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The weekly newsletter from the
Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys
June 19, 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 June 23-29
First Presbyterian Church of Luverne
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CHURCH STAFF:
PASTOR: Rev. Dr. Jason Cunningham
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR: Becky Sehr
CUSTODIAN: Renee Sawtelle
MUSIC DIRECTOR: Barb Antoine
ORGANISTS: Betty Mann, Denice Dirks, Diane Boyenga, Colleen Cragoe
HEAD USHER: Pat Weerheim
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Annalisa Cunningham
CLERK OF SESSION: Gayle Stegemann
FINANCIAL SECRETARIES: Gloria Rust and Shirley Christianson
SESSION: Larry Frey, Brett Miller, Brenda Wessels, Staci Zwaan, Graham Cunningham (Youth elder), Greg Antoine, Paul Boyenga, Erin Sandstede, Louella Voigt, Denice Dirks, Tamie Hoff, Bill Stegemann, Craig Stegenga
DEACONS: Carol Boelman, Marcia Essman, Katie Hemme, Signe Underwood, Sarah DeBeer, Ruth Stoakes, Justin VanMaanen, Gloria Rust, Evan Verbrugge, Gabbi Miller (Youth deacon)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- The many area farmers who have been battling the weather all spring
- Several church members battling health issues or illnesses
- Safe travels for people taking vacations or visiting family
- For our Presbytery and the ministry we share in Minnesota Valleys
UPCOMING EVENTS:
- Prison Chaplain Harlan Moss will be visiting the congregation on June 30th
- Three of our youth will attend Presbyterian Youth Triennium
- Vacation Bible School in July
- The annual PW Salad Luncheon will be July 18th (Funds are raised for Mission Projects)
- Church Picnic July 31st
- Youth Mission trip to Missouri in August
- Annual Outdoor Worship Service on August 25th
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Karen Lange will be out of the office on Friday, June 28.
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PWP Spring Gathering at Faith Presbyterian in Silver Lake
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The Minnesota Valleys Spring Gathering was held at Faith Presbyterian Church in Silver Lake on Tuesday, June 4. The Litchfield PW provided snacks for the morning coffee. Faith PW served a delicious salad luncheon at noon.The gathering began with the lighting of the Christ Candle by PW PMV Moderator Gloria Rust. The 49 attendees received a warm welcome from the Silver Lake PW Moderator Nancy Krcil and Faith's Pastor Murphy Ashley, Jr. Devotions were given by Betty Thorson, and the PW Purpose was recited by all. An introduction to next year's Horizon Bible Study,
Love Carved in Stone, was given by Peg Fortmann.
Jody Olson and Dede Burlingame of the Canby PW showed some of the items they had available for sale from SERRV, which provides fair markets for products made by cooperatives in developing countries around the world. A skit was performed about the Synod Gathering to be held in Ames, Iowa June 20-23, 2019.
Our speaker for the day was Louella Voigt from the First Presbyterian Church of Luverne. She and her husband Phil had attended a seminar on "Faith and Addiction" in Minneapolis last fall. There were nationally recognized speakers at the conference, which dealt with the positive effect faith can have in recovery from addiction. In many congregations, silence toward the problem of addiction contributes to relapses for the addict.
Cindy Boesch, Jean Bauer and Kathy Tersptra attended the PW Churchwide Gathering in Louisville, KY, August 2-5 and reported on their experiences. There were workshops, meetings, worship, and plenary sessions. Kathy is also the representative from the Church's Mission Board to PW. She reported on several upcoming events. The next Churchwide Gathering of PW will be held August 5-8, 2021 in St. Louis, MO.
Installation of Officers was led by Iris Stevens. Those installed were Moderator Gloria Rust, Vice-moderator Lori Klooster, Treasurer Darlene O'Neil, Secretary Peg Fortmann, Communications/Contact person Iris Stevens, Missions/Issues Committee: Linda Gulden and Phyliss Imlay, and Search Committee: Lois Bruns, Betty Thorson, Arlyss Engelson and Peach Ritter, all for one year.
There was a drawing for a one-year subscription to Horizon Magazine for anyone that did not currently have a subscription. Judy Rosenberg, Ellsworth, was the winner.
The day ended with prayer and all singing
God Be With You until We Meet Again.
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Two new resources are available for your review, the most recent webinar on Leadership and Resiliency and PNC Training.
June 4 - Resiliency: Building Spiritual Fortitude by Laurie Ferguson
LINK
April 4 - PNC Training by SanDawna Ashley
LINK
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Church Leadership Connection to get an overhaul
New data system to enhance pastor/church matches
Rick Jones | Office of the General Assembly - June 10, 2019
For years, churches seeking pastors and pastors seeking churches have relied on the Church Leadership Connection (CLC) to make that happen. The computer database and matching system allows call seekers to fill out personal information forms online and provides churches and church-related organizations with the opportunity to provide information on what they seek in a pastor or staff member.
Jihyun Oh, manager for call process support for the Office of the General Assembly, says plans are underway for a complete overhaul of the data system.
“CLC is a 90s era program and there are a lot of limitations to it. Some of it is a user interface issue and people have a hard time using it,” said Oh. “It was designed for a time when our denomination looked different. It doesn’t offer us the flexibility that we need, especially given the flexible form of government that we have now.”
Over the past 20 years, church polity and the landscape of the denomination have changed and Oh says it’s time to catch up.
“We’re finding lots of variations in titles and it makes sense to talk about pastoral and leadership experience differently,” she said. “In the 90s, people were going straight through college and seminary into ministry and that is not as common now. There are a variety of timelines in which people come into pastoral leadership and church professional work. We need to look at how we can paint a better picture of people’s experiences and what they offer churches and their calling.”
Oh says the Office of the General Assembly is changing the way it thinks about the call process in general to offer a better model for mid councils, congregations, ministers, and lay professionals.
“As we roll it out over the next 18 to 24 months, it will have multiple components,” she said. “The first piece will be a survey that we will send out to mid councils and pastor nominating committees that have completed their work as well as call seekers who have also completed their search, to get feedback from them.”
The survey is scheduled to go out mid-summer.
“Once we have the results, we can give a vision of what we are trying to accomplish to the developers and they will then begin the work of overhauling the CLC in late summer,” said Oh. “We hope to have the development work substantially completed by the end of summer or early fall 2020, so we can unveil it at the Mid Council Leaders Gathering in October 2020.”
Oh’s team provides matching and referrals and she hopes they can do that with more flexibility and specificity.
“Ten years ago, there were four, full-time CLC consultants within OGA and now there is only one and there are no plans to increase that number,” said Oh. “This system should sufficiently meet the users’ needs and they will not have to call the office every time they run into a problem. We just don’t have the person support in the office anymore to take the volume of calls that we get.”
Oh is hopeful the new system will have the flexibility to help women, people of color, and people over the age of 52, who have had a harder time finding a call to ministry.
“This will help us support PNCs and call seekers in the search process to find one another, and do that for mid councils. We want our backend component to be much stronger,” she said. “Our hope is that it will be a seamless, easier-to-use system where people can see what pieces are still outstanding and get their forms online. We’ll provide more features that serve a function that everyone needs.”
Plans are to increase support for more church professionals.
According to Coordinator of Technologies Vicente Guna, CLC has between 3,000 and 4,000 active users, each with multiple sessions, in any seven-day period. Over the course of the year, CLC is used by more than 13,000 users, some of whom are overseas.
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Prayer List
Rev. Araceli Itzep from the Occidente Presbytery
Sue Thompson, Clerk of Session at First Presbyterian Church, Maynard
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For Clerks of Session and Treasurers
This year, the treasurers will receive financial training from Presbytery Business Consultant Bea Ourada while the clerks of session are reading session records. So send your clerk and your treasurer (and/or anyone interested in learning more about church finance) to the following training in June:
Monday, June 24 from 4:00-6:00 at the First Presbyterian Church of Windom
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Become a Matthew 25 Church
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Members of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis get ready to clean up their community on their annual “Day of Caring.”
Photo courtesy of Northminster Presbyterian Church
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Where to begin?
There are already PC(USA) congregations that identify themselves as Matthew 25 churches. We aim to help multiply this loving commitment to radical and fearless discipleship by partnering with mid councils and congregations to help them embrace one or more of these three focuses:
- Building congregational vitality by challenging people and congregations to deepen their faith and get actively and joyfully engaged with their community and the world.
- Dismantling structural racism by advocating and acting to break down the systems, practices and thinking that underlie discrimination, bias, prejudice and oppression of people of color.
- Eradicating systemic poverty by working to change laws, policies, plans and structures in our society that perpetuate economic exploitation of people who are poor.
How can the national church help?
Our goal is to be a clearinghouse of resources, training materials, devotional and preaching aids, success stories, curricula and more — everything to help you strengthen relationships, transform your church, and bring alive your commitment to “serve the least of these” in your community and around the world.
How do we become a Matthew 25 church?
I
t’s easy! Simply pledging to become a Matthew 25 church and letting us know is the first step.
Article from the Presbyterian Mission Agency
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Counting Down to Presbyterian Youth Triennium 2019
The 2019 Presbyterian Youth Triennium is getting closer. On July 15, 60 youth and 7 adult leaders representing 14 congregations in Minnesota Valleys presbytery will board two buses to travel to the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. There they will join with thousands of youth from the Presbyterian Church USA and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for five days of worship, Bible Study, games and activities.
The congregations sending youth to the 2019 Presbyterian Youth Triennium are Blue Earth; Browns Valley; Ellsworth; Foley; Lismore; Luverne; Pipestone; Randall; Redwood Falls; Renville; St. Cloud; St. Peter; Spicer, Hope; Willmar; and Worthington. The Adult leaders this year are Jill Boeyink, Willmar; Sheila Erwin, Lismore; Amy Gasca, Renville; Mark Giese, St. Cloud; Calvin Lebakken, Foley; Shawna Seaman, St. Cloud; and Galen Smith, Worthington.
A packet of information including bus schedules and roommate assignments has been mailed to each of the registered participants from Minnesota Valleys.
Prayer
Holy God, through never ending streams of mercy, guide and protect our young people and their leaders as they attend the Presbyterian Youth Triennium. Tune their hearts to sing your praise and fill them with your wondrous grace. Transform their lives through this experience so that they may further build your Kingdom through their gifts and leadership. Through Christ, we pray. Amen.
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Join the movement of Presbyterians in Baltimore for a Big Tent like no other.
The theme, Called to a Movement beyond Institution, will emphasize our hope of the Gospel and its power to challenge institutional conventions. The goal is to come together and live in this moment, immersed in our current cultural context of racial division, gender inequality, and economic disparity to be renewed, refreshed and reformed, so that we may be sent out to affect change in our own communities. Big Tent will provide a place where our Presbyterian polity and identity is the foothold by which we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in action and answer the call to discern the will of God together.
Through worship, Bible study, learning opportunities, and active engagement with one another and the community, attendees will encounter the Church participating in God’s mission for the transformation of creation and humanity.
Organizers for this year’s Big Tent celebration have lined up the guest preachers and leaders for the three-day gathering in Baltimore this summer. The Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah will be the featured speaker at the
opening plenary
on Thursday, Aug. 1.
“Conversations are taking place about the changes that are occurring in our society, especially in terms of our demographics. Churches are experiencing change, including decline and diversity,” said Rah. “I will touch on those, but I really want to touch base on what the appropriate response to these changes should be.”
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The FPC Mankato invites whoever might be interested to hear Mission Co-Workers in August
Charles and Melissa Johnson, mission co-workers in Zambia, are visiting First Presbyterian Church of Mankato on Wednesday, August 14th. The event will be from 5:00-8:00pm. We're going to have a potluck supper and will enjoy time with Charles and Melissa as they share about God's mission happening in Zambia, how they were called into mission partnership, and how churches might hear their call into mission partnership.
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The Synod of Lakes and Prairies Presents
The Art of Transitional Leadership
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Learning Ministry Skills for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Church
Pastors, Staff, COMs and Congregational Leaders
September 16-20, 2019
Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minnesota
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Track 1: September 16-20, 2019
Whether it is a change in leadership or a changing community, leading a congregation through change is both challenging and rewarding.It takes knowledge, skill, resilience and spiritual strength to navigate the waters of change in a way that leaders and congregations thrive. This training is for individuals who are considering ministry in temporary settings (as an interim, transitional or designated pastor) or are experiencing ministry in these transitional times. Materials presented will include the basics of transitional ministry and will be of value to all congregational pastors regardless of their ministry setting. Best practices in transitional ministry include ways to enter the congregation and community, how to analyze a congregation’s strength and growing edges, and how to assist a congregation in moving toward a vibrant future. This training will delve into navigating change, the pastor as a spiritual interpreter of transition, family systems, mission focus ministry, conflict mediation, and building resiliency.
Track 2: September 18-20, 2019
Congregational leaders seeking to serve God faithfully are invited to Part Two of the Art of Transitional Ministry Event. The Wednesday–Friday training is for ruling elders, deacons, and other congregational leaders. Workshops for this group will focus on the vital role you play in collaborating with pastors to lead congregations through ministry transitions. Participants can expect to learn about core value mission planning, leadership development, congregational systems, stewardship, and creating spiritual energy in congregations.
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Save the date for Boundary Training
Tuesday, October 15 from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of Redwood Falls
Boundary Training is required for all minister/teaching elder presbytery members and commissioned ruling elders. The Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys will be holding a boundary training on Tuesday, October 15 from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Redwood Falls. The Rev. Mark Sundby from Leaderwise will be leading the boundary training. The training will focus on a holistic approach to boundaries, looking at overall resilience and well-being as the best prevention against impaired decision making and boundaries violations. More information will be coming.
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Save the Date
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Pastors’ Retreat
November 11-13, 2019
Leaning Tree Lodge
Presbyterian Clearwater Forest
16595 Crooked Lake Rd
Deerwood MN 56444
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Begins with lunch on Monday and ends before lunch on Wednesday.
Cost: $40, includes meals and lodging
Come and enjoy the fall beauty of Presbyterian Clearwater Forest and spend time with presbytery colleagues. We will reflect on the year of transformation and take a deep breath. The retreat is in the planning stages, but mark your calendars to attend.
Retreat Speaker Rev. Jennifer Hope Kottler is a spiritual director/certified life and leadership coach and yoga teacher in private practice in Florence, SC. An ordained pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with standing in the United Church of Christ, Jen serves clergy and lay leaders who want to deepen their own spirituality and lead their communities with intentionality and grace. Jen facilitates retreats and events for congregations, non-profit organizations, and church leaders. In all her work, Jen incorporates ancient spiritual practices with modern techniques including Energy Leadership Coaching and Conversational Intelligence®. Jen is married to Rev. Gavin Meek, Transitional Executive Presbyter and Stated Clerk in New Harmony Presbytery (NE South Carolina) and she enjoys hiking, tennis, cooking for family and friends, and traveling with Gavin.
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Church Staff: Schedule a Day with Karen
Associate for Administration Karen Lange is available to spend a day with church office folks to share tips on setting up bulletins, newsletters, making a Facebook page or to help with any general questions. The cost is Karen’s mileage to and from the church plus providing lunch. Please email
Karen
to schedule.
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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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