Recently, one of our pastoral leaders shared a resource. It is titled “Alphabet Gratitude.” It takes each letter of the alphabet and gives a word that starts with that letter and then a thought and a Scripture reference. Since this is November and the coming of Thanksgiving, it seems a most appropriate idea. Especially since Thanksgiving seems to almost get overlooked in our world today as we tend to go straight from Halloween into Christmas displays and preparations. Below are the first three letters from the “Alphabet Gratitude.

So please enjoy and may they bring a moment and reminder of gratitude to you.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Ted McCulloch, Stated Clerk

Readers for Ordination Exams

Interested in helping ordination candidates through the formation process? We need one Teaching Elder and one Ruling Elder to read Ordination Exams in February, 2024. In addition, we need one alternative reader. Training is provided prior to the exams.

Election of readers will take place at the December presbytery meeting.

Please contact Robbie Carnes (robbie@ffpc.org) or Linda Kennan (linda.kennan@outlook.com) for more information.

We are working on giving our website a long overdue refresh. We are very excited about the new site and hope to launch it soon.

The pictures on our church listings page were all taken about 25 years ago and also need a refresh. Unfortunately, every church's picture is too low of a resolution to look nice on the new site.

If you have (or can get) a high resolution picture of the exterior of your church, please email them to Staci Percy at spercy@presbylh.org as soon as possible.

“MUG & A HUG” (An Advent Day of Preparation)

Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery invite you to prepare your hearts for Advent.

Join us at:

Trinity United Presbyterian Church

5151 Lennon Rd – Flint, MI

Saturday – November 4, 2023

11:00am – 1:30pm

We will begin with an Advent Devotion, followed by making an Advent craft. There will be a “light” lunch (soup, salad, dessert) Following lunch, you can make a couple more Advent items. We will close with a song & a prayer & you will be headed home by 1:30pm

There is no cost – there will be baskets on the tables for a “freewill offering” the Eastern Michigan Food Bank.

There will be crafts for all ages – so – bring your mother, your grandmother, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbor . . .

Bring a “Mug & a Hug”

A mug: something you drink out of that you can share a story about during lunch

A hug: because we all need one!!

HOPE YOU WILL JOIN US!

Currently serving clergy and CRE’s are invited to join Rev. Brenna Overland, one of the pastors to the presbytery, for an online mini retreat focusing on resilience in pastoral ministry. If you are feeling drained, spiritually dry, burnt out, overwhelmed, constantly under pressure, exhausted; or if you are searching for ways to enrich your own self-care in ministry we hope you will join us. “It can be hard to take the time to step back from everyday responsibilities to engage in the deeper questions of life — but it is vitally important to long-term wellbeing, not only our wellbeing but also the wellbeing of those who rely on us. Stepping back to reflect and make changes allows us to step back in with more vitality to serve and more clarity of purpose.”

Using research and resources from the Center for Transforming Engagement we will take 2 hours to explore a series of exercises, writing prompts, prayers, and meditations that will help us identify and cultivate healthy practices that can support our resilience. This is the first of a three part series that will take place over the next 6 months.

Pre-registration by November 1, 2023 is required as retreat materials will be sent out a week ahead of time. 

Coming Together to End Hunger Recap

On Saturday, September 30, about thirty people, representing nine different congregations and three non-profits, gathered at Westminster Presbyterian in Bay City for an event sponsored by the Mission Coordination Committee of the Presbytery. The day began with a time of worship centered around our Matthew 25 call to eradicate systemic poverty and end hunger. The keynote speaker, Dr. Phil Knight, the Director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, then shared his story and the necessary work of food banks and other non-profit organizations in helping to ensure that our neighbors have access to the abundance of food that our world provides. He reiterated that what the US faces is not a food problem but an access to food problem and reminded us of the importance of state and national policies that address food insecurity. Click here to view the worship and the keynote speech video.

We continued that conversation as we welcomed Samantha McKenzie, CEO of Hidden Harvest, and Sarah Egan, a nutritionist and public health specialist from Michigan State University, who joined Dr. Knight for a panel discussion surrounding their work and the importance of collaboration. Click here to view the panel discussion video.

Following lunch, participants engaged in conversation around their tables. We listened as each person shared the work their churches do concerning hunger, some of the challenges we face, and spent time thinking about how we might be able to collaborate with others as we continue the work of feeding our neighbors. A summary of those table discussion responses can be found here. Click here to read a summary of the table discussions.

At the close of our time together, we were reminded that while the work that our local churches and communities do in combating hunger is indeed very important, the next and necessary step, is to seek policy changes at the local, state, and national levels. One of the best ways to get started is by visiting www.bread.org or www.feedingamerica.org. Both of these sites can direct you to the latest hunger related legislation being discussed and help connect you with your representatives in the House and Senate. We invite you to check them out an learn more about the important “Farm Bill,” the largest piece of federal legislation for food and farming that impacts access to nutritious food for the millions of people in the United States facing hunger. More information about this specific piece of legislation can be found at https://www.feedingamerica.org/take-action/advocate/farm-bill.

A printable version of this may be found on the Mission Coordination Committee's page on the presbytery's website.

From our Synod Executive, the Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick

We had our synod assembly and annual meeting last week, and there were several outcomes important to our future support for your presbyteries.

We announced that we received a $1.25 million grant from the Lilly Endowment for our new ministry, “Cultivating the Gift of Preaching.” This effort will identify, train, and support 140 emerging preachers within the Synod over four eighteen month cycles beginning the summer of 2024. I’ve attached a PDF of the press release; please feel free to share it far and wide! We will be hiring a half-time director for this program. A job description will be posted as soon as it is finalized. Please click the link below for the press release with complete details.

The assembly voted to include a full-time Associate Executive for Racial Justice in the 2024 budget. This position will support and lead the synod and its presbyteries in our work to “eradicate structural racism and model inclusion,” as our own ministry focus area puts it. A job description will be prepared for the Synod’s assembly at the end of January, and once that is approved we will begin a search for this position.

The assembly voted to include a ten-hour-a-weeks Commissioned Ruling Elder/Commissioned Pastor Coordinator in the 2024 budget. This position will help presbyteries to identify, train, and support CREs. I’ve attached the job description. We will receive applications through November 30, 2023, and then, schedule permitting, interview candidates in December with hopes for the coordinator to begin work in early 2024. Please click the link below for the complete job description.

The assembly voted to amend its bylaws, by its May meeting, to include six commissioners from our communities of color. More to come on that as we move closer to making that a reality.

Leading by Listening:

Ruling Elders and Presbyterian Polity

A Leader Formation Webinar

November 16, 2023; 7-8:30 pm (eastern)

Registration open until November 8, 2023

Ruling Elders lead by listening to the Word, the Holy Spirit, and their congregation and our polity invites us into conversations and responsibilities. Those conversations develop relationships which build up the church family. The responsibilities of the Ruling Elder are to nurture, to support, and provide for the spiritual life of a congregation and beyond. Join us for a conversation into the joyful journey of this service.

This event is provided for free for participants and is funded through your per capita dollars. It does not come without cost, however. Knowing the diversity of language within the PC(USA), this webinar will be provided in several languages with interpretation based on requests made through the registration process. As a result, there is a registration deadline of November 8, 2023, in order to be able to have time to arrange for those services. Advanced registration is not necessary for access to the recording which will be available in English following the event. 

Register for the webinar by November 8, 2023

This webinar will be led by the Rev. Gradye Parsons, a retired Presbyterian minister living on a farm in Kodak, Tennessee with his wife Kathy. Gradye served as pastor in congregations in Tennessee and as the Executive Presbyter and Stated Clerk in Holston Presbytery. He worked in the PC(USA) Office of the General Assembly and served as Stated Clerk of the General Assembly from 2008-2016. He is currently the parish associate at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, TN. Gradye and Kathy have two children and three grandchildren.