PRESBYTERY NOTES – MARCH 2016 MEETING
The March meeting of Presbytery was held on a Saturday at Grace-Trinity Community Church in Uptown – a merged Presbyterian (Grace) and American Baptist (Trinity) congregation (and the place to which Kara received her first call to ordained ministry!). Their sanctuary building is from the early 20th century, with a large addition from the 60’s (guessing). They are a congregation that seems to worship about 50, as we do, though the statistical report on the denominational website showed 37 members. (What does it mean to count ‘members’? What weight do we give to that statistic? What assumptions do we make about a congregation based on ‘numbers’?) They also have a kids’ row, with rug and activities, like we do!!
Attendance was fairly good – the good folks from LeRoy, almost to the Iowa border, were there, with their new pastor. I am so grateful for that new relationship! (I got to know the congregation as a liaison to them when they chose their previous pastor, who retired a year ago) LNPC was represented by Norm and Sue (me)(we have been given three commissioner spots – Marty usually accompanies us, too.) If you are at all interested in attending, please give it a try.
On the way in, I met a new minister member of presbytery, Holly Hearon, who worships at South St. Paul. She came here from Indiana, where she was on faculty at Christian Theological Seminary – a seminary that Ben was considering before choosing Austin. For me, presbytery is about connections!
Worship was led by Dan Vigilante, pastor at G-T, and by their members and choir, which shared an amazingly lovely a cappella piece. Grace –Trinity has had a long tradition of very high-quality musicianship, and that has certainly remained.
The business portion of the meeting included:
Information shared included:
The first Fund – Congregational Development – will receive the initial $2.1 million of proceeds. It will manage this fund as an endowment, using investment proceeds to fund grants to congregations.
The second Fund – Strategic Ministry – will receive the second $2 million. These funds will be used as grants for larger initiatives – new congregational development, new ministry opportunities.
Proceeds received after these initial contributions will be split evenly between the two Funds.
Initial uses of Fund #2 have been a $200,000 grant to Clearwater Forest, $300,000 to re-roof the Kwanzaa church, and $82,000 to compensate Synod and General Assembly for 2016 per capita receipts expected from the departing congregations. It may also be tapped to cover legal expenses related to the departing congregations.
This is an opportunity for the presbytery to look boldly toward the future.
There is often a feeling of ‘homecoming’ at presbytery meetings – seeing folks with whom we intersect only rarely, but knowing that we all carry a bit of the ministry of the church in our corner of the world. This is especially strong for me after terms on a couple presbytery committees, which have introduced me to folks on a working, collaborative level. We have an amazingly talented, interesting group of folks, unique and often quite passionate.
If you have any interest on being part of the work of the larger presbytery – whether you can commit to a 3-year committee assignment, or a shorter term task force or round-table – it is a worthwhile opportunity which can challenge and humble, but also nurture all sorts of hope. Talk to Norm, Sue, or Kara if you have an inkling that this might interest you!
- Sue Goodspeed
The March meeting of Presbytery was held on a Saturday at Grace-Trinity Community Church in Uptown – a merged Presbyterian (Grace) and American Baptist (Trinity) congregation (and the place to which Kara received her first call to ordained ministry!). Their sanctuary building is from the early 20th century, with a large addition from the 60’s (guessing). They are a congregation that seems to worship about 50, as we do, though the statistical report on the denominational website showed 37 members. (What does it mean to count ‘members’? What weight do we give to that statistic? What assumptions do we make about a congregation based on ‘numbers’?) They also have a kids’ row, with rug and activities, like we do!!
Attendance was fairly good – the good folks from LeRoy, almost to the Iowa border, were there, with their new pastor. I am so grateful for that new relationship! (I got to know the congregation as a liaison to them when they chose their previous pastor, who retired a year ago) LNPC was represented by Norm and Sue (me)(we have been given three commissioner spots – Marty usually accompanies us, too.) If you are at all interested in attending, please give it a try.
On the way in, I met a new minister member of presbytery, Holly Hearon, who worships at South St. Paul. She came here from Indiana, where she was on faculty at Christian Theological Seminary – a seminary that Ben was considering before choosing Austin. For me, presbytery is about connections!
Worship was led by Dan Vigilante, pastor at G-T, and by their members and choir, which shared an amazingly lovely a cappella piece. Grace –Trinity has had a long tradition of very high-quality musicianship, and that has certainly remained.
The business portion of the meeting included:
- The Committee on Preparation for Ministry asking us to move Inquirer Mike Ireland to the preparatory status of ‘Candidate.’ This means he gets to take lots of tests and write lots of papers, but is also the last leg of what has been, for him, a long, introspective, and wonderfully growing process.
- We heard from the Mission and Witness Committee about Kwanzaa’s ‘21st Century Middle School Academy’ which provides tutoring and long-term whole-family mentoring to 60 children on the North side.
- We concurred with an overture to this summer’s General Assembly to support additional support, education, and funding for HIV/AIDS on a global basis.
- We approved the final ‘terms of departure’ for the Stadium Village congregation. They are led by Kathleen Macosko, who interned with us many years ago, and are moving to the Evangelical Covenant Presbyterian Church.
Information shared included:
- Synod School – a weeklong experience in Iowa, including classes in everything from theology to drawing – is welcoming registration (see the booklet in the HUB)
- Clearwater Forest is ramping up for summer fun! Info in the HUB
- PW Spring Gathering is in Austin on April 23, with speakers and fellowship. Info in the HUB.
The first Fund – Congregational Development – will receive the initial $2.1 million of proceeds. It will manage this fund as an endowment, using investment proceeds to fund grants to congregations.
The second Fund – Strategic Ministry – will receive the second $2 million. These funds will be used as grants for larger initiatives – new congregational development, new ministry opportunities.
Proceeds received after these initial contributions will be split evenly between the two Funds.
Initial uses of Fund #2 have been a $200,000 grant to Clearwater Forest, $300,000 to re-roof the Kwanzaa church, and $82,000 to compensate Synod and General Assembly for 2016 per capita receipts expected from the departing congregations. It may also be tapped to cover legal expenses related to the departing congregations.
This is an opportunity for the presbytery to look boldly toward the future.
There is often a feeling of ‘homecoming’ at presbytery meetings – seeing folks with whom we intersect only rarely, but knowing that we all carry a bit of the ministry of the church in our corner of the world. This is especially strong for me after terms on a couple presbytery committees, which have introduced me to folks on a working, collaborative level. We have an amazingly talented, interesting group of folks, unique and often quite passionate.
If you have any interest on being part of the work of the larger presbytery – whether you can commit to a 3-year committee assignment, or a shorter term task force or round-table – it is a worthwhile opportunity which can challenge and humble, but also nurture all sorts of hope. Talk to Norm, Sue, or Kara if you have an inkling that this might interest you!
- Sue Goodspeed
