz Estes for this information! 

During the pandemic, many churches applied for the federal program called Payroll Protection Program or PPP. We applied for two rounds of loans based on a few months of salaries that we paid. Then, we applied for the loans to be forgiven, and we received loan forgiveness, aka free money that tied many churches over through the lean pandemic years. PPP is no longer in effect. 

After PPP phased out, people were buzzing about a new program, The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is a stimulus program designed to help businesses that were able to retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was signed into law on March 27, 2020, as part of the CARES Act.

Established by the CARES Act, ERC is a refundable tax credit – a grant, not a loan – that you can claim for your business. The ERC is available to both small and mid-sized businesses. It is based on qualified wages and healthcare paid to employees. The IMPORTANT thing for churches to know is that when President Biden took office, he changed the rules for ERC. 

Initially churches were excluded from this program. Many elders, treasurers, and pastors inquired about the ERC program and their accountants told them definitively, “NO! Churches and non-profits do not qualify.” Sadly, many accounting experts may not know that the rules CHANGED. 

At Old Dutch Church in Kingston, our congregant Lisa Dudley has helped our church (Old Dutch received over $100K) and local non-profits (People’s Place, a support center and food pantry in Kingston, received more than $200K). Lisa works for a company called ERC Specialists, one of a large cottage industry that helps groups apply for ERC. Lisa’s company ERC Specialists take only a 15% cut, one of the lowest in the industry. I urge you to call Lisa (she is happy to travel to NJ, only 2 hours away) or find another consulting group and apply for ERC today. Text Lisa at 845-464-9024. She works best by voice calls or Zoom. Lisa is very involved at Old Dutch and I personally stand by her service and integrity. 

For more information, Read this Forbes article. 

ALSO, A RECOMMENDED TALK ABOUT SEVEN KINDS OF REST (AS WE CLOSE OUT THE SUMMER MONTHS)
CHATGPT IS FOR YOU!

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence platform that generates text based on prompts. So for instance, you might ask it (as I did in December) for ideas for "a protestant sermon on Christmas Eve." Using this platform as a writing partner is very interesting and something you should explore. Let me know if you'd like an introduction!
We are in need of many food items this month.
Cereals, pancake mixes and syrup, oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly, coffee, fruit juice, mac and cheese, pasta and sauce. Mayo,
small bottles of vegetable oil. We quietly feed area families in need each month and are hoping for your support.
"I was hungry and you gave me something to eat"~Matt 25:35

Greetings!
The Church Multiplication Team has contracted with MissionInsite (see link at top) for one year. Any RCA church can request an analysis of their context. They can receive 3 different responses.  Churches may search by zip code or by street boundaries or by another geographic description.  

They will get data regarding Beliefs about God, Beliefs about Jesus, Beliefs about Moral and Spiritual Values, Faith and Religious Involvement in their context. They also get an Executive report about demographics.  They can contact me aletashepler@gmail.com for assistance.  

Peace and Grace, 
Aleta Shepler 
Church Multiplication Committee RSMAT 
ARE YOU INTERESTED IN IMPROVING YOUR TECHNOLOGY USE!

Would you like to:
Discuss church software for managing member information and online donations?
Learn to use email newsletters to keep members informed?
Rework your website to a more modern look?
Create online forms for people to register for events and provide feedback?
Create online visual databases like the livestream example above?
Take your livestream to the next level?
Develop a social media plan and a team to implement it?

REPLY TO THIS EMAIL AS WE FORM LEARNING GROUPS!


THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING CHURCHES FOR ADDING THEIR LIVESTREAM INFORMATION TO OUR ARCHIVES PAGE
Wyckoff Reformed
Three Bridges Reformed
Ocean Community, Mahahawkin
Parkside Community
RSMAT churches are livestreaming and maintaining recorded service archives. This presents us with a unique opportunity to learn from each other and celebrate the amazing gifts in our community! Please use this webform to provide us with your church livestream link and a link to your recorded services archive. We will make a single page view available of all of this information so that you can visit around and get inspired!
Are you using a VR headset and exploring how virtual reality might be used in ministry? Let's have a conversation!
MURAL and other online whiteboards provide a way to add more interaction to zoom meetings. Let me know if you want to explore this further.
GATHER TOWN is a fun way to add some social involvment to your online options.
DO YOU HAVE AN EXAMPLE OF ADAPTING AND INNOVATING TO SHARE FOR INSPIRATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT? SEND IT TO US!
NJ CONGREGATIONAL CENTER FOR CANCER CARE
We have created an online gathering of all of the newsletters of the program. Find help for those facing cancer.
CHURCH BASED MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTERS ARCHIVE
We've created an online gathering of all of the newsletters the program has sent out during COVID. Very helpful insights to pass along to your congregations!
The information and materials that appear in the email newsletter, facebook page or on the Website of the Regional Synod of the Mid-Atlantics of the Reformed Church in America ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE OPINION OF THE REGIONAL SYNOD OF THE MID-ATLANTICS OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA, NOR ARE SUCH NECESSARILY ENDORSED BY THE REGIONAL SYNOD. THE ACCURACY AND VALIDITY OF THE INFORMATION IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PROVIDER OR AUTHOR.
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