GOOD NEWS

from the

Presbytery of Great Rivers

We are called to share Christ's love by partnering in service, 

uniting in worship, and risking in ministry.

March 24, 2023

Announcements

PGR Newsletter

Our Newsletters will go out the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month. The deadline for adding information is the Wednesday before at 5 pm.

Job Postings

FPC Milan is hiring for two positions - an Organist and a Choir Director. After looking for a single hire to fill Charla's shoes, we realized that we were asking for too much work and offering too little pay. If you know anyone who might be interested in one or both of these revamped, part-time positions, please share these job descriptions.

Organist Job Description

Choir Director Job Description

Click the button below for job openings in the Presbyterian Church (USA) national entities.

Grants from your Visioning Team

Grant applications are open now! Check out our Mission page (http://www.greatriverspby.org/mission.html) for information about the Visioning grant to support programming and projects in churches and partner organizations, as well as grants for sabbatical assistance and funding while clergy are on paid family leave. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, and the Visioning Team is ready to answer your questions. Contact us at visioning@greatriverspby.org to learn more!

2023 Assembly Dates

April 29th at Westminster Springfield

August 26th at Peoria United

November 11 at Faith United, Monmouth

In-person and Virtual

Clerk's Corner

Friends, it has been great to see so many of you in person recently at the Assembly. Now that the Annual Statistical time has passed, I will be resuming the monthly Clerk's Convo. Our next Clerk's Convo will be on April 20th at 4 pm. This is a great time for Session Clerks to meet together or zoom to ask any questions they might have and learn from one another. No need to pre-register. Just jump on zoom when it is time. Feel free to come with questions! 

The zoom link is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82477487297?pwd=ZXNIc29YRit3cTE2SGhsK0N5YzUrZz09

Meeting ID: 824 7748 7297

Passcode: 832216

  I will be out of town from Monday, March 27th through Friday, March 31st. I will be available for emergencies. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday will be driving days. I have the privilege of joining the PCUSA's Association of Mid-Council Leaders and Association of Stated Clerks to go on the Pilgrimage to Montgomery. This trip includes traveling to Montgomery, AL and spending one day at the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The second day of the time together with the 50 other leaders in our denomination will be spent working through what we learned and how we will take back to our contexts this information to continue the work of dismantling structural racism. Please see the following links to learn more:

https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/museum

https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial

The two homework assignments we were given prior to attending the Pilgrimage to Montgomery included watching the movie "Till" and reading the book, "What Kind of Christianity. A History of Slavery and Ant-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church" by William Yoo. We have met over zoom three times to discuss what we have been learning and experiencing. The book itself has been powerful, eye-opening, angering, and heartbreaking. It has opened my eyes to our own denomination's history, participation, and encouragement of this nation's biggest sin. If anyone else has read the book or would like to, and then would like to participate in a couple of zoom book study/conversations, I would be happy to lead them.

I would also covet your prayers for myself and my colleagues during this time.

Thank you,

Rev. Elissa Bailey

Presbytery of Great Rivers Stated Clerk

Members of the Committee on the Preparation for Ministry met in person on March 16th in Bloomington. Before their meeting, they enjoyed lunch together at the Egg Republic!

Register now for The Art of Transitional Ministry Training, Week I & II. May 22-26, 2023 at the beautiful Mercy Center, St. Louis, MO

We live in a crazy time of transition in our churches and culture. Transitional Ministry Education is not limited to those presently engaged in or inquiring about transitional ministry. Anyone interested in learning how to walk through change alongside your church is invited to join in. PLUS, we have expanded to include a more diverse faculty and re-worked curriculum for this spring.

Mercy Center is a beautiful convent and retreat center which provides: good food for gathering, lovely grounds for unwinding, a labyrinth for spiritual centering, AND great space for meeting and learning from other motivated pastors, CREs, and all who serve the church on committees.

Basic Transitional Ministry Education consists of 60 contact hours plus a practicum. The contact hours are divided equally between two residency weeks: Week I (30 hours) and Week II (30 hours), separated by a practicum that combines reflection on, and experience in, some aspect of interim/transitional ministry.

The faculty this spring includes: Rev. Dr. Barbara Wilson, Chicago Presbytery Director of Collaboration & Community Partnerships; Rev. Dr. Eric Thomas, Pastor of Siloam Pres, Brooklyn, NY; Rev. Bruce Jones, Transitional pastor, Milwaukee, WI; Rev. Dr. Tassie Green, Bridge Pastor of Hope Pres, Wheaton, IL; Rev. Gail Doering, Southern Kansas Transitional EP; and Tony de la Rosa, Transitional Exec, Synod of Mid America.

For more information and to register go to: 

http://synodma.org/transitional-ministry-education

For questions: contact Dylan at office@synodma.org or faculty dean Tassie Green at revtassiegreen@gmail.com

From Your Finance Team

Attention Clerks of Session

Thanks to the churches who completed & submitted their end of the year paperwork. However, we are still missing quite a few.

Please be sure you’ve completed the Church Session (Trustees) Annual Report as of December 31 2022

This can be done digitally & emailed to smcgrath@greatriverspby.org

We also need a copy of your current certificate of insurance coverage – see attached example.

Also if you could please update your church information form. That way we have current contact information when we need to reach out to your church.

Thank you for your help in getting this completed

Sabrina McGrath – Bookkeeper

Bill Strawbridge - Treasurer



Please click the links below:

Sample Certificate of Insurance

PGR Church Information Form

2022 Trustee's Annual Report

Please click on the blocks below to follow the links:

Conflict Transformation Skills Workshop by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center

This workshop will teach you - no matter what your background is - how to see conflict as a normal part of life, and how to face it with calm understanding. You will learn Biblical truths for conflict transformation, how you yourself respond to conflict, communication skills useful in conflict resolution, and much more. 

Make use of this opportunity to become an even greater version of yourself!

Location: Zoom

Meeting Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. with an hour break for lunch, and a few 15-minute breaks throughout the day 

Cost: $99 per person (or $84 per person when registering as a group of 4 or more) includes the physical manual, the workshop itself, and a few LMPC goodies! 

Please note: Churches can & probably should send their donations through the Presbytery office – otherwise we don’t know of them for reporting purposes. Churches should include this on their remittance form. Funds sent to the Presbytery Office get forwarded to Presbyterian Mission Agency on a monthly basis. So if we get them before the end of February they’ll be sent the first couple of days of March. Funds rec’d in March will be sent a the beginning of April, etc. The remittance form is linked here.

Presbytery of Great Rivers Virtual Office

Virtual Office Assistant Crystal Goforth 309-683-6980 Email: office@greatriverspby.org

Crystal works remotely from South Carolina (Eastern Time)

Please leave her a message & she will return your call.

Bookkeeper Sabrina McGrath 309-683-6981 Email: smcgrath@greatriverspby.org

Sabrina works from Peoria IL.

Her regular schedule is Tues & Thurs between 8am-4pm (Central Time)

Bridge Presbyter John Rickard 309-683-6983 Email: jrickard@greatriverspby.org

He works remotely from Northern Illinois.

His regular schedule is Mon – Fri between 9am -5pm (Central Time)

Stated Clerk - Elissa Bailey- 309-371-2511  Email: pastorebailey@gmail.com

Starting May 1st: the Stated Clerk's Office hours will be Mon - Thurs from 7:30am - 3pm. (Central Time)