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872nd Gathering Meal
"7" Middle School Retreat
Called to Lead: Fall Trip to Guatemala for Women
Havenwood PC Seeks an Organist and Music Director
Chestnut Grove Seeks a Director of Christian Education
"We Preach," book by the Rev. Stephen Melton, Churchville PC
Concert Across America to End Gun Violence
Gulf Floods & California Wildfires
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Committee and Commission meetings will be held at the Presbytery's office (unless noted otherwise.)
The Steering Cabinet
will meet at 1pm on Wednesday, Aug 24.
Interim Pastors will meet on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at noon
Ministry Group Conveners will meet on Wednesday, Sept. 7 at noon
Trustees will meet on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 10am
The Cuba Partnership
will next meet at 2pm on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at Hunting Ridge PC.
In The Loop Ministry Group
will host its annual
Mission Summit
from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, Oct. 1 at
Cherry Hill Community Presbyterian Church
.
Susquehanna Parish Ministry Group will host a Leadership Training Workshop from 9am to 2pm on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the First Presbyterian Church of Bel Air.
All Ministry Groups are encouraged to meet at a specific time set aside at the next Gathering at 9:30am on Thursday, Sept. 15 at First Presbyterian Church of Bel Air.
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Thank you to the following congregations who have pledged toward Our Shared Ministry 2016. At this date, the Presbytery has received $184,599 in pledges. Just $40,401 short of our budget goal of $225,000.
Ark & Dove
Barrelville
Brown Mem'l Park Avenue
Brown Mem'l Woodbrook
Catonsville
Central
Cherry Hill Community
Christ Our King
Churchville
Covenant
Dickey Memorial
Faith
Fallston
First & Franklin
1st of Annapolis
1st of Bel Air
1st of Cumberland
1st of Howard Co.
Franklinville
Frederick
Good Shepherd
Govans
Granite
Grove
Hagerstown
Havre de Grace
Hunting Ridge
Kenwood
Light Street
Maryland
Mount Paran
Northminster
Prince of Peace
Roland Park
Second
Springfield
St. John United
Towson
Woods Mem'l
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Please keep
TE
Eric Myers (Frederick PC) and his family in your prayers as they mourn the death of his mother, Donna Jeanne Myers, 86, who died Sunday in Hopewell, Va. A
Memorial service will be held there on Friday.
******
And, please pray for the family of
RE Andre Lee
, (a member of the Presbytery's Personnel Committee), whose father
Robert Lee, 90, died Aug. 14 of lung cancer at Gilchrist Hospice. A funeral service was held Saturday at Trinity PC.
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The Presbytery of Baltimore will --
for a limited time -- offer its member congregations an unique opportunity to
purchase licenses for
premier software at
significantly reduced prices through its affiliation with
TechSoup, a non-profit computer software organization.
Licenses for
five categories of software are available. They include:
Microsoft Office,
Adobe,
Intuit,
Symantec and
Citrix. Purchases for some software is limited. A
ll orders must be submitted online and paid for by check by August 31, 2016.
To learn more, click
Church Software
.
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The Importance of Congregation in the  Spiritual Life of Youth
by Derek Atkins
If all the recent articles, books, blogs and statistical studies are right, around two-thirds of the teens in our congregations are going to disconnect with the life of the church, and maybe even their Christian faith, as they make their way through their teens and into their twenties. A majority of them will do so after leaving the comforts of youth ministry behind and stepping out into the real world. With each new study of this young adult exodus comes the same verdict: the faith we are trying to form and the ties to the church we are trying to establish in our children and teens aren't surviving the transition from our Sunday school classrooms and youth group programs to the realities of everyday life.
Churches can be far too quick to hand off the hard work of building relationships with our younger generations to the experts -- the energetic Sunday School volunteers, the hip new youth pastor, the cool youth group leaders, the veteran catechism teacher, or the local para-church organization. When we choose to take this route and then ignore the crucial role that the congregation plays in faith formation, we are failing to take seriously the promises we made to our children (and their families) at baptism. For it is at baptism that we join our voices in communal promises to guide and nurture, uphold and support, and love and encourage each child as he or she grows. These are everyday promises.
For many teens, it's not just the support they get during the big transitions of life that shapes who they are and what becomes of their faith, but rather it's the support they experience in the day-to-day transitions of adolescent life. Our first priority should be to keep the promises we make at baptism and build lasting and loving relationships that nurture the faith and support the growth of every child and young person in our congregations. The more we are involved in the lives of the children and teenagers in our churches from the first cry to the first car and beyond, the less likely we will be to lose them in transition.
Helping our congregations build lasting relationships with our younger generations early and often is no small task. It entails a congregational willingness to share meals, experiences and stories across families and generations. It means showing up for events at schools, soccer fields, concert halls and local theatres to cheer on children and teens that aren't our own. It means eating and shopping where the teens on our congregations work. It means taking a few extra minutes to lean over the pew in front of you and talk with that teenager who has been sitting there since he was a little boy. It entails a collective readiness to wade into the messiness of teenage life, right alongside the "experts."
It's not easy work, but it's what we are called to do. It's what we promise to do. And it's what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do.
Derek Atkins is a project manager for the Christian Reformed Church in North America. He lives in
Grand Rapids, MI with his wife, Keri, and their two daughters. T
his article was originally entitled "Lost in Transition," and was published in its entirety on Apr. 1, 2014 in Advocacy, a blog for the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. It was republished in Tidings with the permission of the author.
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Presbytery
. . . and the Wider Church
Faith Presbyterian Church
will host a free showing of
"The Lego Movie"
at 8pm on Friday, Aug. 26
on its south lawn
. Click
Movie Night
for details.
Havenwood Presbyterian Church in Lutherville, MD has an i
mmediate opening for a part-time Organist and Music Director. This is an exciting opportunity available to a qualified candidate
who can coordinate music for our diverse music ministry.
Interested applicants should email their resume to
Havenwoodsearch@gmail.com
.
Chestnut Grove Presbyterian Church (Phoenix, MD) seeks a part-time (20 hours)
Director of Christian Education and Spiritual Formation. Candidates should email a resume and cover letter to committee chair
Robin Znamirowski, A full job-description is available by clicking
Chestnut Grove.
Other
Does a concert have the power to change the course of gun violence legislation? Probably not.
Can thousands of people raise awareness about gun violence in an impactful way just weeks before an election? You bet we can! Join us for the Concert Across America to End Gun Violence on Sept. 25.
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GULF FLOODS & CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES
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A photo from the front door security camera at the Presbytery of South Louisiana shows several inches of standing water.
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Since Aug. 11, regions of Louisiana and Mississippi along the
Gulf Coast have experienced 10-20 inches of rain. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that there were six fatalities, over 8,000 people in shelters and over 10,000 residential and commercial structures affected. The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has offered assistance to the presbyteries of South Louisiana and Mississippi. If your congregation would like to contribute much needed financial support, please make your checks payable to the Presbytery of Baltimore and write
DR000191 in the memo line.
Meanwhile . . . The Western U.S. is experiencing several wildfires and is at risk of more. PDA has offered assistance to the presbyteries of Los Ranchos, San Fernando, San Diego, San Gabriel, The Pacific, Santa Fe, Utah and San Joaquin. In this crisis, too, PDA has deployed emergency personnel to areas impacted by the wildfires. Contributions to
US-WildFires
should be made payable to the Presbytery of Baltimore, and
DR000165
must be written on the memo line of the check. Here are other ways you can help. . . GIVE! ACT! PRAY!
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