Letter from Bonnie
Dear friends,
Eastertide is upon us. Resurrection has come and is being celebrated. Spring flowers are beginning, in spite of the snow north of us in New York and Ohio. We are in the beginnings of transformation, in spite of the challenges of COVID-19 and its restrictions on us.
Stay at home guidance
In Pennsylvania, the virus is expected to peak in the next week or so, and the restrictions for gathering are going to be extended. According to what I have seen and researched,
we should not expect to be gathering in our sanctuaries through the end of May.
Please know how important it is to be safe in these days…and in the days to come. We will be strategizing over the next weeks some guidelines for being safe as we return to our sanctuaries and gatherings. Watch for these precautions.
Pastoral Kudos
I have been receiving wonderful reports of the pastoral work you have been doing: worship services, pastoral care by phone and letter, Christian education, children’s programs. You are embracing the technology available for its use in this work. I am so proud to call myself your conference minister, so proud of the work you have done and are continuing to do in these difficult times.
Sermon support
As a means of giving you each a break from preaching,
I will be putting together a non-lectionary based sermon message on YouTube
. As I complete it you will be given the link. I am not using a lectionary text so you can us the message whenever you need a break from preaching. Watch for the link to be posted on our Penn Northeast Conference Facebook page and in our Tuesday email to pastors.
Continuing Education
I’ve received some questions about continuing education, so let me remind you that those of you working with communities of practice, whether in person or on Zoom, are entitles to count that as 12.5 hours of continuing education. Twenty-five of us have been gathering for the
White Fragility
book study and the completion of our sessions will count as fulfillment of the triennial Anti-Racism training component. Any workshop or program that provides interaction (zoom does, most webinars not on zoom do not) where you can engage in discussion counts as face-to-face educational time. Book studies and self-studies for sermons, Christian education, etc. count as continuing education time but please document the hours on your continuing education report form in Breeze. I hope this clarifies some of the question you have.
Thank you Notes
I would appreciate it if our congregations took a moment to write cards or letters of thanks to all the essential businesses and workers in our communities. Thank you editorial pieces in the newspaper; thank you letters to fire departments, grocery stores, janitors, medical personnel, etc.; finding ways to thank postal workers, highway workers, and others are so necessary in these days. These employees are offering essential services to all of us. Finding way to say thank you is important. Saying thank you in one thing, but writing a personal note or sending a thank you card or letter has a lasting effect on folks. Please consider doing this. Children can draw thank you pictures as well. This will mean so very much.
Conclusion
This article has gotten much longer than I hoped, but I want you all to have current information, to feel supported and to know that your work in our Church is appreciated. Be well. Be safe. Be blessed.
In Christ’s love and hope -- Bonnie
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WEBINAR - Tuesday, April 28 at 2PM
The Insurance Board will host a WEBINAR on
Financial Controls and Best Practices
Click Here to view the flyer and registration information.
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Introduction to Becoming a WISE Congregation
(Virtual Training)
Is your congregation considering becoming a Welcoming Inclusive Supportive Engaged (WISE) Congregation? Have you ever wondered why it is important to be a WISE Congregation? Or maybe you are just wondering what it means to be a WISE Congregation. On
Wednesday, April 29 from 10AM to 12 PM,
Christian Creyer, PNEC Search and Call Associate and Pastor of Chestnut Hill Church in Coopersburg will be hosting a 2 hour introductory session on what it means to be a WISE Congregation and giving an introduction into how to become a WISE Congregation. The session will cover some definitions, resources, and a brief introduction to the process. The session
qualifies for 2 hours of continuing education credits.
See below for the link to join the ZOOM meeting on April 29 at Noon.
Meeting ID: 559 777 477
Password: 006159
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The Festival of Homiletics
May 18-22, 2020
On-Line and Free
The World Needs Good Preaching…Now More than Ever
The Festival of Homiletics is moving online! And because there’s no better time than our current crisis to learn how to “preach a new earth,” registration for the virtual conference is totally FREE!
Preaching a New Earth: Climate and Creation
Be inspired by God’s Word proclaimed by some of the nation’s finest ministers and teachers. Experience the fellowship of hundreds of preachers. Learn and worship in an atmosphere that is dynamic, friendly, nurturing, and prophetic. Come renew, refresh, and recharge your spirit.
Scripture’s first description of God is as creator. God brought the world into existence and all that makes up the world as we know it. But God realized that caring for creation could never be a sole endeavor. We are charged with that co-tending, and preachers are challenged with imagining and preaching about an ecological God. Our God is committed to, dependent on, and immersed in all the Earth provides, sustains, and yet, needs our help to bring the fullness of God’s creative work to bear. Our God needs our help to speak the truth about where and how God’s Earth groans for renewal, even resurrection, how our very climate changes are God’s cries for help. The 2020 Festival of Homiletics theme invites preachers to imagine their own role in God’s creative work, to be courageous in preaching about God’s creative activity, and to claim boldly our role in caring for God’s creation, when God’s very creation is at stake.
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“The Last Pastor: Faithfully Closing a Church”
Zoom Webinar
– May 21st
How does closing a church impact pastors? Learn leadership skills that lead to grace-filled transformations and church closure in a zoom webinar with Gail Cafferata, author of
The Last Pastor: Faithfully Steering a Closing Church
.
Rev.
Cafferata will be speaking from her interviews and research with pastors who served closing congregations, as well as her own congregation’s experience.
Cafferata
helps pastors and church leaders understand the complexity of concluding a ministry with sensitivity to the spiritual and practical dimensions of closing a church. Register
here
for
The Last Pastor Zoom Webinar
on
Thursday, May 21
st
at 3 PM Eastern Time.
Hosted by Rev. David Schoen and sponsored by the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund.
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IMPORTANT DATES RESCHEDULED…
Rev. Dr. Bonnie Bates will be installed as our fourth Conference Minister on
Sunday,
June 28, 3:00 p.m. at UCC Greenawalds
.
(The original date of Saturday, April 4 has been cancelled.)
The April 24-24, 2020 Spring Meeting
of the Penn Northeast
has been postponed
until
April 16-17, 2021 at The Chateau at Camelback
If you registered through Tithe.ly or sent a check to the Conference Office
a refund will be issued
