You're Invited To Join Us May 16 for a

Joint Gathering of Our Presbyteries

REQUEST: To help us plan for lunch, please RSVP by emailing Lorrie Cooney at ljcooney1@gmail.com and include your name and the church you are affiliated with.

Members and friends of the Presbyteries of Cayuga-Syracuse and Susquehanna Valley are warmly invited to a joint gathering on Saturday, May 16, at First Presbyterian Church of Cazenovia. This special event is designed as a time of fellowship, conversation and learning as we come together across our presbyteries.

The gathering will run from 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with doors opening at 10:30 a.m. for registration and informal conversation. All members of both presbyteries are encouraged to attend -- come one, come all!

The day will offer opportunities to build new friendships, learn more about one another’s ministries and share ideas and questions about the life of our presbyteries. Participants will also hear about the recent merger between the Lehigh and Lackawanna Presbyteries, offering insight and perspective that may help inform conversations within our own region.

This gathering is sponsored by the Focus & Coordination Team, and lunch will be provided. A $5 donation per person is welcomed to help offset the cost of the meal.

To help us plan for lunch, please RSVP by emailing Lorrie Cooney at ljcooney1@gmail.com and include your name and the church you are affiliated with.



Your presence and voice are important. We hope you will join us for this meaningful time of connection and shared conversation.

Attention Churches: Download bulletin to invite your members.

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You're invited to an online discussion with Lead Presbyter Greg Garis

April 23rd & April 30th at 3 p.m.

Dear Friends,

You are invited to join an online discussion with Lead Presbyter Greg Garis as we explore Gil Rendle’s timely monograph, Re-imaging and Re-mapping the Religious Landscape: Chaos Before a New Ordering. Rendle offers a compelling framework for understanding the profound shifts taking place in the church today, helping us see our ministry challenges through a fresh and hopeful lens.

We will meet on Zoom at 3:00 PM on April 23 and April 30.

Whether you’ve read 10 pages or the entire monograph, you are welcome. Your presence and perspective will enrich the conversation. This discussion will be valuable both personally and pastorally as we seek to understand our ministry contexts within this rapidly changing religious landscape. Together, we’ll reflect on how congregations can navigate seasons of disruption, imagine new possibilities, and discern faithful next steps.

Dates:

•   Thursday, April 23 at 3:00 PM (discussion on pages 1-37)

•   Thursday, April 30 at 3:00 PM (discussion on pages 38-66)

Location: Zoom

Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88591757613?pwd=DEUndrYhnUiTN9sKSpC5bwnHZvVEF3.1

We hope you will join us for this thoughtful and energizing conversation.

Download Monograph

A message from Lead Presbyter Rev. Greg Garis and Assistant to the Lead Presbyter Rev. Mary Anderson:

Dear Friends,

Now that Holy Week and Easter are behind us, we hope you’re finding a moment to breathe.

Clergy are invited to join a clergy gathering on:

Tuesday, April 28 at 10:00 AM

Liverpool Presbyterian Church

603 Tulip Street, Liverpool, NY 13088

This will be a simple, welcoming time to get to know one another better and to explore how we might restart clergy cluster groups and develop other types of gatherings that would be genuinely helpful and supportive for our ministries. A short survey is included to help us understand what would serve you best.

Please RSVP to Mary Anderson if you’re able to attend.

asst.presbyter@gmail.com

We look forward to being together.

Grace and peace,

Greg & Mary

Got Church Trivia? We Want It!

Help Make Our “Get to Know Our Presbyteries” Trivia Game a Success

At our May 16 Presbytery Gathering, we’re setting aside time for connection and relationship-building with a fun “Get to Know Our Presbyteries” Trivia Game and we need your help to make it great!



We’re looking for fun, unique, and little-known facts about your church or presbytery. These could be interesting historical details from your archives, memorable stories, amusing anecdotes, or present-day trivia that others might not know.

We’ve already gathered a few great stories and are excited to share them, but we need more trivia to make the game a success!

Take a few minutes to gather your church’s hidden gems and surprising facts and send them in.

Submit your trivia to: Lorrie Cooney at ljcooney1@gmail.com



If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We can’t wait to see what stories you share!

In partnership with Dubuque Theological Seminary, the Synod is launching a Commissioned Pastor (CRE) Training Program designed to cultivate strong, accessible, and unified preparation for Ruling Elders call to pastoral leaders across our region.

This initiative reflects a shared commitment to developing a cohesive, Synod-wide model that:

• Expands equitable access to theological and pastoral education
• Strengthens leadership pipelines for small, rural, immigrant, and under-resourced congregations
• Supports ruling elders who are discerning a call to commissioned pastoral service
• Provides mid councils with consistent, high-quality preparation for CREs and the congregations they serve
• 
  

Together, this program seeks to deepen leadership capacity across the Synod while ensuring that all communities -- regardless of size or context -- have access to well-prepared pastoral leadership.

Ready to apply? Complete your cohort application here.

Call to Moral Clarity on Donald Trump’s Threats of Civilizational Erasure

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

April 7, 2026

When on April 7, 2026, Donald Trump suggested he might use military violence to erase Iranian civilization, he was threatening to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity that would, if executed, make the current American president among the most evil and cruel world leaders in human history, placing him in the company of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Mao Tsedung. This threat of civilizational annihilation comes after a long list of similar, often apocalyptic pronouncements from the President and his administration, all of which have put the United States on a path of infamy and unimaginable criminality.

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship calls upon the Presbyterian Church (USA), its councils and congregations, to denounce Donald Trump and to condemn the ongoing war on Iran with prophetic clarity and spiritual tenacity, risking everything—including our tax-exempt status and the membership of our congregations—to denounce the current American President’s unprovoked war on Iran, which already has taken the lives of thousands of people–including orphans and schoolchildren–as antithetical to the claims of the gospel, and contrary to the loving kindness, compassion, grace, forgiveness, and peace that abide at the foundations of our faith.

But it is not enough for American Presbyterians to name and condemn the sinful violence emanating from Washington. We who are citizens of the United States must also acknowledge that for too long we have put our trust in the weapons of war. Often with the support of Presbyterian theologians, leaders, and institutions, we have allowed ourselves to believe the United States needs a robust military to stand against godless tyranny and totalitarianism. Confident in this misguided belief in the capacity of violence to save and protect us, we have built the most powerfully violent military ever amassed and we have given control of that unimaginably destructive capacity to Donald Trump, who is now threatening to use American military violence (including, we must assume, nuclear weapons) to destroy Iranian civilization.

For this the American people—including American Presbyterians—must repent. 



Finally, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship calls upon the political establishment in Washington to show the courage necessary to end the war in Iran—removing the President from office if that is what it takes—even if such principled courage puts the power, prestige, and political careers of individual politicians at risk. Now is a time for action.

In the name of all that is holy, Every effort must be made to ensure the President's threats of unimaginable war crimes to not come to fruition.



This statement was written by Ben Daniel on behalf of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Peace Church Working Group.

This webinar will address how the US administration is embracing Christian Zionism and “end time” theology to justify unconditional support for Israel and unprovoked war against Iran.

Some Americans have referred to what it is doing in Iran as the US’s “Holy War”. Mike Huckebee, the US’s Ambassador to Israel, remarked in February that it would be fine if Israel took control of land that would include a huge swathe of the Middle East. Such positions come from an interpretation of Bible verses identified as Christian Zionism.

During this hour-long webinar, Stephen Sizer will provide a summary about Christian Zionist beliefs. He will be followed by Michael Spath who will unpack how Christian Zionist theology has influenced US foreign policy and how US churches are responding to it.

Register now!

On this month’s Community Call, Christians for a Free Palestine will dive into the dangerous combination of U.S. militarism and Christian Zionism and its effects on Iran, Palestine, and the whole world. You will hear from military defectors and movement leaders about what this moment calls us as Christians to do and we’ll share about CFP’s ongoing work countering Christian Zionism, including this summer’s Interfaith Action for Palestine.

Register here!

As Presbyterians, we know that real peace and security in a violent world only come as nations ground themselves in God’s reconciliation in Jesus Christ and pursue the practical politics of cooperation and international understanding (Confession of 1967, 9.45b). A decade and a half ago, we lamented that the “base funding of the Department of Defense [was] more than 10 times that of the State Department and USAID.” (Human Rights Update, 220th GA, 2012) The Pentagon’s current budget request instead risks further violence and suffering, condemning “a growing number of people to lives of poverty or fear” by “bankrupting the U.S. economy and creating additional structural violence or oppression.” (“Risking Peace in a Violent World: Five New Peacemaking Affirmations—From the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy 222nd GA, 2016)

Reject the Pentagon’s Runaway Budget Requests

Attention Pastors, Members of Personnel and Finance Committees:

Below is a message from the Rev. Luke Choi, Church Consultant for the Synod of the Covenant, Western New York presbyteries, Korean American presbyteries, and KPCA

Greetings,

By now, you’ve probably received an invitation to the Benefits Regional Summit events held in various cities across the country from the Board of Pensions. Since none of these locations are within a reasonable driving distance from you, I’ve decided to host our own condensed version of the Benefits Regional Summit virtually in partnership with the Presbyteries of Cayuga-Syracuse, Geneva, and Susquehanna Valley.

So, join us for this informative virtual town hall, through which I hope to provide important updates and insights into the Benefits Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and related programs offered by the Board of Pensions to you the pastoral leaders and the congregational benefits decision-makers.

2026 Virtual Benefits Summit for Cayuga-Syracuse/Geneva/Susquehanna Valley

Thursday, April 23, 2026

10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

Please Register in advance for this meeting

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Among the topics you will hear about are:

•   Medical Plan cost trends and changes in the healthcare system
•   Dues package subsidies that would ease financial burdens for congregations, pastors, and their families
•   Plans and programs that support those who serve the Church, including Assistance Program enhancements such as the new Child Care Support

You will also have the opportunity to ask questions.

Wishing God’s best for you,

Luke