Practicing
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1: 2-7)
In Paul’s letter to Philippi, the people are greeted, thanked, prayed for, and commended for collaboration in practicing their faith. At the same time, Paul offers a challenge to “keep up the good work!” They are told to practice, practice, and practice some more, so we may “live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ (1:27).”
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, Outliers, wrote how practice leads to a successful life. As people of faith, we say it leads to a fruitful life. Gladwell said, “Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.” Practicing anything in the middle of a pandemic can be a challenge and an opportunity. Practice done well includes a few missteps, falls/failures, and bruises. Moving through each day, applying new ways to lead worship, teach, provide care, and call for justice is faithful practice. We know that with practice comes weariness, and with continued practice comes confidence and strength. “Pushing to what is next builds resilience. Learning how to practice is essential to moving through, because it is the discipline of practice itself that allows you to take what happens to you, integrate it into your experience, and then act again.”[i]
Foothills Presbytery is practicing new ways of collaborating with our churches and leaders. With each new practice there are challenges and opportunities. We are learning, growing, making new connections, and participating in God's work in the world. In the next few weeks there are new opportunities for ministers, educators, and church leaders. The practices of the past eight weeks have provided much news to share.
After our Coordinating Council published a statement on racial injustice, they unanimously approved a recommendation to form an Anti-Racism Ministry Team (ARMT). The team will develop and recommend policy changes to Council policy that will better reflect our commitment to anti-racism, engage in conversation,
and provide education, and action that leads to the development of anti-racist policies and practices in our congregations and the local communities to whom we bear witness. The ARMT will collaborate with presbytery committees to pursue the goals of anti-racism in the scope of their work, and find ways to explore our sociology, anthropology, and theology in light of the work of anti-racism. To read more about the practices of the last couple of months, click here.
These times are daunting and hold immense potential for our lives and values to be transformed by God’s generosity and grace.
Gratefully,
|
|
Rev. Deborah G. Foster
Presbytery Leader & Stated Clerk
|
|
COVID RESOURCE
The Presbytery of Cincinnati’s interim general presbyter, Lisa Allgood, is also an immunocytochemist. Lisa has been generously sharing her expertise about viruses, vaccines, and public health with her colleagues in mid council ministry during AMCL Zoom conversations. The Presbyteries of Boston and Northern New England have posted Lisa’s excellent presentation (below) to them. Bottom line: CAUTION!
|
|
Click HERE for a list of important resources, updated weekly, or click below to go directly to one of our resource pages.
|
|
Foothills Nominations Committee is currently accepting nominations:
The Nominating Committee prepares slates of new officers to present at our November Presbytery Meeting each year. We solicit suggestions for elders and pastors from you, our member churches.
The Foothills Nominating Committee seeks from among the diverse membership of the Foothills PC(USA) the applications for those of you who feel called to serve in elected membership to our boards, commissions, and committees – of Foothills Presbytery.
Brief descriptions for each committee can be found on the Nominations Committee Suggestions Form. Most officers serve three-year terms and typically meet once a month. You do not have to make a suggestion for each committee.
Please contact LeAnne White BEFORE September 8 if you or an elder you suggest is willing to serve. Thank you!
|
|
Create a meaningful Advent plan for your ministry setting
Have you started
planning Advent?
Foothills Presbytery is offering a 5-week Cohort experience to help you design Advent for 2020.
Each cohort of 8-10 participants will meet for 5 weeks during October creating tangible plans for the season of Advent. Cohort will determine best day and time for meetings.
Each participant will come away with an individualized plan for Advent based on their ministry setting. The plans may include virtual, in-person, or hybrid worship as well as educational components. The experience also includes a 1:1 coaching with a Ministry Architects consultant.The total cost of this Continuing Education Cohort is $430 per person. Recognizing the financial burdens that some churches are facing at this time, Foothills Presbytery is pleased to offer investment option pricing for those interested.
-
Green Option– Name your price! Does your church have extra money for continuing education? Any amount above $430 will help support someone else.
-
Blue Option– $430 (This option covers the full price of the program)
-
Red Option– $250 (This option provides a discount for those who may not have as much in their 2020 continuing education budget)
-
Purple Option– $50 (This option provides a deep discount for churches that are facing significant financial burdens)
|
|
Christi O. Brown race relations information |
|
Invite a Presbyterian Co-Worker for a
Virtual Visit With Your Church
Staying connected in God’s mission during and after the pandemic
by Tammy Warren | Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE — Until in-person visits can resume safely, there has never been a better time to invite mission co-workers to visit your congregation virtually than right now. Read More
|
|
NECROLOGY Report
At Foothills, we have traditionally had an annual recognition and celebration of the lives of ruling elders, teaching elders, and teaching elder spouses who have died during the last 12 months. A few years ago we moved this to our November presbytery meeting in honor of All Saints.
We ask presbyters to give prayerful recognition of the life and service of those ruling elders, teaching elders, and teaching elder spouses whose lives on earth have ended.
If you know of any Ruling Elders, Teaching Elders, or Teaching Elder spouses that have passed from November 2019 until now and should be honored at our November 10, 2020 Presbytery Meeting, please notify us by email to wtempleton@foothillspresbytery.org.
|
|
“LEADERSHIP … WHO’S IN CHARGE HERE?” ~ Synod Zoom Conference, Tuesday, September 29, 2020, 1:00 pm
We think of great leaders as famous people … and some are. Inspiring others to follow. There are however other ways to lead. What does it mean to be in charge? Look forward to sharing some ideas and engaging in conversation during this challenging season.
Ruling Elders & Teaching Elders in the Synod of South Atlantic are invited to register online (below).
The Zoom link will be emailed to registered participants a few days out from the event.
|
|
Children’s Educators Gathering
Our next meeting is September 17 at 11:00
We will meet by Zoom.
Zoom meeting ID will be sent to Christian Educators from Ginna. Please contact LeAnne White at the Foothills Presbytery office with any questions.
|
|
Join us!
Youth Ministry Leader's ROUNDTABLE
Tuesday, October 6
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Zoom link will be emailed to the group.
|
|
|
PYC 2020 - 2021
PYC met on Saturday, August 22 for our planning retreat. This was our first in person gathering since March. We welcomed our new members and spent time getting to know one another all while socially distancing outside at Eastminster Presbyterian.
We spent a great deal of time discussing the possibility of a fall middle school retreat at Bonclarken.
We realize that most of our churches are not meeting in person with their youth and are not comfortable with traveling with groups at this time. Therefore, we decided to cancel the Fall Middle School Retreat at Bonclarken.
"PYC on the Road"
NEW for 2020
We hope to connect with our congregation and offer leadership and programs for your youth ministry.
At our next meeting, we will begin working on a keynotes, small group time, recreation, vespers, etc! More information will be available to our churches very soon!
We also elected officers for the 2020-2021 year:
Mary Katherine Nelson – Moderator- John Knox Presbyterian
Augusta Roach- Vice Moderator- Easley Presbyterian
Grace Harshbarger- Secretary- Fountain Inn Presbyterian
|
|
This session is designed for: Physicians, Nurses, Social Workers, Child Life Specialists, Counselors, Educators, Psychologists, Hospice Personnel, Clergy, Chaplains, Ministers, and others who care for bereaved children, teens and their families.
|
|
The next gathering of Foothills
MUSIC MINISTRY LEADER’S
10:00 am
Wednesday, September 9
by Zoom
|
|
JESUS CHRIST AND THE 'DIVIDING WALL':
RACE AND GOD'S MISSION
DATES: October 7, 14, 21, and 28, 2020, at 7:30 p.m (ET)
VENUE: Virtual Online
This series is a combination of the planned WMI Conference and our annual McClure Lecture in World Mission and Evangelism, co-sponsored by Continuing Education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
For more information and to REGISTER ,
|
|
This is a reminder that SEPTEMBER is PREPAREDNESS Month.
This is a great time to work on preparedness with your families, congregations and presbyteries. As disaster responders frequently say – communication is key to preparedness. I trust that during the past months of COVID-19 quarantine that you have instituted plans for staying in touch with members of your congregation and families as we have moved into virtual ministry. Probably many of you have been involved in the preparations for congregations to return to in-person worship. It is a difficult time, but also a time of opportunity!
Foothills Presbytery now has a trained, commissioned Disaster Preparedness Trainer in our midst. Earlier this month Rose Marie McDonald, a member of Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson, SC completed her training through the first ever Presbyterian Disaster Assistance virtual preparedness training event. Rose Marie completed all her online and offline requirements and now stands ready to help instruct congregations and others in successful disaster preparedness. If your group or congregation is interested in preparedness training, please contact Rose Marie at mrose@clemson.edu.
Blessings,
Rick Turner
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
|
|
GIVE-AWAY - If your church is in need of any of these items, please have them email me as soon as possible!
- Approx. 40 small wooden chairs (mostly for kids heights)
- Approx. 20 business office chairs (not rolling, more for conference seating)
- 4 short round wood tables
- 1 short long rectangle wood table
- 2 tall wood square tables
- Small white bookshelf
- Small wooden desk @ chair
- A few small white boards.
I can provide pictures to whomever may be interested and wants to contact me.
Second Presbyterian Church
Administrative Assistant
Phone: 864-583-6696
|
|
Mission! Alert!
Attention!
Due to the pandemic, unemployment is high and as a result families in our communities are going hungry.
The churches of Foothills Presbytery can make a difference and it costs only a few cents a day! Cents-Ability (formerly 2 Cents a Meal) collects and distributes funds to food missions throughout the upstate and has been doing so for more than a decade. If your church has actively participated, please consider sending in your contributions today so they can be disbursed while the need is so great. Participants collect a few cents in appreciation for each meal; these are added to those of other Foothills congregations and can make a significant difference. If your church has not participated in the past, this is the perfect time to begin. If you know of a food assistance program in your area that should be added to our list of recipients, contact them and urge them to apply.
You can make a huge difference and it’s so simple, all you have to do is put your 2 cents in! Thank you for supporting Cents-Ability during this time of crisis and always!
|
|
Interested in having a Zoom Video Conference Meeting,
but you don't have an account? The Presbytery can help!
If you have a request, please have your Pastor or Clerk of Session contact LeAnne White (via email) and include the following information:
- Name of person making request
- Church
- Phone
- Date for Zoom Meeting
- Time (begin and end) no more than 2 hours
- Approx number of those attending
|
|
PW's Third-Quarter
News for
Presbyterian Women
now available for download HERE!
|
|
The Creative Ministries Offering Committee of Presbyterian Women reviewed 49 Thank Offering applications and selected 15 projects for funding this year. Thirteen of the projects serve people in the United States and two are international. In keeping with the Thank Offering bylaws, more than 40 percent of the selected projects are related to health ministries.
For more information on the 2020 Thank Offering recipients, read the
|
|
We’ve made Montreat@Home a balance of contemplation and creation. There are daily opportunities to listen and cultivate your faith as a community, even in the midst of social distancing.
Leaders will be given access to activities, guides, videos, and other resources that will equip them to lead an adjusted conference for their youth whenever they are able to gather together in whatever capacity they are able or allowed.
Learn more about Montreat@Home here.
Contact Susie Burns, Director of Church Relations, at susieb@montreat.orgor 828.419.9814 with questions about the program.
|
|
Please join us for one of the two remaining sessions of Mediation Skills Training Institute for Church Leaders (MSTI) that are scheduled before the end of this year: October 5-9 and November 16-20, 2020. This workshop equips participants with the skills and knowledge necessary to deal effectively with interpersonal, congregational, and other forms of group conflict. Given that this event will be conducted remotely, participants will need a device with both a camera and microphone in order to participate fully. For details and a registration form, please consult this MSTI Brochure. A complete list of our upcoming 90-minute webinars and our popular daylong workshops — including Conflict Transformation Skills, Healthy Congregations, and Leadership and Anxiety in the Church, which are perfect for groups — can be found on the LMPC Events Calendar. Questions? Call the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center at 630-627-0507, or email us at Admin@LMPeaceCenter.org.
|
|
Virtual Conference Registration is Open
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you. – Isaiah 43:1-2
Please join us in the Fall for three consecutive Tuesdays: September 22, September 29, and October 6 at 11:30 a.m. eastern/8:30 a.m. pacific. Each week we will hear theological, practical, and actionable perspectives. After the presentation a live Q&A session will follow – allowing additional time to share and learn further.
A link to participate in the weekly events will be emailed to registrants a few days prior to each program.
|
|
Mark your Calendars for these Upcoming Events |
September
7 Office closed in observance of Labor Day
8 Scholarship Task Force meeting, Nominations Committee meeting, Representation & Review Committee meeting and Personnel Committee meeting
9 Music Ministry Leaders meeting (Zoom)
13 PYC meeting
14 Foothills Staff meeting
15 Committee on Shared Ministry (CSM) meeting (Zoom)
17 Exams meeting (TBD) & Christian Educators Gathering (Zoom)
24 Finance & Stewardship meeting and Committee on Preparation for Ministry (CPM) meeting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
